TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP

Thanks for all the good information and support about leaving town (or staying home) and doing what you feel your intuition is telling you is the best answer.

Bren, I'm glad you got good results by following your instincts.  I think we all have intuition and we just need to pay attention to it.

Ashla, I have an appt at Moffitt on Wed with a surgeon there and if there's a question of whether they can spare the nipple, I'll PM you and come to NY!  I have no problem getting on a plane if it means changing the course of my future.

GinGIn, congrats on your first infusion!  Am sure others here can help you with that.  

Question:  Did most here that were triple positive have Herceptin first and then surgery or vice versa?   Is Herceptin usually used with other chemo prior to surgery or it is different from person to person?

oceansky, I am having chemo first, as I have lymph nodes positive, adriamycin/ cytoxan 4 cycles then taxotere/ herceptin/ perjeta 4 cycles then surgery/ radiation and then completing the herceptin for one year total, my MO said he wants to kick out any potential cells floating around and not waste precious time doing surgery first.

I'm doing 6 rounds of chemo (including Herceptin and Perjeta), then surgery, and then likely some radiation. My surgeon was not 100% confident of getting clean margins on the two lesions, and I have one lymph node affected, so the decision was much like Rose's above.  Find any lingering cancer cells that may have slipped by, shrink the tumors and then go in and do surgery. Everyone's path is different, though.

ashla, I am thankful for all the treatments that are available and all of the research being done to bring more and more options to market.  Prevention would be the ultimate discovery of course, but more targeted treatments are a good second.

I have been keeping a nearly-daily blog for friend and family to follow this saga, and to help me remember it all down the road as it becomes a distant memory.  I want to be able to help mentor someone else through it, too, if someone needs me.  Or even just to keep coming back to these boards, like you're doing.  It's all very helpful to newbies like me.

Some people I talk to seem very surprised that I'm doing chemo first and then surgery.  But after the "tumor board" reviewed my case twice at the cancer center, the consensus was this route makes the most sense for my case.  I feel confident about it.

Finished my Herceptin last Thursday!!! Finally

Yay for goutlaw!!!!

Thanks couldnt wait to get done, Now cant wait to get other surgeries& boobs!! 

Yippee  Goutlaw!  Personally found that a bittersweet moment:)

Linda505

Best wishes!

linda - good luck!

Gooutlaw-congrats!  Linda-you can't believe the difference you will feel immediately.

I have been experiencing some tenderness in the lymph node vicinity of my non cancerous side. It also feels funny when I have my arm at my side sometimes. i have to shift it. This has gone on for a couple weeks.  I finally started squishing my fingers around the area. It is very tender and I can feel some kind of largeish sort of lump that I dont feel on the opposite side. Sent a note to my PS to ask if he wanted to check it out or my BS. He said BS as she has all the equipment. I called today and have an appointment on the 30th. Ultrasound first and then see the BS. Of course it is the day before I leave for Winston Salem for the last vaccine treatment and then NYC for several days. I am not feeling at all confident. I know supposedly there is a rare chance that it could be related to the Arimidex, but....it is going to be a long ten days.

Linda thinking of you!!  Good luck.

fluffqueen, that is a long ten days.  I'll be hoping that maybe some how they can see you sooner.

Quick update - home from surgery feeling pretty good - little achy.  Doc and nurses said everything went great and that I look good!!  Have a tight ace bandage over the surgical bra - that can come off tomorrow and I can shower tomorrow - no drains!!  More later. 

Great news, Linda! 

Ocean, I'm no help.  I have the first MD Anderson-sanctioned satellite cancer center about 4 miles from my home, and within walking distance of my job.  I did all my treatments there and it was super convenient.  Don't underestimate just how many visits there are.  You become a good buddy with these people.  Like I said, I witnessed the ever-changing decor of the cancer center fish tank for over a year.

I asked this on the Arimidex board, but does anyone have info on aromatase inhibitors and ovarian cysts?  I have a mild pain in my right pelvis (nope, no rebound pain, so not appendicitis).  It isn't horrible, waxes and wanes, no biggie.  At first I thought it might be muscular--a gardening injury...but it persists.  It doesn't hurt when I am lying down, just when I wake up and start walking around.  Also, it doesn't hurt that much, just a pang here and there.  Think that's a cyst?  I've never had one before, but I hear they are awful.  This isn't awful and I've had it for about 2 months.

I so don't want to go near doctors for awhile.  Tee hee....I'm a bum....I just want to believe I'm healthy as a horse now.