Mom Recently DX But Treated for TN

plum - You didn't mention your Mom's age or the kind of chemo they are considering. Some are harder on the heart than others, but rest assured the MO will be monitoring. I had regular Echocardiograms. It really is wonderful to read the stories of people who had neo-adjuvant chemo (before surgery) and the tumors either shrank significantly or were no longer seen on the scans. Even though I didn't have a pCR (complete response) before surgery, the chemo before made things much easier.

If you haven't talked to anyone about the port yet, tell her to draw a line with a magic marker where her bra & strap usually sit so they can try to put the port outside that area. I loved my Port. It was a "smart port", so they could do all the blood tests & contrast for scans that way. It made things so easy. If your Mom is going to start chemo the day after the port, be sure they leave the "dangles" for the connection so the infusion center doesn't have to access again right away. And get some Emla cream (lidocane) to rub on the skin over the port each time so she won't feel the access needles.

I'll dig out the tips for chemo thread & post it, but you probably don't want to share that with your Mother until you know more about here chemo drugs.

everyone is different. I am relatively young and had terrible side effects from chemo. Many of the women who were at my cancer center were 30-40 years older than me ands ailed through chemo with minimal side effects. Just take it one day and one treatment at a time and continue to communicate with your oncologist about side effects. Your mom can do this! Chemo can make a dramatic difference in TNBC patients

Hi Plum I also found chemo. mostly OK, I was tired, but carried on working from home most days and only had a few issues. It does build up over each cycle but overall I felt it was well worth it. I also had a complete response. TNBC is scary, but treatable. I agree with the advice above, and would add icing of hands and feet during Taxol to reduce the risk of neuropathy which can be nasty and occasionally permanent. Best of luck!

Hi yes I worked from home. Radiotherapy was physically fine but emotionally I found it quite hard going to hospital daily and it's very undignified so be prepared! I felt tired for about 3 months after it finished (in August) and am now almost back to normal. Just need to build somestrength again in my muscles: I do feel as though I have aged a lot in one year but am improving all the time and am confident that in another year this will just be a distant memory. Good luck with yours. X

Plumsunflower what a lovely daughter you are. Your Mom is so lucky to have you to help her and I know she will do fine with herchemo. Do look at the monthly thread for January chemo starters there will be lots of advice and support there from others who are at the same stage. X

Hi Scot bird

Thanks for that info. I haven't worked throughout my treatment as I'm a nurse and worried about the infection risk but I do intend to go back once radiotherapy is finished. I guess I will just have to be mindful that the tiredness will kick in and May last for a few months

Take care

Chris xx

I'm going to add my voice to the others--definitely clear any vitamins, supplements, etc. with her MO before beginning them.

Being TN is difficult. Since it's a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning it's identified by what it's lacking rather than by what's fueling it, there are no known hard-and-fast rules for what can be done to help prevent recurrence or mets. Just as breast cancer is an umbrella term for several diseases which are malignancies of the breast, TN is also an umbrella term. There have been at least 6 subtypes identified of TN and it's likely that there are more. I feel that the term "Triple Negative" will one day be an outdated concept/name. Partly because I hope that the "trigger" for these tumors can be determined, but also because it's almost certain that there are at least several other receptors, growth factors, etc that will be identified as playing a role in the development of breast cancer. We already know of the roles played by Estrogen Receptor (ER), Progesterone Receptor (PR), and the growth factor protein ERBB2 (HER2), but research is ongoing regarding other receptors and growth factors such as Prolactin Receptor (PRL), Androgen Receptor (AR), Insulin Receptor (IR), the rest of the HER family: (HER1, HER3, and HER4), as well as others that I have not mentioned. Once the role, if any, that these play is elucidated, researchers will have more ways to classify breast cancers and the term "Triple Negative" won't apply. When that time comes, we will also have more tailored treatments because doctors will know what is fueling the tumor, and thus have a chance to develop ways to counter that process.

TN is scary, I won't sugar coat it, but there are a lot of survivors. Searching this board will take you to many, many posts of women--and men--who have survived TN, myself included. There is also a Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation which has an online support community, though it's not nearly as active as these boards. It might be a good idea to check that out as well for some more TN-specific knowledge, discussion, research, etc.

For now, the best thing she can do is to finish the prescribed treatment and then do the general purpose stuff like following a healthy diet and getting lots of exercise, which hasn't been shown to have a direct, measurable effect, but it certainly can't hurt. There's also been ongoing research for years on whether low Vitamin D plays a role in TN. Many TN women monitor their Vitamin D levels just in case it has an effect.

Best wishes to you, your mom, and your family.