Calling all TNs
Comments
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Hi browerl....you are having the same treatment as me. Did your tumor shrink much with the chemo? I finish up taxol on dec. 27th and have surgery January 24th with reconstruction. I plan on taking 3 weeks off work. Hope that is enough. Any tips you can give me would be great!
Bilateral: thanks for the positive note. Always good to hear.0 -
hope yes my tumor was gone after chemo no evidence at all when they did surgery. I can not believe you are only taking off 3 weeks from work! My surgery was 3 weeks ago and there is no way I am ready to go back to work. I hope you have a desk job. I work with special needs middle school children that I would have to lift out of wheelchairs and that is not happening for a while. I will be out of work for 8 weeks. I am just getting to the point that I can lift my arms over my head. I started occupational therapy last week to help loosen up my muscles.
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Browerl... Yikes, maybe I should take more. I knew I have talked with you before because I remember you telling me what your job was. I am the fiscal clerk at a middle school so yes, I am sitting most of the time. When I do go back , it will be for half days.
I will just see how I am doing and go from there. The beauty of working in a school is you can get a sub to come in. At least in my district I can.
Do you not start physical therapy until after the drains are gone?0 -
I think my chemotherapy is A/C????
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BilateralBeauties--THANK YOU so much for posting that information about your friend. These are the types of stories that give me hope and inspiration.
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HopeFaithCourage - A/C is pretty standard treatment for TNBC.
Hopex3 - it would be unusual, I think, to start physical therapy while you still have drains.
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HopeFaith: My one piece of advice for chemo: Take the anti nausea meds exactly as told... and drink lots of water - 8-10 glasses a day the day before, the day of and the day after chemo. (okay that's 2 piece of advice, lol)
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hope-you can not do anything until the drains come out, but mine only stayed in for 1 week.
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My heart is breaking, watching the coverage of the shooting at the Elem. School in CT.
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Horrible, horrible loss of innocent life....
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This is one to make you laugh for a change Bernie
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What a terrible thing to happen. My love and prayers to all of their families.
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Hi all - I just received my BRCA results today which are negative - which i am thankful for. After a deep exhale and sigh of relief, I thought I'd research recurrence rates and BRCA - From what I read rates of recurrence are even higher! Can this be true?
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I am so scared. I start chemo on Tuesday and I just feel so scared in general. I can barely look at my kids and not think morbid thoughts. Someone please help me.
Edited to add - i was er +/pr - /her2 - through the initial biopsy, oncotype dx results indicated TN.
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Jenjenl - I am so sorry you are having to go through this. I think you will feel much more comfortable with it, after you have one treatment behind you. The fear will lessen as well. Try to keep yourself busy... and stop in as often as you need to. We're all here holding your hand. Enjoy those little ones!
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Jenjenl - fear of the unknown is the worst... remember the first baby you delivered? I do and I remember how I didn't know exactly what to expect and I worried about the baby being OK and wondered if I could handle it. Here is a link to my blog with my details on my very first chemo day. I hope it helps you a little to know what to expect.
http://mch-breastcancer.blogspot.com/2011/06/first-chemo-day-one-down-seven-to-go.html
And a word of advice - drink, drink, drink. 96 ounces every day starting on the Monday before your first treatment. Water, tea, juice, juicy fruits (watermelon is awesome), soups, any kind of liquid counts, just be sure to do it. It will help wash the chemo out of your system as soon as possible and will ensure you don't get dehydrated. If they give you Emend, take it as directed. Don't try to "tough it out" - Emend is a miracle drug and will help prevent nausea. If they give you zofran or compazine, take it at the first sign of breakthrough nausea. And give yourself permission to rest.
Join the December 2012 chemo thread and come back here often so we can offer support!
Hugs,
Michelle
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breathe jenjenl...we understand. chemo is scary until you get that first one done! You can do it!! Just follow your docs advice and the advice of these fine ladies. Ask anything you need to know..someone will post and join a thread here for other ladies starting chemo too...you can really compare notes that way. best wishes to you and we will be there with yo every step
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Hi everyone,
I am so confused, happy but confused. Went to my Oncologist today turns out after final pathology report I am not TN. He said I did have some positive in my hormones, I guess the core biopsy didn't have enough tissue so when they ran the entire biopsy it showed positives. So my entire treatment plan changed, for the better I guess. Has anyone heard of this happening before?
Thank you all,
Carla
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Little Angels
When God calls little children
to dwell with Him above.
