Topic: Poll for Triple Positives

I'll start! Chances are unfortunately not in your favor as far as avoiding chemo. I am early stage as well and am basically on TCH( taxotere, carboplatin herceptin)  x 4 (my protocol is a little different- but for all intents and purposes). I was told chemo is a given regardless of stage for HER2 pos. It is an aggressive cancer whether in lymphs or not (mine was not-  happy dance  Herceptin is usually given with chemo initially and then every 3 weeks for a year. I believe the general protocol everywhere is that they do not give Herceptin only for early stage initial diagnosis bc.

Hope that helps. I'm almost done with the chemo part and I JUST cannot wait!

Ellen

I did ACx4 and then Tx4 with Herceptin. After the Taxol finished I had my Herceptin every 3 weeks till Nov 2008. 52 weeks total, and 17 infusions.

Wow...that's alot...lol

those numbers mean how many treatments. Some woman get it every 2 weeks and some every 3 weeks

Ex. ACX4....AC 4 times.My regime was every 3 weeks.

Thats right!

I think they took into consideration the size of the tumor, tumor grade(3), Her 2+ and my age.

The results that came our of the original Her2 findings in 2005, were done with AC and Taxol, to show a reduction of recurrence by ~50%. Since then , they have also seen the same results with the TC combo. The AC comes with a slight increase of risk of heart failure, but the docs monitor you. I was young,with no heart disease in my family and healthy(besides BC) so my onc was ok with doing the AC. My heart is fine. I finished chemo over a year ago. A woman who maybe a bit older, might do the TC.

And yes...evryone looses their hair. Sickness, it all depends.Some woman can work through their chemos, others have it a little rougher. But you are not sick all the time. Just for 2-4 days after your chemo.Then you feel ok. Fatigue was the big issue for me. I didn't throw up once.

Triple positive+ ER, PR and HER2 positive

I was triple positive and only supposed to do TCx4 with Herceptin, then my oncoDx score came back significantly high at 50 so they altered my treatment to A/C x 4 dose dense (every two weeks) with Taxol and Herceptin for 12 weeks, and now I am on Herceptin every week until September. I tried every 3 weeks but I am allergic and could not tollerate the higher dose they give every 3 weeks. Triple positive is not thought to be as bad with the discovery of Herceptin. We have hormonals for the ER/PR and Herceptin for the HER2 so there is something for all of it.

HI. dx 2/05 : had mastectomy ( bilateral) 4/9 nodes positive.  Had AC x 4 and then Herceptin went off trial just a few days before  I started Taxol so had Herceptin x 4 with taxol ( every 2 weeks) and then every three weeks for a year. Had 25 rads.  Then took vaccine in Seattle at U of Washington.  NED-- 4.25 year survivor.  Had ooph and have taken Arimidex almost 4 years already.  I'm 44 years old now.

Wishing you the best. Take care.  Wendy

chiquita- the SE's are different for different people.  It depends on many things.  For example, many people get aches and pains in their joints because of the lack of estrogen. Someone of an age that doesn't have any arhtritis in their joints would not get the aches and pains. Every person is really an individual and has a unique response.

The best thing to do is to try it and see what YOUR se's are.  If it doesn't work well for you, you can try some of the other AI's.  Everyone has to do what is best for them. I've done Arimidex and now Aromasin; other friends have gone from Aromasin onto Arimidex.  It's all different.

I hope it all works well for you.

Mitch

Did you have a mastectomy or bilateral mastectomy? After the call from the surgeon yesterday that pretty much my entire right breast is involved (I am sort of small) and per the MRI they are thinking the lymph nodes are also involved I have opted for bilateral mastectomy next Wednesday. They are putting the port in right away for chemo also.

I am triple positive, Stage 1, and received TCH x 6 (every three weeks) and then Herceptin every 3 weeks for the rest of the year--finished in Aug 08. I had a bilateral mastectomy and oopherectomy and am on Arimidex for 5 years.

My understanding is that Herceptin works synergistically with chemo for a better outcome. I had cancer in both breasts, so I chose the most aggressive tx recommended by my doctors.

Good luck to you on Wednesday!  Come back and let us know how you're doing.

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Hi everyone,

I have been told that triple positive is the best diagnosis.  I wonder what they use for criteria.  What have others heard?

Jo Anne

Hi Everyone!

I was dx Jan. 7, 2009 with metastatic invasive lobular cancer- right breast-lymph node involvement.  Tumor was 5 cm+ so started with ac every two weeks for four treatments, then taxol x 12.  My neice asked me for some info so I was reading the original path report and decided to speak to the onc about the results. 

If I hadn't asked about my her2 status they wouldn't have noticed that I was on the margin line and they re-tested and found me to be her2+ so they then started me on Herceptin. 

 We must watch out for our own heatlh.  This was a pretty huge slip. 

 So I am triple positive.  I decided on a bilateral masectomy and that was a very hard decision.  Turns out that I did have cancer in the left breast at the time of the surgery so that was a good decision.  I only found this out last week when I was reading the path report issued after the surgery.  I was so out of it at the time that I don't even know if I read this report but my other niece recently asked me for some info and I was re-reading thru everything.  So two different nieces have asked me questions that have led to some startling findings for me.  As I know that the cancer doesn't jump or travel from one breast to the other I am really freaked.  I tried to talk to my sister, a nurse yesterday, and she kind of shut me down.  She obviously couldn't deal with this. 

Having the first diagnosis was a bomb shell.  Finding out about the other breast three months after my bilateral and having finished 6 weeks of radiation and realizing that I had this cancer at the time of surgery after five months of chemo and herceptin was troubling for me to say the least.  This is on top of having the herceptin weekly for three months.  Help!  The chemo and herceptin did shrink the orignal tumor from 5 cm to 1.5 cm which was huge!!!!!!  But why did it allow cancer to grow in the other breast?????????

So.............I am freaked.  All this medicine to kill cancer and I ended up with cancer in the other breast while on same medicine.  Then being told am disease free and yet had six weeks of radiation, more herceptin til next Mar and on arimidex.  Am I overreacting here>>>>????  I have been doing great with all this so far til this and now am bowled over with it.

So triple positive is good.  We do have the drugs, thank the Lord.  I kept hearing triple negative and thought that was what I had but I have triple positive and that is a good thing.  Go figure.

This whole cancer thing is mind boggling.  Anyone out there???  Help!!! Calm my nerves.  sooth my soul!!!!!!!

Hey suepen....I will send you a link to the Aussie forum. Often helps to chat to locals..we have quite a few from Qld.

I am in Melbourne.

jezza

 Hey Jap:

Being triple positive means you have options with drugs.  Triple negs don't have as many options so out of the two yours is something they are currently treating.  That is my understanding as I am the same and was getting confused so I did a lot of reading.

Keep good thoughts!!!