Mom's recurrence/triple neg this time

FirstEdition
FirstEdition Member Posts: 24

Also posted this is metastatic forum: Hello everyone, I have been following this website casually for a few months and finally decided to register, for my Mom's sake an, I admit, partially for my own also. Briefly, my Mom's story: She had masectomies in 1996 and 97 respectively, adriam/cytoxan with the first one, has done fine since then(other than lymphadema in left arm), until this June she started getting winded and having trouble breathing, went to hospital, scans showed fluid around heart and lungs. We thought it was a complication from her aortic valve replacement surgery the year before, but lo and behold the fluid had breast cancer cells in it. She ended up having a pericardiocentisis and thorocentesis to drain the fluid, and had to have one more thorocentesis before the taxol/carbo kicked in and has been doing real well on it for 12 weekly doses. Just today though she was having some faint signs of the old symptoms again, and her ankles are trying to swell a bit. I live with her and am very involved in her care and she leans heavily on me sometimes(and vice versa). We had scans last week and see the onc tomorrow, supposed to do 6 more doses of chemo probably. But does fluid buildup mean the chemo has quit working? That is the natural fear...she is triple negative also which limits her treatment options we know. Her first cancers were hormone positive, now this one is triple neg, weird. So far at least the ct scans show know lesions or lymph node involvement and bone scan looked clean also. I'm almost afraid to post that for fear of jinxing scan results tomorrow! My mom's name is Lavon. Bless you all, thanks, Rod.

Comments

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

    First Edition, welcome to this site. I am sorry your mom is having more problems with this nasty beast.



    You and your family are in my prayers and hopefully, you will have many years together.



    Gentle hugs, Shirlann

  • FloridaLady
    FloridaLady Member Posts: 2,155
    edited November 2007

    First Edition,

    How rare is your mom's case?  I have not heard anything like it.  I would think the fluid would be do to heart issues not cancer.  Cancer does not have fluid or and it doesn't draw it to the area.  Wow! What a unusually case.  Since the bc has not attached to anything yet hopefully has not progessed to mets.

    Keep us posted.

    Living in hope,

    FlaLady

  • FirstEdition
    FirstEdition Member Posts: 24
    edited December 2007

    HI FlaLady, it was a shock when w found out the fluid was due to the cancer. The onc told us the body was producing fluid in response to those cancer cells. Apparently the cancer came back in the space between the lungs and chest wall. As of the latest ct scan of chest about a month ago showed no fluid around lungs however, and tumor markers down. She's go three more chemo sessions, then hopefully a nice long break! Rod.

  • jeanne46
    jeanne46 Member Posts: 1,941
    edited December 2007

    When breast cancer recurs, it can sometimes transform from ER/PR+ to negative. That was my case. But I do want to reassure you that although your Mom may not be helped by hormonals (like tamoxifen or arimidex or femara - the latter two usually referred to as aromatase inhibitors) or targeted therapy for her2 overexpression, there are many many other types of chemotherapy drugs that can be used to treat triple negative disease. And yes, a drug that has proven successful can become ineffectual after a certain amount of time. The idea is that by monitoring you mom with scans and blood tests and physical exams, her oncologist can stay one step ahead by switching her to a different cocktail of drugs.



    Best of luck to you and your Mom . Do let us know how she is doing. And take care of yourself as well.

    You are a wonderful caring daughter. How lucky your Mom is that you are her caregiver, too.

  • FirstEdition
    FirstEdition Member Posts: 24
    edited February 2008

    Hi all, Mom has finished her 6 months of taxol and carbo, and had an excellent response to it. No significant fluid, and one of the tumor markers in in normal range, and the cae513? is close to normal, whereas it was in the several hundreds to begin with. Onc wants to keep checking her every 3 months. Thanks for everybody's prayers, and I also give thanks for this wonderful website. By the way Jeanne, I am a Son, not a daughter, :)

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