Calling all TNs

LP wonderful wonderful news. Just what we all want to hear.  Enjoy your time up North and don't do anything I can't do, but, if you do enjoy it lol.    

Hi everyone,

Fwiw, I asked my onc about probiotic and she said absolutely not. 

I am doing no alcohol and trying to lose weight. She said lower body mass index helps to reduce recurrence risk. I also take vitamin D3. I had been taking 2,000 IU, but she just switched me to 1,000 because my levels were too high.

I think the idea with metformin is it keeps blood sugar low. Chronically high blood sugar encourages inflammation and cancer is an inflammatory disease.

LPBoston, Wonderful news on the MRI!!! Enjoy your trip!

Allydp, Congrats on finishing chemo!  You did it!

Simplelife, Thanks for the info on Metformin. I've heard about this but never understood the reasoning behind it before.  I will ask my MO about this at the end of chemo visit soon.

Placid, my MO said Yes to a probiotic.  

Paula

Wonderful LP!! How a fabulous worry free trip!!

Thanks for info, Placid.  It never ceases to amaze me how each Dr. can have such varied ideas and advice.  My Onc doesnt have a problem with probiotics.

I do very good with regular exercise but I am not consistent with enough fruit and veggies in my diet.  And I refuse to give up drinking wine. DH and I love going wine tasting.  So I guess in the end, we all do the best we can with the hand we are dealt!

Has anyone recently had their Oncologist add carboplatin to their taxol in the 'adjuvant' setting for initial tx for TNBC? The reports coming out of the SABCS in Dec. 2013 and ASCO this summer 2014 show benefit for the addition of carboplatin in the neoadjuvant setting but no clinical trials have been done to support it in the adjuvant setting. I have seen on some Facebook TNBC pages where Onc. Are beginning to offer this as it seems superior to the current standard treatment of TAC alone.

Mom2two67 I saw your post a few pages back, welcome to the forum! I too have had so much wrist/hand issues since chemo, I finished chemo in Dec and rads in April, My hands feel arthritic now, did not before. I am still struggling with Taxol toes too, neuropathy still a problem. My Onc said that neuropathy can get worse before it gets better, so the fact that it seems worse now 7 months out from chemo doesnt mean I should give up on seeing improvement down the road. That did make me feel better.

To all you fine ladies out there.....have a great day!

Deana - welcome. I know you're looking for adjuvant specific, but I just finished ACT + Carbo in the neoadjuvant setting. I did a lot of research before starting chemo and asked my onc if I could add it. If you have any questions about side effects, etc., I'd be happy to try and help. Wishing you all the best. 

MomMom,  I did not ice, I chose not to, I have a very aggressive BC and I did not want to risk the chemo not getting to every single part of me. I know studies to not show icing is a hindrance to chemo effectiveness, but I just could not tell myself to risk it. I of course did not know how neuropathy would actually be, and hindsight is alway 20/20.  I had AC then Taxol. My neuropathy started with my second Taxol, I had dose dense treatments, every 2 weeks for eight treatments. Finished in this past December, it has gotten progressively worse as time goes on.

But I can do this, even if it gets worse I can do this. Life is still good!

Like NavyMom who mentioned in above post, it amazes me how different MO, or hospitals have different reasonings. My hospital "iced" for taxol but I was told that was to prevent loosing finger/toe nails. I still lost 3 toe nails. My chemo nurse had told me that my hospital doesn't use cold caps for exactly the reason Meadow suggested. 

Meadow and MomMom, I agree totally, each of us has to do the absolute most we feel comfortable with-with the best information we are given, and not regret or feel badly afterwards!

I should mention that I did get neuropathy in both fingers and toes but I've learned to put up with it as it is not severe and has seemed to improve a bit with time

IslandGirl,

Hard to visit or not, I'm glad you did! Congrats and thank you for giving us hope!

Islandgirl, coming back here may be difficult, but I'm very grateful that you did, it gives us all hope and is a positive affirmation to hold on to! Congratulations and thank you-I hope you are celebrating!

Headed to the hospital for stage 3 of reconstruction (more fat grafting) - this is it, the end of it is here.  So excited!

to those that are taking metformin, when did you start on it?  Some might have told me, but I've forgotten. I'm finishing radiation on Friday 7/25 but I dont see my MO until 8/19. She said she would start me on it after radiation but I realized I won't see her until  3 1/2 wks post rad. 

I've also seen some comments on % of hormone negative or positive. I dont have that information or it was never discussed with me.  I have heard it discussed on hese boards that if you are just a little but positive that they may treat you as positive. All I know is that I'm hormone negative. I'm sure someone on here can explain this