TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP
Comments
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Jen that's how you look when looking like crap! Wow. Nice article. This has nothing to do with being self absorbed. I know I'll be speaking as a survivor for the ACS next month… granted only 2 minutes but it has nothing to do with being self absorbed. It's about putting a face to the disease so people really "get it."
bcbarbie I can't speak to the ooph and tamox since I still have my "junk" granted not working anymore thanks to chemo and on ESD. But I will say after chemo I experienced the soreness you read about. It took some work but I don't get sore anymore. I don't even use replens but I do need Astroglide (lubricant). I'm not as horney as before but still "get the urge." Granted as you get older and past menopause I assume one would be less horney anyway. But you have to use it or you will lose it. I will admit reaching climax does take a bit more time. I used to be pretty instant.
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Jenn...
Great article and you look very beautiful during what is usually the low point in the looks dept.
Okay...we've got a makeup expert among us. What 's the best color eyeliner and shadow for a ash brown haired gal with green eyes?0 -
Ashla I have brown/brown. Only kid in my family that didn't get the green eyes. I wear plum. I actually use my powered eyeliner, wet it with a brush and apply with a tiny eyeliner brush (Bobbie Brown). It's the same color I use for the crease/sides of my eyes. I used to use a dark blue because they said that makes the whites of your eyes look whiter.
But if you want make up experts check out this thread: Cosmetic things that worked for me - sharing girly stuff
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BTW did you guys check out this article. Why does it sound in this article that they infer the Anthracyclines are way better than the Taxanes. linky
BTW the conclusion of the research:
The use of anthracycline-based chemotherapy has declined, and the majority of patients with breast cancer are instead receiving taxane-based chemotherapy. The potential impact on patient outcomes is unknown.0 -
Hi all!
Sol-Thank you! I actually did mention BCO in the original article, but, they revised it and took it out, as well as the specific company that I work for. I guess they don't like naming names:( Yes, I think you all are amazing and I appreciate all of the support and advice on here greatly:)
BCbarbie-thank you also...and a special thanks for bringing up the sex topic...I was wondering the same thing myself.
Ashla-Lago is pretty much spot on. I work for MAC and have been with them for years and we as a rule follow an artists color wheel when choosing colors. The opposite of green is violet/purple and the opposite of blue is orange/red...so you just have to look for colors with those undertones. It makes the color of your eyes the first thing that people notice. Brown is not on the color wheel...so ladies with brown eyes can pretty much wear whatever they want...but, I always encourage people with gold/green flecks in their brown eyes to wear navy or purple. Makes their eyes look hazel. I always tell clients that you can wear whatever colors you want...you just have to find a shade in that color family that you are comfortable with...but, if you really want to make your eyes the center of attention you have to contrast the color of your eyes with an opposing color. Bobby Brown is our sister company...so they also follow alot of the same ideas.
oh and white eye liner is also great in the water line for brightening the whites of the eyes and making eyes appear larger:)
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Okay...i'm having trouble here...lago you use plum eyeliner as a shadow? What color liner do you use? Do you use it for both? What's a good easy liner to use? Pencil?
Whats the water line?0 -
SpeciaK - thanks for sharing about the peppermint oil spray - I'm really surprised anything other than nasty DEET truly works. I am going to make some up - thanks! Hope the eye thing is healing fast - that would have scared me, too!
Jennifer - great article and pic!
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Ashla everybodies eyes are different. Now I happen to have big eyes so it's hard for me to screw up. I go for the romantic dusty look. These are the Bobbie Brown products I use:
Below brow/highlight: Ivory 51
Lid area: Heather 15
Lower & upper lash line: Black Plum27
Crease and outer corner: Black Plum 27The lower & upper lash line I wet my liner brush with water then dip it in the eyeshadow. Once I get enough product I paint it on.
Wow What I wouldn't do to have eyebrows like that! I never had eyebrows like that.0 -
Jennifer great article and pic was FAB
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Hi lovely ladies,
I have a question about HER+ protein.
I zipped through a number of posts and I cannot understand why if someone has nodes that are negative that they still need chemo and herceptin.
I meet with my oncologist this coming week and I want to have all my questions ready for him.
I had DCIS in May and had lumpectomy with extra wide margins. This was a new primary. After learning that I was weakly er and 0 pr but HER+ I now must make some serious decisions.....I have a choice of either going BMX before the devil strikes again or wait for his next visit and then have the BMX. But I want to make sure I don't have to have the chemo and herceptin. So my questions will be:
- at what point precisely does the tumour require chemo and herceptin?
- can you avoid these treatments with the BMX?
- Why are these drugs given if we have no boobs and the cancer isn't in the nodes?
For example if my new tumour, assuming I get another one, is just a few millimeters in size is it automatically treated with chemo and herceptin? I just don't understand.
The doctors are not always clear in their answers. I was a nurse about 40 years ago and I recall that the patient was not always told the truth so that they didn't worry. And some women in particular are inclined to be hypochondriacs so often the truth is not given to them, so that they don't worry unnecessarily. But I didn't think that this mindset was still around. But it seems to be so in some cases.. As when I mentioned my se's from radiation etc. the doc. looked at me as though I had two heads.
So getting answers from the women on this thread is a good sample of truth so that I can be armed when I meet up with the oncologist this week.
