TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP

Bird-of-light!

Wow, glad to hear you made it through those BMX complications! Hope you continue to heal well.

RE: Lupron,

My MO chose Zoladex because that was the OS used in the SOFT study. She (correctly) believed that the insurance company would pay for it because it had FDA approval.

Bird-Oh my! So glad you are okay. Agree with protein recommendations. If your digestion is off (not sure you are on chemo etc or not), try pure rice protein. Super easy to digest, can be added to just water or mix in with rice milk, almond milk and ice or frozen banana for smoothie. Easy way to add 25 grams protein in one drink. It is admittedly a little grainy in texture, but I personally do not mind at all. I found it on Amazon (look for one that is pure rice protein.)

I got my pathology results back today and am now am freaked out more.

35mm grade 2 IDC with prominent micropapillary component present.

Extensive Peritumoral lymphovascular invasion seen admixed intermediate grade DCIS present

ER8 PR6 HER2+

Resection margins 6mm from inferior >10mm all other margins

Extensive axillary disease present 18/22 nodes with extensive extra nodal spread evident.

All gross macroscopic disease was excised from axils at the of surgery.

Now on to chemo, herceptin plus radiotherapy and hormonal therapy.

Doesn't look good for this 52 year old body who had a clear mammography 21 August last year.

Anyone have any words of wisdom.

Thanks

Healthet

Infusions take several hours and the first is usually longest because they go slowly and watch for side effects. My first took 8 hours!

Dress comfortably. Bring stuff to keep you busy. Bring food and drinks. Hydrate! Some places feed you.

Take your anti nausea meds.Keep a diary of your symptoms ... (Physical & mental) so you can see patterns and hopefully stay ahead of future side effects & problems.

Day 3 you can clean your whole house in an hour while you're on your steroid high ! Then you'll start your chemo pattern. Each of us has a different one but it is doable. With some exception you will likely be able to continue most of your activities with a few alterations.

Best wishes to you!

Heathnet,

Ashla has given you some good advice. I second her advice about staying hydrated and trying to stay ahead of symptoms. It may help if you have some over the counter meds for diarrhea and constipation on hand. I was only on Taxol, Taxotere's gentler cousin, but it gave me mild diarrhea (which I controlled with Immodium). Once I had the diarrhea under control, I sometimes had constipation! Aargh. Best wishes to you!

Helen,

Yes, it is scary to be Stage III and to have nodal involvement. Just remember that HER2+ treatment is a marathon, and you have to take it step by step. They say that 70% of life is just showing up. Well, 70% of fighting cancer is just showing up for your appointments, and there will be lots of them. Just remember that treatment isn't forever, and that you can get through this! Best wishes!

Helen, your fellow IIIC friend here...I was 45 at diagnosis and am still kicking. I know it seems unmanageable right now, but everything will come into clearer focus as the days, weeks, and months progress. Ask tons of questions until you feel that you fully understand your diagnosis. Write down all your questions beforehand so you don't forget what you want to ask, and ask your doctor if he/she is okay with being recorded. I digitally recorded all of the early appointments for later transcription, because at the time my mind was blown & I couldn't keep things straight in my head out of fear and panic. Now I look back at my (very very very long) document concerning my cancer treatment and can evaluate things calmly.

Give yourself room to be scared. This is the time for that (and it's that time as long as you need it to be). The mind and body, strangely enough, can only be on high alert for so long before things normalize. I think this is the key to getting through all traumas, though it has to be lived through to be understood.

Heathet, good luck with your first chemo! I had a wheeled cooler in which I had books, my iPad with headphones, snacks, etc. I took that cooler everywhere & kept it prepacked as much as possible so it was ready to go for every chemo session. It reminded me of having the diaper bag packed when my kids were little.

HelenWNZ stop googling. I was convinced I was going to die when I googled my initial biopsy results. Found out lots of that info was old or too generalize to apply to my diagnosis… Here I am almost 6 years NED! I know a few stage IIIB and C that are doing well that were diagnosed the same time as me too.

that seems to be the new norm, i am 65 and they are saying 5-10, but when im 75 will re eval my body and seehow good or bad it feels. All i know is the hot flashes are pretty reguler now, almost daily, which to me means i am still making hormones steadily.

if I'm just getting a dose of Herceptin today do I need to ice my fingers or toes? I know I will tomorrow with the chemo.

No need to ice with Herceptin, though I do suggest having them run it over an hour instead of 30 minutes.

my herceptin was okay, but over an hour time. I would get red patches in the beginning, but after time nothing. Still keep an eye on shortness of breath or rapid heart rate on exertian.

The hot flashes are terrible on femara the arimidex not so bad, but the insomnia bad, so when i go to MO in august will discuss those side effects. And growing a beard is not so nice, hair down my throat. Yuk

minneswede - I don't think injectable Herceptin is FDA approved yet in the United States. I believe it is currently being used only in other countries, as per approval by the European Commission. Here in the US, Herceptin comes from Genentech, but Genentech is owned by Roche, which is a Swiss company.

SpecialK, that is a bummer! My MO is having my PS take out my port when I have surgery at the end of July. But I have one last Herceptin infusion after that which we will do through an arm IV. A shot would have been nice!

so I'm getting my first infusion of taxotere and I'm having wicked back and chest pain. The nurse stopped the infusion and I'm getting a dose of Benadryl. Hopefully that helps - I feel like crying! Anyone else have bone pain or chest pain with taxotere?

Heathet, keep communicating with your nurses. We did Benadryl and slowing the infusion down. After a few treatments we switched to Taxol and finally switched to Abraxane--they are all in the same family. There is always something they can do to help!