Treatment options for stage IV

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Kkmay
Kkmay Member Posts: 156
edited June 2020 in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Hi Ladies!

I'm writing on behalf of my mom who was diagnosed with stage IV TNBC on March 2020 with mets to bones and lungs. The stats below are also hers. She has been on eribulin since stage IV diagnosis which caused her a lot of issues due to high toxicity, despite lowering the dosage. Now she is diagnosed with severe pneumonia and in the ICU on a ventilator. Her MO told me that he will not treat her anymore and that the we should move to palliative care after ICU discharge. He stated that chemo at this point will cause her more harm than good. He is not considering doing a pet scan to see how eribulin affected her tumors. He also stated that her cancer back in stage three was not responding to Taxol, Carbo nor Xeloda.

I really would appreciate your opinions on this as I'm confused and stressed. I feel that she should pursue chemotherapy yet at the same time I'm scared of her taking a turn for the worse. Her MO said that immune therapy will not work for her case, and is also refusing to do a PET scan to assess eribulin because he is will not prescribe any other chemo at this point.

Has anyone been on a similar situation? What are possible treatment options

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  • BevJen
    BevJen Member Posts: 2,523
    edited June 2020

    Kkmay,

    You should start at this link:

    https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/tr...

    It has some general info about triple negative. Also, there is a whole triple negative forum on breastcancer.org. That will give you some information.

    You don't say where you are located, but if it were me, I would be trying to find another breast cancer oncologist to get a second opinion. This doc doesn't sound supportive at all. Your best bet would be to try to locate a doc at a large teaching hospital who specializes in breast cancer. If you google "specialists in triple negative breast cancer" that will give you a start. I did a quick look, and it seems that Dana Farber in Boston might be a good starting point, and I know that they will provide second opinions to people.

    Good luck, and bless you for trying to help out your mom.

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  • Trishyla
    Trishyla Member Posts: 1,005
    edited June 2020

    And just to add to the great info Bevjen gave you, please understand that your Mom doesn't necessarily have to meet with them in person. Many will do a second opinion after you send them copies of her records and scans, especially if they are at a large teaching hospital.

    Good luck to you and your Mom.

    Trish

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  • Kkmay
    Kkmay Member Posts: 156
    edited June 2020

    Thanks a lot ladies!

    If anyone can recommend a TNBCspecialist that I can mail and get a second opinion. Please DM me.

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