TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP
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tld—what I’ve read on this site is that normally your lashes are always falling out and being replaced here and there (like head hair), but chemo puts them all on the same schedule so they all fall out at once and then grow back in together. I’ve read this can happen a few times post-chemo but should start to get back to normal (only losing a few at a time) soon. At least I hope so. .
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Dang Suburbs ... I pray this infection goes away!
TLD2017 ... My brows and lashes remain different. As for the brows, the actually look more feminine and not like my Daddy's. I found a product at ULTA called "Gimme Brow." It is a small brush that colors the invisible brow hair. It was $24 and I thought that was expensive compared to a pencil but the effect is far more natural.
My lashes are just thinner and yes, they fell out several times. I use IT Mascara from ULTA. It gives great length.
Here is the deal ... it will most likely be a year from treatment before your body adjusts. I remember the Nurse Practitioner telling me the year timeline and I did not believe her. Well, it is a year and one month from my last Herceptin and I have nails again. I guess she was right.
Princess, one more question about your surgery date with some background first. We all have "anniversary dates" (i.e. date of diagnosis, date of surgery, date of treatment beginning and ending). Are you sure you want your surgery date associated with Thanksgiving? I guess I am focused on this because Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.
About bras ... for night time and other causal times, I wear the camisoles with the bra insert from Kohls' Junior department. I get them on sale and use a 30% off coupon. They wash well on delicate and I dry them on a dry rack. WhippetMom recommended them.
Vicky
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tid - I agree with Ingerp about cycle of losing lashes and brows. Pretty regular every 3 months they would be gone, come back, and then in 3 months all over again. I am 13 months post Taxol and 4 months post Herceptin. Been on anastrozole for a year, just switched to exemestane. The last time (2 weeks ago) I can see that lashes and brows thinned but didn't lose everything, hoping that is the trend now and getting back to normal.
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Hi CoachVicky, my surgery is on the 20th not on thanksgiving day. Although I will be hospitalized on thanksgiving day. I guess I will be mostly thankful for a successful surgery, right?
That was the earliest they could fix me in considering I decided to move the date forward, today was suppose to be my surgery date.
I just wanted to get back on HP and watch how things go and if celebrating thanksgiving at the hospital is the price i have to pay, it is so worth it
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suburb, i hope this clears up your infection finally.
As for eyelashes, mine seem to grow then fall out. Sucks cuz they seem to go right in my eye. Lol.
I was also told that your body will go through changes for at least a year or 2 depending on how much chemo and what kind.
I will say that I am loving my new hair.
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suburbs - man you've been through the ringer. I hope this is the end of your troubles.
shelabela - wat??? What kind of changes? I have not heard this!
I got a second opinion on doing rads at MD Anderson in Houston. This one went much better than the first. The only bad thing is that now I really want to do my radiation with the RO at MDA. Which means moving to Houston for six weeks. I can't decide which is crazier, doing six weeks of radiation 1000 miles from home or doing radiation with an RO I don't trust.
Well geez, when I put it that way...
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I am 8 days past my first treatment. I notice my head is itchy and my scalp burns when i comb my hair. i suppose this is a sign that I will be losing my hair. How long after the first treatment do most hair loss occur? A
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I will be meeting with the MO on Friday. My nurse navigator seemed surprised that my surgeon said I would need chemo, radiation, and the meds for ER+ and PR+. Is this an unusually treatment plan or normal? I had a lumpectomy with clear margins but with lymph node involvement.
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Cp7865,
As you can see from my profile, I had the same treatment as you are getting. My hair started shedding on day 12 and on day 16 I buzzed it very short because it was falling out so much. A tip from my chemo group is to use a lint roller on your buzzed hair to help remove the short hairs. Your head will actually be sore for a while during the hair loss. Best of luck to you and everyone else. Chemo sucks and is hard BUT it is also doable.
Annie60, if you update your diagnosis and make it public some of the very knowledge ladies on this thread can give you some information on what is normal.
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twiggyOR - thank you.
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Hey Annie60, sorry that you have to go through chemo like most of us did but the lymph node involvement makes it so. You will be fine.
Sending hugsand warmth your way❤️
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Annie60, yes, chemo will be very probably on the table, with Her2 positive and node involvement. you will discuss with your MO. It's very good you've got clear margins.
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hapa, i meant that your body will slowly change back to normal if that makes sense. Sorry didn't mean to scare. It's been 15 months since I finished chemo and I still have small set backs. Tired easy, catch colds easier, get chilled easier, My MO said it can take 2 years for the chemo to completely be gone. Crazy.
Cp7865, yes my head itched when my hair started to fall out.
Annie, make sure to take a notebook with you to take notes. Helped me a lot.
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Today is the three year anniversary of shaving my head. I waited til after chemo because I had a hard time letting go. But I wanted to share a then and now photo for the ladies who are just starting this process. You can get through this!
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Cp - what's happening with your hair right now is unfortunately normal.
Annie - chemo was not as bad as I thought it would be. I wouldn't do it for fun, but it's the best way to get rid of the most aggressive cancer cells (and possibly all the cancer cells) and so all the side effects are worth it! Good luck, and join a chemo thread for your month on this board. The ladies from my chemo thread and from this thread were more helpful a lot of times than my medical team, especially when it came to side effects that are less common.
shelabela - thanks for clarifying! You had me worried I was going to sprout a tail or something.
Tresjoli - you look great! Though if I'm being honest, you looked pretty good bald too.
I hope everyone's having a good Wednesday. I'm back to work today after six weeks off to recover from surgery. And I'm going to go into work today and talk to my boss about taking another six weeks off for radiation, lol!
