Less chance of reoccurance after time for triple negs????

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Labgal
Labgal Member Posts: 62
I have read the longer you stay cancer free after treatment the less chance you have of reoccurance with triple neg? Has anyone else read this as well?Undecided

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  • Teresa44
    Teresa44 Member Posts: 56
    edited September 2007

    I have also read this.  It will be 3 years for me on 9-15 so I hope this is true.

    God Answers Prayers

    Teresa44

  • fd411
    fd411 Member Posts: 398
    edited September 2007

    I've read this as well; if you don't have a triple neg recurrence or mets within the first 2 years out, the chances that it will happen decreases even more. My mets happened a year after my initial diagnosis.

  • sharebear
    sharebear Member Posts: 332
    edited September 2007

    I'm hoping that's true about mets. I just finished my chemo yesterday. Yeeeehaaaa! I'll have a chest x-ray, ct and bone scan in 3 weeks and if that's clear I'll have scans every 3 months for 3 years. I asked him what after 3 years and he said he plans on practicing for the next 40 years and he plans on us be good friends till he's done practicing. I figure I'm 44 now, if I make it that long great! Of course, that means I'll still be seeing an onocologist in some form or another, but I'd still be here!

    Sharon

  • Bimmer
    Bimmer Member Posts: 248
    edited September 2007

    I have read that. When Diane first got cancer we felt better as each month and year went by. After 5 years the doctor pretty much gave her a clean bill of health. After nine years we were sure we'd never see that demon again..

    Then Diane got a lump in the other breast. More than 9 years after the first one. This time after surgery, chemo and radiation, it came back again within months. Last September 5th, they dx'ed her as Stage IV. Now this cancer is consuming her from within.

    She's tried every kind of chemotherapy out there. The doctors are now down to thier "last ditch" efforts to prolong her life.

    We are hoping that now that she is coinsidered borderline her2/neu+ that Herceptin will buy her some very valuable time..

    The last ditch after that is that is we have applied for humanatarian use of a new and unproven drug called NEXAVAR.

    We just want a little more time.....

  • TenderIsOurMight
    TenderIsOurMight Member Posts: 4,493
    edited March 2008

    Dear Bimmer,



    I remember your post well weeks ago, when you updated us on Diane's condition. I've not forgotten your wife and you in my mental list of special people I give moments to in quiet times during my day.



    How extra difficult it must be for you both to have gotten as far out with ER negative disease, the joy and hope that goes along with such, and then to suffer such a tragic re-involvement with the disease as you both have. How I wish I could carry some of your load, one person for another. How fruitless are these words, other than to let you and Diane know that I suffer, in my own way, because of your suffering.



    Life is not fair, and what has happened to you and Diane with this disease is tragic. We learn to value the small moments together with such intensity when such occurs, and look back forlornly on eons of wasted, non-consequential, unconnected times spent, which then, in our naivety, appeared purposeful. The focus which comes from breast cancer's reach is perhaps one of the few positive and most cherished lessons I have learned from the disease, enabling simpler, more relevant acts of kindness and action. Surprisingly, or human nature being what it is, non surprisingly, this de-cluttering, more diamond -sharpened focus on life's true meaning and on fellow (wo)man has come in spurts of insight allowing careful forging of a close relationship, not just sudden awakenings.



    William Shakespeare, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemingway, Phillip Roth, come to mind as great writers on the human state. But you, Bimmer, come equally to my mind as a wonderful, loving husband who now is traversing a so painful, focused path. I just hope you know, truly feel, we are there in mind and spirit as you and Diane traverse your difficult journey together.



    "Love sought is good, but giv'n unsought is better"

    Shakespeare, Twelfth Night



    Tender

  • Traci-----TripNeg
    Traci-----TripNeg Member Posts: 2,298
    edited September 2007

    Tender,

    Your post just made me cry hard. I guess I needed one cuz I just cried a barrell of tears.

    Bimmer,

    I'm happy to see your post although, I wish it contained better news about you and Diane. You are in my thoughts constantly.

    It's bedtime for me now. I wish all of you peaceful dreams.

    Sincerely,

    Traci

  • HollyHopes
    HollyHopes Member Posts: 497
    edited September 2007

    I have read the same stuff about being 2 years out and 'home free'.  Diane and Bimmer give me pause.  I am hoping and praying for all of us that we stay disease free.  This is so hard.

