October 2013 Chemotherapy

debdylan - not long into chemo my husband and I went out to brunch on a Sunday, and I was wearing my wig. We were sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and the food and a couple finished eating and got up to leave. The woman made a point of looking right at us, and as I looked up I realized she was wearing a wig, and could guess why, but even though I had a very nice wig she also knew I was wearing one too. She smiled at me and I smiled back and the unspoken communication was clear to me - it was like hey, I know you even though I don't know you. It was an interesting moment and it is etched into my memory.

Thank you to the person who asked the question of SpecialK and thank you SpecialK for answering...I was wondering about that myself. It seems their are so many variances with bc obvious ones and I bet a lot we can't see or even know about. One of the first things I remember was my MO saying I have a 85% chance for a cure...but when I looked up stage 1 bc on cancer.com it say I have a 100% chance of living for 5 years, I know no one really knows but it is so hard for me to grasp how serious my bc is....it seems like being her2 + is more aggressive yet I believe with Herceptin my odds are much better. Some days I am fine...other days am freaked out about this. Anyway I don't normally post here, sorry for butting in...just wanted to give thanks.

Hi Ladies,

Hope all are doing well...sounds like a little more of a quiet evening.

DebDylan - Glad you enjoyed the verses. Just remember, He has never left you and He is here with you everyday. I love your attitude...

Lili - What type of work do you do?

Specialk - You seem very knowledgeable, do you work for SSD? Also, from reading your bio/status you have been going through this for a long time. You are like a BC warrior!

Tipps04 - We all experience trials and sometimes we feel we are getting more of our fair share. Just remember we are not alone and we are strongest when we are weak.

Question 1: I am TNBC and I am curious to know I won't be on any hormone so basically it is just chemo and radiation. I need to find out more about that...still not sure.

Question 2: I have a friend who was just diagnosed and here are her details and I am so concerned for her. She is stage 3, in lymph nodes (not sure how many) 5cm she said it is hormonal cancer so I am thinking she is estrogen +. She says that she is waiting for oncologist to call ASAP. She also states that depending on what type of treatment they will decide when surgery will be done She also stated through this entire ordeal she was told she has a 50/50 chance of survival. This all sounds so odd to me as she hasn't had any surgery so how do they know about the lymph nodes? Also, why does type of treatment determine surgery? This is all still new to me so not sure of all of it. I would think she would need chemo for sure and probably hormone long term. Any thoughts on this?

Morning Ladies

just up to get ready to head over to the chemo bar this morning. My last (4th) A&C.

Then we start the T&H cocktail for 3 months. ...sigh...

The nurses keep telling me it isn't as bad as the A&C, that getting through this is the worst of it. That my SEs won't be much on the T&H. I told her yesterday I will hold her to that!!!

Vintagegal - I am right there with you today for AC 3. We got this

Great for you to be done AC today

Had to share.

Good luck VintageGal!

syrmom - glad I could make you laugh! The funniest part to me was that it happened every time - you would think he would have figured it out, but he was so shocked each time!

spirit - I don't work for Social Security but because of the complications I experienced I was out of work much longer than I planned, so I learned a bit about the process. I thought I would have the bi-lateral mastectomy, recover and go back to work (in health care) and then start chemo, and continue working. I ended up having five surgeries instead of one - an unexpected complete node removal due to surprise positive nodes during BMX - then three surgeries for healing issues on the non-cancer side that resulted in the removal of my tissue expander. I could not return to work by the time chemo started, and I had burned through all my short-term disability and FMLA. My employer was kind enough to arrange an Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation and I was even more fortunate to have employer-sponsored long term disability available to me. During chemo I was contacted by the insurance company that provides the long-term disab. They have specialists whose job it is to minimize the disability dollars they pay out. Since I had been off work for so long (more than five months at that point) and because of my age (over 53 - the cut-off for this particular provision) they felt I qualified for SSDI. One of the ways to qualify is that after 53 the thought is that if you can't return to your former job for reasons due to your illness, you are too old to be re-trained into something new. This was both humorous and insulting to me, lol! Anyway, the upshot is that if SSDI starts paying you, the insurance company only has to pay you the difference between the total long-term disab amount and the SS offset. That was how I learned about this! I declined to apply, and returned to work, but it would have been a mandatory application, per the insurance terms, if I had continued on long-term disab past a certain point. I did not stay at work for very long as I needed more surgery, and also therapy for the lymphedema I developed. I didn't feel it was fair to my co-workers or my boss to have so much uncertainty surrounding my ability to be there every day - this is a specialized hospital department open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - so I resigned.

