Just Diagnosed with TNBC

78UnbB- Oh man such a scary road! I did pretty well with the AC. I would have it on Monday. Get the bone shot on Tuesday and made it to work until Thursday afternoon recooperated over the weekend. Lasted for about 2-3 days. Never had nausea just felt like the flu. Prayers to you and your journey!!

cccmc2 - when I found out I was TN I was in shock for days. I found out after surgery too - it’s like “how can this get worse?” Then BAM!

What chemo regimen are they looking at? I had AC every 2 weeks - 4 doses, then 12 weeks of Taxol.

And yes, you will be ok - TN is scary, but very treatable

I usually felt ok - just very tired on days 4 to 5. I had nausea on day 1, until we figured out that giving Ativan after the treatment relieved it - or maybe I just didn't care :-). Everyone is different, so it's hard to say how you will react.

Well, I thought things were progressing well and I knew what my plans were. I spoke with my surgeon yesterday - very informative and very reassuring. He's a highly recommended surgeon. Today I got the addendum (the final part) of my pathology report after my biopsy. I knew that my CA was considered aggressive, high grade (grade 3), but found out today that I have Triple Negative, and my Ki-67 immunostain is positive at 70%. Now I'm terrified again! As is my husband. I have a lumpectomy scheduled for next week - the 6th. We planned to follow with radiation and then chemo if it was found in the nodes and had spread. According to what I've read here, with a diagnosis of TN, I need to go back to the drawing board.... sounds like some do chemo b4 surgery, but chemo is always involved even without node involvement. I'm really confused. If anyone can shed some light on this, I'd be grateful. I'm going to call my radiologist and my surgeon tomorrow and discuss this more in depth to see if we need to change the initial plans.

how is everyone doing?? I wish more people posted on this thread. I went in for my 3rd of 4 AC treatments today, but I have a really bad cold and possible bronchitis so my Dr put it off another week. A little discouraging but I'm sure for the best. I need to get better. Good news is I think I'm on the mend. I hope everyone is doing well!!

is it true hair starts to grow back on taxol or is different for everyone?

moth’

Do you ice your hands and feet for the new treatment

hollywood - I'm not icing. If I start getting any neuropathy then I'll start doing it but right now I'm not bothering and I have no side effects really, other than my neutrophils and platelets are low'ish, in spite of 3 days of grastofil injections every round.

3LBirds - sorry you find yourself here but welcome!

I'd suggest you check out some of the current and older monthly chemo threads. On the chemo subforum there are threads for people starting each month. If you read through one that is 3-6 months old, you get to see how people progress through the whole thing, and I'm guessing most thread have enough people that most of the common side effects and tips and tricks are all discussed.

(fwiw, I'm in the Feb group)

Chemo sucks but it's doable.

i finished AC and start 4 taxol in 2 weeks. My experience with the AC treatments was getting progressively more tired from each treatment. Slight nausea but taken away by the zofran. Good luck to you!

Im about 2 months post chemo. Taxol/Taxotere and AC. I am also TNBC. During chemo I felt great some days and not so good on others. You get into a routine where you know you'll feel like crap on days 3-5 after the infusion and then plan your life around that.

I had some neuropathy. Its totally gone now. I tried to ice my hands and feet but not sure that made any difference. I lost all my hair but its returning now. If you have Taxotere (I had to because I had an allergic reaction to Taxol) then cold capping your hair may be good as it can cause permanent hair loss. I still have very faint eyebrows and I'm hoping they will darken in time. The only thing I feel now is stiffness in my joints and my oncologist says that it will go away in time.

My side affects were very minimal because I did a 30 minute exercise video almost every day and also walked as much as possible. I also ate a lot of fruits and veggies. The exercise was the best way to reduce tiredness and its also known to shrink tumors.

Best of luck with the chemo. So sorry you have to go through it too.

3LBirds, I've had a horrible time trying to keep my WBCs up on both the AC and the Taxol. The colony stimulating injections just don't work very well on me. My MO said they just don't work on some people. I've been neutropenic for pretty much the whole time since Feb, except 1 week where my counts went into normal range. I do a lot of hiding and my family does a lot of cleaning and disinfecting.

I've only got 2 weekly taxols left but yesterday I noticed something wrong with my eyelid - looks swollen. I'll have to get it checked out tomorrow.

Moth, I finished my TC a couple of weeks ago, but had the swollen eyelid; mine was caused by the dryness of the eyes and possibly a blocked eyelash follicle. Turned into a sty, I got antibiotic eyedrops from the doc and it cleared right up. Sorry you are dealing with that too...my eyelid was swollen again this morning (2.5 weeks post my last chemo!) so I'm using saline drops and hoping for the best.

My oncology nurse assures me it's a normal side effect. Good luck!

hello;

Nice to meet you. I was diagnosed 4/30 and had my first AC on 5/21. I found it very manageable. Fatigue and body pain from the Neulasta OnPro around day 4-5. Always felt “myself” by day 4-5. I did experience blurry vision throughout AC. I just had my first taxol on 7/16; and no major side effects ~ just fatigue. My hemoglobin dropped and is still dropping and I am eating as much iron rich foods as possible and walking 2 miles daily.

Hope this helps!