We mortals sometimes question
the wisdom of His love.
for no heartache compares with
the death of one small child,
who does so much to make our world
seem wonderful and mild.
Perhaps God tires of calling
the aged to His fold.
So He picks a rosebud
before it can grow old.
God knows how much we need them
and so He takes but few,
to make the land of Heaven
more beautiful to view.
Believing this is difficult
still somehow we must try.
The saddest word mankind know
will always be "Goodbye".
So when a child departs
we who are left behind,
must realize God loves children,
Angels are hard to find.
~Author Unknown0 -
carlads: I was initially diagnosed TN, but then it turned out I am weakly positive for PR (3/8). This means that I will start Tamoxifen after radiation, although its likely impact for me will be less than if I were ER+ or strongly PR+. My MO feels that anything that could improve my chances is worth a shot, unless the side effects outweigh the potential benefits in which case we will review.
For any of you who did Taxotere, how long did it take before you started to feel vaguely normal after treatment? I am now 3.5 weeks PFC and my legs feel like they have weights attached to them. I get out of breath even climbing the stairs and feel worse than I did during treatment. I hadn't expected this.
Such heartbreaking scenes coming from CT yesterday. My heart goes out to the parents of those children and the families of the other victims.
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Englishrose, I did Taxotere and suffered with joint pain and stiffness for months. This gradually went away. But on the whole, I think it takes about a year for the body to begin to feel "normal" again. And as for the mind and soul sometimes it takes longer! It has been 3 years since my last chemo tx. I am feeling good but have had to change up my routine and admit that i am also 3 years older.....the mind says yes to things and the body says "are you crazy?"
Wishing everyone a peaceful day. Welcome to the new girls. Come here often. We have lots of intelligent and funny girls here.
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Bernie...your poem is beautiful. I've been up since 3..steroids ...and just can't stop thinking of those kids. So sad! I can't be down about myself right now when that tragedy has happened to all those people.
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Just popped my 1st anti depression pill hope it doesn't take months to kick in since I am losing my freaking mind. Have a meeting with the head shrink end of december, hopefully that will help. I just can't make that corner from negative to positive yet and it's really starting to piss me off. I keep saying that once i go back to work (working from home) in January the social interations (although virtual) will help me with not having so much time during the day to think about cancer but I think about it just as much when I am with my kids at night and during the weekend.
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Jenjenl - I hope you are feeling better soon. Give yourself time love. I see you were just dx at the end of Oct. You will find your "new normal" - but it is going to take some time. Holding your hand...
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Good evening ladies, wow miss a week, miss a lot of posts! Welcome to all the newbies, sorry you are here, but it is a great board with lots of support.
There are so many amazing ladies here I just want to that everyone here for all the support, information and being a sounding board.Hugs to all!
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Jenjenl-My pathology from biopsy (community hospital) also indicated er+ by 75%. Pathology from lumpectomy (major university hospital) showed TN. Because of the discrepancy, I requested Oncotype test, which confirmed my TN status. It was an extremely stressful time for me, as I went from thinking I was looking at surgery, radiation, and tamoxifen for five years to surgery, chemo, and now considering the bmx following chemo, as I am BRCA+ and want to limit my risk of another TN breast reccurrence. I will tell you that the anticipation is much worse than the treatment itself. I completed my third round of TC yesterday and only have one left to go. I have tolerated it very well with minimal and tolerable side effects. You will do just fine and the ladies on this board all here to support you!
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Jenjen: I totally get where you are coming from. We all do. Like OBXK says, it's going to take time to eventually settle down and accept your new "normal"! I took Ativan once in the morning and twice at night in the beginning. I don't take it at all now! It is hard having cancer whether your TN or positive, especially when you have little ones. You will get through this. Your stats are good! Keep positive thoughts....you go girl and kick cancers ASS on Tuesday!
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Tlym (and others) Thanks for the information and support. We have very similar dx, except I am BRCA1 damn it
Good news is all is well for now with my other lady parts but they are going ba-bye in 2013.I am having a cocktail of Adriamycin, Cytoxan and Taxotere.
Now I regret not having lefty removed when I removed righty but the plan was always to remove lefty once I was done with chemo to assist with recon (drs advise, focus on critical path - prior to knowing I was TN and BRCA1+). So fearful of everything, every ache and pain....sigh!
Off to put my kids to bed...although it should be intersting since they are jacked up on cotton candy.
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