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hapa - I had one of those conversations at work too - I took off for BMX with expanders surgery recovery but due to an additional four surprise surgeries burned through all of my 12 weeks of FMLA and self-elected short term disability insurance before chemo even started! Fortunately my workplace did an ADA accommodation and provided company paid long term disability insurance for the duration of chemo. I was fortunate that they were understanding about it and willing to work with me. Am I correct that I read you are thinking of going elsewhere for rads? If you do, and it is MDA, I believe they have a Hope Lodge (American Cancer Society hotel) that you may be able to stay in free of charge for the duration of treatment since you are coming from out of town.
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My surgeon said radiation targets what is in the breast and chemo targets everything else in the body. Just wondering if chemo goes after everything in the body, would it not also get what was left in the breast if anything? Why would I need radiation? Questions for the MO. Any suggestions on questions to ask the MO? This is like going to another country and not speaking the language .
Thanks for all the words of encouragement. You all have made a difference in my attitude!
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Tresjoli thanks so much for the pics—they are always inspiring!!
Annie—others can answer your question better than I can. I only know both chemo and rads reduce the probability of recurrence significantly so there must be two different mechanisms going on.
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Napa. I second what Special K said about local lodging options through the American Cancer Society. I know they do that here for patients who must travel quite a distance. Annie, you’ll get through it all just take it one step at a time. I tried to focus on surgery, then spent four months focused on chemo and now am amazed that I will soon be done with radiation. Now I focus on staying healthy to get as many Herceptin infusions as I can by March. Then it will be time for hormone blocking treatments. It is a very long haul indeed but everyone here will make it wasier
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Jstarling—are you not starting the AI until after you’re done with Herceptin? For some reason I thought I’d be starting shortly after I finish rads (and was a little surprised my MO didn’t bring it up the last time I saw her). Is that typical?
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Special K, Jstarling - yes, I am trying to get things in place to do my rads at MDA in Houston. I've been saving money "just in case" for pretty much my entire adult life so I should be ok on that front. I hate to use resources from cancer charities, I'd rather have that money go to helping people who truly need it or even better to MBC research. My coworker has a good friend who through various life circumstances finds herself living alone in a huge house in Houston and would be happy to host, and she'd love to host my dog as well since she lost hers recently and travels too much to get another. So I will either do that or find an air bnb that will take my dog. We rescued him just a couple months ago and he has grown very attached to me and is not terribly fond of men so I don't want to leave him with my husband for six weeks.
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hapa - sounds like you have a viable plan worked out - the co-worker's friend who would like to also host your dog sounds excellent!
jstarling/ingerp - anti-hormonals start during Herceptin, usually within a few weeks of finishing the chemo portion. If you have rads, some oncologists will start you shortly after, some start during.
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SpecialK—that’s what I thought. I’m half expecting a call from my MO saying, “Oops—I forgot to give you your AI prescription,” except really I’m not eager to start. I have my next H a week from tomorrow but won’t see my MO until the one after that, in early Nov. I’m assuming a month before I start the AI isn’t too long. (Just got home from my last rads—WOOOHOOOOO!!!
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Ingerp - my MO said I'd start AI after rads. Apparently that is more effective.
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Also, some MO like to be able to determine what treatments cause what side effects so separating them (with the exception of the long haul of targeted therapy) with gaps is common. I did not do rads and my MO had a month between last chemo and first aromatase inhibitor
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hapa—I’m pretty sure that’s what my MO said too, but I’m going to wait for her to bring it up.
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Thanks for the congratulations everyone
I'm now coming up on being three years out from the triple negative dx - so I'm feeling a lot more relaxed about everything.
Coach - I love that quote too, I felt that way the first time around, not so much the second time though, felt like I'd been blindsided, and it took a while to get my head around it.
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Hi dear triple positive sisters
Lately I have been reading but not posting much. It's good to see happy faces. Great hair, Tresjoli! Shelabela you sound good.
And Suburbs, I hope the surgery is the end of the end of that infection! Best wishes to you
Annie60 your treatment plan sounds normal. If you had lumpectomy + sentinel lymph node dissection with positive lymph nodes (as opposed to mastectomy and full axillary lymph node dissection -in which all of the axillary lymph nodes are removed- with positive lymph nodes), you need radiation. Radiation targets errant cancer cells in the breast area (including the axilla) that may not have been removed by surgery. It is very effective at getting rid of them and avoiding a local recurrence. Chemo is systemic and targets the entire body but may not kill every cell. I had five months of chemo and still a lot of cancer found in my lymph nodes after the chemo.
On my side I went to the PS to discuss the surgery to remove the expander and put in place an implant, and after discussing the options with the PS and then the MO and also the BS, I decided I am going to get a prophylactic mastectomy in the healthy breast, then reconstruction. My remaining boob offers me no comfort and a lot of worry, because my cancer didn't show up in mammograms ever, not even in MRI. So belatedly, but out it goes. Now I regret not having removed it when I had my surgery in april. Whatever. I think the reconstruction will be easier (more even) this way, and I wont have to worry about a small implant in the healthy breast -to achieve symmetry- making even more difficult the breast exams.
SpecialK, good to see you around and thanks for your comments. I always read you and you are always informative and helpful.
This is all for today.
Happy weekend to everyone
LaughingGull
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And congratulations Trisha-Anne. I am so happy to hear positive stories. Thanks for stopping by.
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LaughingGull,
I understand your decision. Peace of mind for me was the end state.
I had my PS make skin nipples about nine months after my implants. Several months afterwards, I had the 3D tattooing. I can actually feel my nipples today. I know they are not real but they feel real.
When I had my original boobs, I always work to hide my nipples (thick bras, shirts ...) because they count point the way! If I had it to do over again, I would have let them point! The other day I had a camisole on with an over shirt. DH said that he could see my nipples slightly pointing thru and they looked great. I don't hide them anymore.
Vicky
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