Thank you God for 8 years

I just passed the 8 year mark from when I started my ton o' chemo with no sign of cancer since.  I had positive nodes (one the size of a grape) and did neoadjuvent chemo.  I had some tiny remaining cancer in nodes upon surgery and followed up with yet more chemo.  (For me Adriamycin/Cytoxin took my palpable tumor and made it nearly gone...then followed up with Taxol which, it appears, did the clean up job it was meant to do....then after surgery, because it seemed that Taxol worked, I followed up with Taxotere....its cousin drug...and combined it with carboplatin.  I did 2 extra rounds of AC also which was insane...I wish I had just done one extra round at the time that we saw it worked so amazingly well (before surgery). 

In neoadjuvent chemo, when they can see a tumor collapse from a particular chemo....I really believe they should give one more round right then because we are so lucky when we have a chemo that we can see kicks our particular cancer's a$$.   There are many different versions of triple negative BC. 

My treatment was at Stanford Cancer Center.  I ran there after my diagnosis at another major medical center in Sunnyvale, CA.  If your insurance will let you...flee the marginal center and run to the best cancer center in your area or even beyond your area.  If you aren't covered by insurance, pay out of pocket for a second opinion from the very best.  It will be the best $500 you'll ever spend.  Stanford was so wonderful that even today when I walk through their doors, I feel peaceful instead of having bad memories.  They were amazing.  They started out as a second opinion that included re-analyzing my biopsy.  Not all labs are the same...the pathology report is so so so important. 

I did more chemo than normal because I am a single mom of two kids and my youngest was only 7 years old when I was diagnosed.  I really didn't have anyone to raise them if this bi$ch took me down. 

Also, I was really persuaded by the study that concluded that a low fat diet cut the Triple negative recurrence rate by something like 45%...But I waited until I was done with chemo...you need food to be ready for your next round....nothing replaces chemo.  I viewed the low fat diet as my targeted treatment like the women with hormone positive BC get to take.  I also did exercise...not tons, but walked almost everyday because another study found that exercise lowered the recurrence rate by another 30% or so.  (My numbers might be off.)  I recently reminded my super smart oncologist at Stanford that I did the low fat diet and she said, "that might be what saved your life."  I'll try to bump up my old post about the low fat diet....don't substitute good fat....all fat is to be cut way down.  I ate only about 20 grams a day...even less than they recommended....it felt so good to starve the cancer to (hopefully) extinction.

On another note, one of my kids is having really serious medical problems now....I'd rather he have cancer its so bad.....if you get a  chance please say a prayer for my son, Gabriel. 

Hugs to all my wonderful Triple Negative sisters.