Negative Estrogen Receptor Result

Ok-First of all, welcome.  You have come to a wonderful support family. 

Has your onc. mentioned if you are also her2neu positive or negative?  If you are negative, then you are indeed a "triple negative."  

There are a few ways to look at that.  Triple negatives do not have "after" treatment like Tamoxifen or Herceptin.  That can be scary to think about, but the good news is that triple negatives respond VERY well to chemo. 

Sounds like you are on Adrimyacin (if my chemo brain allows me to remember correctly.  Right, ladies?  The "red" one isn't Cytoxan....).   Anyway, the usual chemo cocktail is ACT.  Some doctors change it up a bit for us triple negatives. 

For me, I had the Adrimyacin and Cytoxan, but my oncologist wasn't happy with the initial response I was having.  My tumor was shrinking only a bit.  So, he added Carboplatins to the Taxol mix for me, and my tumor shrunk almost 99 percent. 

I know this is so scary and stressful for you.  I also had negative lymph nodes.  However, I chose to be as agressive as I could, because I have no way of knowing if one tiny little cancer cell remained in my body after having chemo and then surgery.  I got maximum radiation as well. 

So, the treatment recommendation for triple negative is really to do the chemo.  You probably do feel like crap right now, but you will finish treatment, and begin to feel better and better each day. 

I am 2.5 years since dx. and I am doing fine.  You will be too.  It's not easy, but you can DO this. 
Love and prayers, Deb

Hello again, It's so odd/funny/ironic that you compare cancer to pregnancy.  When I was diagnosed, we were trying to get pregnant with our second child.  I was CONVINCED I was pregnant. 

I had all the signs.  I was nauseous, really tired, and my breasts hurt.   Well, one breast hurt.  The cancer one. 

I tell everyone that we thought we were going to have a child, and we gave birth to cancer. 

It is so much like pregnancy, without the joy of a baby at the end.  However, there is the joy of GOOD HEALTH to follow. 

Good for you in deciding to do the other treatments.  I know it is hard, but YOU CAN DO THIS. 

I ate lots of carb-rich stuff during tx.  I ate anything resembling or containing potato, any sort of bread, rice, bagels, etc.  I would not/could not eat anything more spicy than a little salt/pepper. 

I hated drinking my water, but forced myself to.  Everything tasted like pennies to me, including water.  Try adding a little lemon, or even eating lots of watermelon!  Whatever it takes! 

Are you taking any anti-nausea meds?  Ativan was a godsend for me.  It calms you down, and helps your appetite!   I had a horrible allergic reaction to compazine (I couldn't control my arms or legs!), but was given something else to take opposite the ativan(I can't remember what it was now! Stupid chemo brain....). 

Hang in there.  Love and prayers, Deb

The thing about triple negative breast cancer is that, since it is negative for the things they have treatment for, there is not treatment other than chemotherapy.  Having no positive lymph nodes is great, but cancer can also spread through the bloodstream.  Do the chemo, and live for a long, long time!

Tell them about the nausea.  You shouldn't get so sick that you are throwing up.  There are drugs for that.

Glad to hear you find some humor in this stuff!

The women have all said what needs to be said. Triple negs need to do chemo even if there was no spread "even" to the lymph nodes and even if you had a very small tumor. It seems that the tumor size and spread to lymph nodes is not really as important with triple negs.

Be sure to let your doctor know about the vomitting. You should get whatever is the best thing to take, to delete that part.  Also..be sure to drink lots of water. It's important for many reasons. If water isn't good for you (I still can't always drink plain water), add a touch of juice to the water to give it some flavor. I colored mine with cranberry juice and I also drank tea...herbal tea. Reg. tea and coffee don't count. You can drink them but you still need to drink water..lots of it..

Good luck. It's not easy but you can do it!