Triple negative beyond 2 years- What was your treatment?

I am just over 2 years out and I had a lumpectomy.

I had a 2 cm tumor, node neg, grade 3.

I did AC followed by Taxol and 33 rads.

I was a triple negtive, had a lumpectomy and rads, and am 9 years out from treatment and so far, so good.

Hugs, Shirlann

2 and one half years out.

lumpectomy, chemo, rads.  One bastard positive node

AC x 4 then taxotere x 4,   33 rads.

Nicole, we all freak a little over aches and pains.  That's just a part of the new normal.  Most mastectomy patients don't have rads.  If you had lumpectomy, rads is a given.

My onc follows standard of care.  Since I am early stage, no scans unless symptomatic.

Watson

I have a friend who is a triple neg. 20+ year survivor. Her treatment was a mastectomy.

That's it.

It's such a crapshoot. And she came up very lucky - somebody has to. As I've said before, I try to rub up against her regularly hoping I'll get a bit of it, too.

Lisa

I will be 2 yrs. this Halloween. I ended up with bilateral and all my nodes taken from all 3 regions, which they could get to safely.I had tumors throughout and nodes not looking the way they should.  More tumors showed up on my Pet under my collar bone, so 3c. I had aggressive protocol chemo and 38 aggressive rads with 27 aimed at my collar bone. I do have a hacking cough sometimes due to the rads.I will be having my genetic counseling on my 2 yr. and a Pet in November.Pray for me. My dr's couldn't believe nothing showed up for my 1 1/2, so I'd like to keep amazing them. Thanks for listening.

Sadie-Rose..that is wonderful to hear that you are a 4-year survivor! Gives us all a lot of hope.

Also, Shirlann, of course!

Godsgirl...you seem to be on the right road..2 years out. That is great. Wishing you many more years of amazing your doctors!

I've had no PET or other scans besides mammo and US. I am going to request digital mammo and/or breast MRI for the next annual mammo because I have dense breasts. They've never offered it to me but the radiologist this time said she couldn't really tell what was there because of the fibrosis. Makes one wonder...

Thank you for all of your information.  Being new to cancer and these chat boards has offered alot of great information. And of course, GREAT PEOPLE to share stories and experiences with that understand the rest of us when we are having our "down, crappy" days.

I just take one day at a time as if it where my last.  Definately don't leave anything for chance these days......LOL!!!

And now with my hair coming back, I have to start buying shampoo and conditioner again.....hair dye to cover up the gray.......razors for my legs, and BRAS!!!!.......now that I put this on paper (sort of) chemo was saving my husband some money..........LOL!!!!

I can't tell you how much all of us who are undergoing chemo right now take courage and hope from all of you posting.   I was just wondering if genetic testing played any role in your decision to go for mastectomy rathen than lumpectomy (if you were a candidate for it).  I'm waiting for the BRCA results (had no prior family history with BC but I did it because of the strong association between triple negative and BRCA+).

Hey ladies -

I always love to hear people's stories. 

I think I might be one of the people that you were talking about saying it is all random.  Maybe I didn't explain myself very well....

My own thoughts are that the statistics of a group actually have no bearing on my personal cancer journey.  With all the factors involved: the genetic make up of my cancer, my treatment, my immune system, my nutrition and vitamins, maybe even my state of mind, I don't think I can foresee how my course with this cancer will end.  I hope in time the docs can do a simple blood test and tell us who needs exactly what treatment.

Statistically, I should at least have mets and most likely be dead right now. 

My oncologist said something to me early on that has really stuck with me.  I was begging her to give me some hope because my odds sucked.  She took my hand and told me that she just didn't know.  She said that either my cancer cells would behave and die with all the treatment or they wouldn't.  She said there was no way to predict whose cells would be cooperative and DIE and whose wouldn't.  THAT is the crap shoot.  Either the weapons we have available to us will work, or they won't....no matter what the statistics say.

Statistics have a use.  They can tell you what treatment plan will give you the best odds of survival....but they can't tell you empirically if they will work for your specific cancer cells.

SO...once I picked my treatment plan I asked my doc to chuck all the stats out the window and treat me as if I was going to live.  God bless her, she did.  I found my hope after I quit obsessing about numbers.

Does any of this make sense?  I am not saying we should stick our heads in the sand and not gather information, including what the statistics say.  I just think we need to acknowledge that NO ONE knows what any individual person's results will be....that is the crap shoot.

I went in for my check-up last week.  My doc asked if she could share a statistic with me.  I told her yes and she smiled when she said for the first time since this whole damn thing started the odds were now in my favor to live five years.  We had a good laugh about it and went on....but really, that statistic, as reassuring as it should be, really doesn't mean anything either.

I guess it is a matter of perspective.  If gathering stats gives you hope and makes you feel better, then by all means, do it...but if you are one of the ladies who only got BAD news from the stats...feel free to chuck the whole works out the window.  No one knows how cancer will react in your body...no one.  Someone has to beat the odds and I am determined to try. 

Deb C

I was 2 years this past July and all's well so far.  I had a lumpectomy with rads, and TAC x 6.  My lump was 1.7cm, grade 3.  Node status unknown because of location of lump.

Thanks, Shannon

the more I read the more confused I get about triple negative diagnosis.  I am only 4 months out from my last chemo and I had bilateral mastectomy.  My worry is that it will metastisized elsewhere and be worse then it was before.  I am also BRCA negative which really tells me that are not sure why I got breast cancer to begin with.  I was healthy, active and exercised religiously, then BAM!!!  a 3.2 cm lump shows up "over night".  It was only 4 weeks from my annual physical to my breast cancer diagnosis.  Why me?? What did I do?  What could I have done different?  Then they paint this gloom and doom picture because of my age, the stage, the grade and NOW triple negative on top of it!!  I am more angry NOW then I was when I was going through my treatments.  I am not one to just sit back and wait for anything and from what I am reading all over the place, it's just a matter of time before recurrance.

This is driving me crazy!!! 

Thank you Watson,

This is my first time going through breast cancer.  I have not been out of treatment that long.  Don't get me wrong, I am getting out and living life again since my completion of chemo.  But it is always in the back of my mind, the what if's.  I believe that is just human nature kicking in.

I am just asking questions from the women here that HAVE gone through this before.  Knowledge is power.