Calling all TNs

Congratulations, LMV! What great news. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Trish

YAYYYYY LMV !

Cake for everyone!!

Me, too Scotbird. My five year cancerversary date is August 29, 2021. Just eight months, seventeen days and three hours to go. But who's counting?🙂

congrats to so many 5 years! That is amazing and a day I pray for. 🙏🏻 My friend just passed away. She and I met when we both found each other on this site. We connected via text and she was my bc rock. I could talk to her about anything. All the anxiety, the worries, etc. I am quite devastated by her passing. It was sudden although she was battling recurrence. She went in to hospital with trouble breathing and had a pulmonary embolism. She had 5 children. Her recurrence and passing have really brought back my initial anxiety. I turning to this group for support and understanding. My upper arm has been bothering me. It comes & goes. The anxiety surrounding it doesn't come and go. I thought it had to do with my spinning classes and spoke to my oncologist about it. She told me it sounded muscular and to rest it for a couple weeks to see if it improved. She also told me tnbc doesn't typically return to bones first and upper arm/humerus is even less likely. So I started to feel better and I rested it and it did start to feel better fast forward...m friend passed and I started spinning again. Arm bothering me again. Brain going to dark places. I'm almost to 3 years out. I'm just feeling scared all the time. Anyone know anything about what bone Mets feels like? Thank you and sorry for my not so positive message. Oh I should say I’ve been doing push ups to see if I still can without pain and I can and I had my husband wear boxing mitts and run me through a boxing routine and it didn’t hurt? I realize I’m super weird, but just wanted to see if my arm would hurt?

A4ggy, I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. Be kind to yourself

I would like to know about the treatment with carboplatin. My Doctor has not talked about this treatment.

hey nisjoan. I am sorry you have to join this club, but I know I found this community amazingly helpful during my diagnosis and treatment. I had surgery after chemo but I did ask my oncologist about carboplatin and had it added to my regimen. For me, I just let them know I had seen a few studies that showed carboplatin to increase the chances of complete response of the tumor before surgery and asked her how she would feel about adding it to treatment. We talked about differing studies but she said it was up to me. After a week of thinking about it I got back to her and said yes as long as she was still willing I wanted to do it. Don’t worry about being new to this kind of stuff. You’ll get used to it pretty fast which is nice but also kind of weird. Hang in there man.

Nisjoan, I just want to join the others and say I’m sorry that you are here but we are all here behind you. Please let us know how we can help and keep us updated.

Hi Nisjoan,

I'm so sorry that you find yourself here. I just recently finished Carboplatin/ Gemzar for a recurrent TNBC. I found it to be very tolerable with minimal side effects. My treatment was 2 weeks on 1 week off. With my initial diagnosis I was treated with adriamycin and cytoxan, was supposed to have taxotere also but i am allergic. As stated above A/C T is pretty typical therapy for TNBC.

Talking with your oncologist will get easier as things go along. It's important for them to know how you feel about the treatment they are prescribing for you. It is absolutely fine to inquire about drugs you research on your own if they haven't mentioned anything. Also it is important that you feel confident in your treatment plan without any regrets. I know for me the day before my appointment I always write down my thoughts on what I want to discuss with them.

I know this can be so overwhelming at times but you will make it through! This site is a great place to pop in for great information and support. Hang in there and best wishes to you.

Congrats to you, too Valstim. I'll hit my five year mark on 8/29/2021. Can't wait.

Merry Christmas and wishes for a Happy Healthy New Year

PS - Many of us look to those who have started this before us, to see how they are doing, and what advice they have, what treatment they have, etc.

When I was in treatment, I did a search, and made a list of individuals with similar chemotherapy and treatment. I have always kept that list, and usually I can still see those people posting every few years, even now. These individuals were already at the 5 year mark when I made the list (and they included individuals of various stages.)  I started with the 5 year mark for the list, so I could have some confidence going in - because that's what I heard about the most at diagnosis, the milestones we achieve to get to the first 5 year benchmark.  I found it helped me to affirm I could do it, when I see that they had.  I also searched for survivors with very similar pathologies (ex:  type of treatment, radiation or no radiation, nodes or margins, lumpectomy or mastectomy, etc.) but that was not part of the list, I might have touched based with those people in private message to get their thoughts on things or ask for any certain recommendations.  I found that seeing someone online with something similar, who was doing well, helped give me hope.  But from the original list many of those individuals are 14+ years to 28+ years.  I feel hopefully science will do better at catching up and tracking all long-term survivors, so we can start to see really strong numbers for 15, 30, and 40 years.  They are out there!   Treatment and nutrition and strategy and overall care management and survivorship has improved significantly over the years. 

Wishing all here a happy and HEALTHY new year!

Debra and Sylvia, - thank you for keeping us updated and encouraged!. You have been a source of support for so many here!

These boards have been my "go to" place and my most understanding confidents are here!

With all best wishes, and hugs, from NYC!

anotherNYCGirl,

You deserve a hallelujah as well. Congrats on doing well - surviving cancer and the worst covid hotspot. Thank goodness for you. Happy New year

Hi All. I'm a newbie to all of this. DIAGNOSIS: pT1bN0, stage IA grade 1 invasive ductal carcinoma of left breast, triple negative. I found out about a year ago that I have the BRCA2 gene mutation. I had my ovaries and tubes removed as preventive in July. I was going the path of althernating MRIs and mammograms every 6 months. At the first MRI in March there was a spot that we didn't consider too seriously because my mammograms have shown it for years and I was told not to worry about it. Mammogram in October showed nothing suspicious. The doctor ordered another MRI just to have something to compare the first with. Lo and behold, the spot had grown. Biopsy confirmed cancer, so In November I had a double mastectomy since I didn't want to deal with it recurring down the line. Friday I start chemo: Taxotere and Cytoxan every 3 weeks, x 4. I'm a little anxious about it. Did any of you change your diets? We eat a of of meat and potatoes and I'm trying to be healthier about choices now.