found out yesterday triple negative

Dear Carroll,

Welcome too our little group...Please be sure to read the thread"Where are all the triple negs?" you will see many brave ladies who beat this thing.  I glad you were diagnosed so early. You now have the upper hand in this fight you are in.

What is the Grade of your tumor? This will help tell you how aggressive your doctor needs to be with treament.

Keep us posted.  This area is quite right now.  But we are all "lurking" around if you need us.

Living in Hope,

FlaLady

Carrol,

Even though you're starting out with triple neg status, your diagnosis shows the cancer was caught early (GREAT news!). Each person reacts differently to chemo - some breeze through, others have more difficulty. But one thing is for sure: there are tons of meds out there to help you with nausea and other side effects, and just plan to give yourself plenty of time to get through the treatment. Four treatments actually will go by quickly; the hard part is NOW. Waiting and not knowing. Check with the "Help Me Get Through Chemo" or "Starting Chemo" topics. You will find many ladies just beginning the process like you are. There is also a triple negative breast cancer website (tnbcfoundation.org) where you might find even more contacts and/or information.



Sorry you had to join our group, but you have every reason to be extremely hopeful. One positive thing about triple neg cancer is that chemo is usually more effective against cancer cells than ER/PR+ cancer.



Best of luck to you. Take good care of yourself, and let us know how you are doing.



Jeanne

Hi Carrol,

I too am triple negative (much more advanced than you), and started chemo this week. I'm feeling pretty tired, so make sure you get plenty of rest on the third and fourth days of your treatment. It's not as bad as I feared it would be though, and I'm the biggest wuss on earth. If I can do it, believe me, so can you!

Come here for advice, support, or simply to vent. There will always be someone to listen and respond with kindness, knowledge, and patience.

Hugs,

Annie

Carly...why dont you get a second opinion...I had exact same dx...trip neg grade 3 stage One ect...and I begged if having chemo would be the best...they say YES YES YES...however maybe your mum is a little older than me...one of thier reasons was I was young and fast growing cells etc ....PLEASE GET YOUR MUM THE BEST OPINIONS XXXX It is not too late xxx  How old is your mum xxx

I also had deep margins...so maybe they wanted to mop them bootface cells xxxu

Hi Ladies,

I just finished my last chemo on Tuesday. Today I am feeling the SE of the Taxotere. Chemo is rough but we can get through it. I found the AC tolerable. In fact, I felt so good my first round, that I went out and did a ton of gardening (transplanting, bulbs, weeding, etc.) As a result, I began running a fever and I had no WBC. I had to take Levaquin (the only time I got sick on chemo) and was ok in about 3 days. I learned that even if I feel good, I have to TAKE IT EASY!!!. The last round of AC, my RBC went way down and I could not breath. Then I got an upper respiratory infection which made it really bad. It was at Christmas and I could not go to my mom's and see all the family together. Too many little kids with germs. but the 2nd and 3rd rounds were not bad at all. No nausea, little fatigue. Watching out for germs was the most I really had to do.

Now Taxotere was hard. I was told it was going to be very easy. I had the mouth sores, severe edema in my upper torso, arms, face, neck and then it began in my legs on the 3rd round. It got so bad they had to postpone my 4th round a week after checking my heart. I also got tearing of the eyes really bad. The worst is the extreme fatigue, breathlessness, and muscle pains. I got through it all and I cried and screamed and said I would never take another tx but I did. In fact, they were talking about leaving off the 4th tx and I begged them not to. I want all the tx to beat this monster of a disease.

I figure I will be swollen for about 3-6 months. The fatigue was slightly beginning to lift on the 4th week but is back full out now. So, I guess in about 2 months I'll be feeling better.

Hang in there ladies, and if it gets really bad....there is a bitch session on the Chemo threads. "I bitch, I moan, I groan". It is a great place to get stuff of your chest. (no pun intended).

BTW, I had bone cancer 21 years ago, and chemo was really hard back then because they had no good anti-nausea drugs (I took thorazine suppositories) and I threw my guts up for 3 days. They did not give steroids and I would stay in bed for days at a time. There was no Neulasta or Aranesp and I was hospitalized several times for infections, transfusions, and had a Hickman catheter that had to be cleaned and replaced 4 times with just a local anesthetic. I had A back then and have actually gone over the lifetime max of A. But my MUGA is still good.  

So, when chemo gets you down, remember, "this too shall pass." And somedays all you can do is hang on. Get help and support to hang on. I thought it would never end. And now it has. I just have the SE from my last round to go and I am free of chemo! I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is so pretty and bright and as soon as I get my energy, I am running to it!

Debbie