On your others questions - TNs have surgery/chemo/radiation as applicable treatment, but no hormone therapy or Herceptin. There are some studies using different chemo cocktails and also using PARP inhibitors (an enzyme that affects DNA). If you use the search on this site you will connect to threads where this is discussed.

For your friend - 5cm is a pretty large tumor and they may want to do chemo prior to surgery (neo-adjuvent) to shrink the mass. Another reason, and the one used for TN as well, they want to make sure the chemo is actually working. Particularly for a large tumor with positive nodes - there is greater chance that the cancer is on the move, and the only way to do that is to administer chemo prior to surgery. Positive nodes can sometimes be seen on imaging, or she may have had a FNA to biopsy them. She can't be accurately staged until after surgery, or know the nodal involvement, but if she does neo-adjuvant chemo she may not be able to be. They may feel that it is more important to start a chemo regimen to kill off any cells that could now be distant, shrink her breast and nodal tumors, rather than do surgery on the localized cancer and have to wait for a number of weeks to begin chemo giving distant cells a foothold.

Yay for all those on their last AC!!!

Specialk - thanks for your explanation. That makes sense as I am her2-.

I will be joining you ladies next week for AC #1. I am very anxious, but your information has been a Godsend and I feel I know what to expect. Good luck to everyone this week. I think of you always.

lgk - so glad your counts were good!

Good luck to all the wonderful ladies getting treatment today.

schoolcounselor - have not see a post from you in a few days. I have been thinking of you and saying some prayers that you are hanging on! Promise by day 7 things get better! will keep you in my prayers.

lg - my BS did Mammaprint for me as well - he likes it better and it can be used on all hormonal receptor types, not just ER+ - he sent my biopsy sample.

I will be asking my MO for both, Mammo print and Oncotype. I will have my TC next Wednesday and will see him before that. I guess it is still possible to do it.

Regarding needles, lgk, I am the same! I think the worse part of the chemo is actually having to be poked more than the infusion, which doesn't hurt...

hi ladies,

It's been a while. Thanks Tipps for checking in I have been wiped.

Special thanks for the verses, I printed them out.

Under Section 504 of the American withDisabilities act your employers have to make reasonable accommodations for you.

I am fortunate that I have short term disability and have cancer insurance, so I will probably be out until everything is done. I know that we are all in warrior / survivor mode but we will all have to fave the emotional scars at the end of the physical journey.... Just want to put that out there.

I have so much to type, but I am so tired. I have read everyone's comments and so glad we can be of support to each other.

Special K thanks for the laugh!!!

Hang in there people....

for some reason today I was having anxiety. I had to call MO bc I was just feelin so terrible. Tightness in chest heart rate up etc... I think when they were pushing A today and on I am just all worked up. MO is so nice and she called me back right away and asked a bunch of questions. She is very thorough. She called in script for me but she said if chest tightness gets worse to call her back if Arivan doesn't a work. I think she was concerned it might be something else?

If you request mammaprint just be sure to call insurance company as there may be cost sharing. I think Myriad charges 4k Andy jnsurance only paid 2k. Not sure if I will get a bill for the rest???

Vintagegal- glad to hear u are having a good day.

It is so nice to come her for support. Thank u ladies!!!