  • peggy
    peggy Member Posts: 4
    edited September 2007

    my name is peggy , im very new to this sight and from what i have read about tnbc scares me so bad, i was dx one year ago and nothing has come back , and my dr said i had a 98% survival rate , i was stage one and no nodes and im tnbc, and grade 3. from what i have read that is really bad , i pray for u wife bimmer and i pray for all of us tnbc.

  • playwriter
    playwriter Member Posts: 316
    edited October 2007

    my onc said that if it doesn't come back within 5 years, it probably won't.

  • sharebear
    sharebear Member Posts: 332
    edited October 2007

    Mine did come back 12 years later. I was first dx in 1995 and again this year. I had a bi-lateral this time and I'm now hoping I don't get mets. I'm now 44. The odds aren't great.

    Sharon

  • tos
    tos Member Posts: 376
    edited October 2007

    Hi Cathey, yes I have read about the 5 yrs.

    I made it 4 1/2 yrs before being diagnosed again this year.

    I'm wondering, for those who have had bc come back does your "5 year" time period start over again?  Anybody know?  I know the 5 year thought isn't set in stone but the docs seem to use this frame of time alot.  Thanks

  • Shirlann
    Shirlann Member Posts: 3,302
    edited October 2007

    Hi Bimmer, what happened here is, the original cancer did not come back, she got another cancer.  This is the one that meted on her.

    This is always possible, we are not guaranteed of no more cancer ANYWHERE just because we have had one cancer.  As with anyone, and probably more likely for us, we can have 2, 3 or more cancers.

    She just happened to get her 2nd one in the other breast.  It most likely had nothing to do with her first cancer, other than she is more prone to cancer of any kind.  I understand, I think, it was NOT a recurrence or metastasis of the original cancer.  Of course, I do not know this, this would show up in the path information.

    So the notion or idea that you are pretty safe from mets from a Triple Negative diagnosis after a number of years, still is true, but of course, you are not safe from ALL cancers.

    Hugs, Shirlann 

  • ravdeb
    ravdeb Member Posts: 3,116
    edited November 2007

    Galnok..I think that if you get a recurrence you do not start counting again. Recurrence/mets don't have time frames IMHO. I do think that if you get a new primary that you can begin counting separately for that one. It shouldn't be counted with your first primary, I would think. They would be separate entities even though your onc may treat it differently depending on the type of new primary (receptors) and what kinds of chemo you were on before.

    Any thoughts?

  • tos
    tos Member Posts: 376
    edited November 2007

    Thank you Ravdeb, what you say makes sense.

    My new bc this year on the other side is considered a new primary so I guess I am back to the 5 yr count.  Triple neg both times.

  • cheekymonkey
    cheekymonkey Member Posts: 86
    edited November 2007

    Hi ladies...

    I just wanted to say that my onc. told me the same thing....5 years w/o recurrence and I'm considered cured. I did do a prophylactic mastectomy 2 years after the first, and they found some precancerous cells in the other breast, and they were completely different than the kind they initially found. I plan on living well beyond 5 years, and this just proved that getting rid of both breasts is a way to hopefully make that happen. (My surgeon and onc. said that if I hadn't gotten rid of my other breast, I was sure to have BC again in a year or two! 

  • sharebear
    sharebear Member Posts: 332
    edited November 2007

    My Onc. does refer to mine as a recurrence. I'm assuming according to the path report. He even went as far as telling me this was my cure (AC and T).  If this didn't work.........well that's another issue. He also told me I will always be seeing him for the rest of my life. Unlike the first time I was told after 5 years cured.

    Currently I am NED. All scans showed cleared this month.

    Sharon

  • ravdeb
    ravdeb Member Posts: 3,116
    edited November 2007

    cheekymonkey...that is why I'm pushing for a breast mri. They won't cover it. I've got my onc on their back now. We'll see what will be but my biggest thing is that if they could just find the stuff early then maybe I wouldn't have to go through chemo again. I almost died from the chemo.

     I feel I need the MRI because I have dense breasts. They won't cover it because...I have no family history of bc. HUH? And who am I???

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