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jenn article was great, I can relate (i have young kids) and you look amazing!
sk thats horrible, so sorry you had to go through this, it just seems never ending sometimes
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Ashla, I use Bobbi Brown shadow as liner too. The powder, in Mahogany, I use with wet liner brush. But I also like Bobbi Brown Ink liner that comes in a little pot and doesn't need to be wet. If you try it, its worth getting Bobbi's liner brush. I also use the Mahogany shadow with stiff eye brow brush to fill in my brows. Im a make-up junkie, and Bobbi Brown is my favorite.
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painterly the other ladies will chime in aswell (weekends are slower around here)
so i am assuming you now have a new primary that is invasive (instead of DCIS). Due to the fact that you are her2 positive you will be recommeded chemo and herceptin unless your tumor is extremely tiny (2 or 3mm's) and even then it is sometimes recommended - check out the NCCN guidelines on how small a tumor gets treatment. There is also a thread in the her2 forum that addresses tiny her2 positive tumors. ( i dont know how to attach but its on the first page of the forum)
the type of surgery you choose (mastectomy or lumpectomy) does not determine your need for chemo. The pathology of the tumor does. In our case, being her2 positive means that our cancer is more aggressive and spreads more easily then her2- cancers. While negative nodes is a good thing it does not guarantee no spread, unfortunately cancer can travel through the bloodstream without ever getting to the nodes. Thats why you need chemo and herceptin to "mop up" any stray cells that may have escaped the breast.
Herceptin is a wonder drug that has changed the prognosis for many of us diagnosed. Many studies have been done showing the effectiveness of chemo combined with Herceptin, thats why they are given together. You will also get H for an entire year
Treatment is tough, but as many women on this board will tell you, it was doable.
If you have any other questions please ask
hope this clarified some points for you
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painterly sorry, just noticed your signature line. With a positive node they will most likely (i would be shocked if they didn't) recommend chemo even with a tiny tumor. You will also most likely get rads based on the new radiation guidelines that show increase overall survival with rads in the case of even one positive node. This may affect your descision on surgery. If you had a mastectomy and no nodes, not close to chest wall, clean margins you may avoid rads. But with one positive node you may have to have rads anyway so a lumpectomy would be reasonable aswell.0
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Painterly there are so many things to consider when doing treatment. Your questions are EXCELLENT. I recommend you print them out and ask your onc. S/he will give you answers based on your diagnosis and age. Yes even your age will play a factor.
But I can use myself as an example. My tumor, invasive part only was 5.5cm (about 1cm was DCIS but they don't look at that part when considering treatment for IDC, not that it would matter since my tumor was pretty f@*ck'm big). I had no nodes which is less common with an HER2+ IDC tumor my size. My onc showed me a statistic that basically said 40 out of 100 women my age with my diagnosis will be alive with no cancer in 10 year if they only do the BMX surgery. Now if I did chemo and endocrine therapy 84 women out of 100 are alive and NED. So for me doing chemo/endocrine therapy doubled my changes. Now there is a 40% chance I didn't need all this treatment but right now they don't know who needs it and who doesn't. I wasn't willing to gamble. Your onc should be giving you information like this. If s/he doesn't… ask!
BTW HER2 is a more aggressive cancer. It is more likely to spread left untreated. It is more likely to spread than some of the other types even if there is no node involvement. Before Herceptin being HER2+ and hormone negative was worse than triple negative! Now not so.
Also note that Herceptin works more effectively when given with chemo.
Forgot to add even with a BMX they can't get all the breast tissue. Granted what you're really concerned about doing chemo is not the local recurrence but distant mets!
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painterly - was your recurrence DCIS only or was there an invasive component? It is not clear from your post and your signature only shows your first dx details. If DCIS only, no chemo or herceptin is needed, even if the DCIS is HER2+. Many times DCIS is her2+.
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Same as evryone else...
Her2+ breast cancer is aggressive and known to spread (metastasise) to other parts of the body even without nodal involvement. The most common places of spread are bones and brain, and also lungs, liver.
Chemo is given to try and "catch" and destroy any stray cancer cells that are already circling looking for somewhere to setup in the body but chemo alone still doesn't work too well on Her2+ cancer cells.
Herceptin though is the real lifesaver because it really targets those Her2+ cancer cells and has been proven to work better WITH the other chemo drugs. That is why these days Her2+ women are given both types of drug not just one - they work better together...
As someone else said - women with Her2+ cancer were, up until maybe 5 years ago, told that their cancer was the most aggressive type and that their chances were only around 40% for being alive in 5 years even with chemo :-/ Now we can get up into having chances in the high 80 to low 90% - with Herceptin and the other chemo drugs.
Jenn0 -
I had so much to catch up on. Oh wow----leave u alone one day and u have all kinds of things going on.
SpecialK I hope u eye is better now--I don't doubt it was from flying.
Jennifer u look absolutely beautiful and it was a great article. Good for u.
Mosquitos---I haven't been bitten in 5 yrs. That's why I entioned it--In fact I was sitting outside next to someone and all those little fly thins were all around her ankles and not one came by me, That's why I was wondering everyone was shooing bugs away with spray on and I don't put anything on and nothin comes by me so far. hahahaIt's over 2 yrs that I stopped all chemo and rads, I take aromasin but my blood must be oofy to them.
And painterly Jennt sounds pretty much on the mark with what she said. These cells have a way of hiding.
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camillegal - thanks for asking! Yes, the eye is improving daily. The red part is now right under the blue part of my eye so you can see it all the time but it is not as bloody looking. Doesn't feel as scratchy. Interestingly, my son is a fireman/EMT but works in the ER also. The same night I flew home he had a patient with one of these hemorrhages in both eyes - she had just come directly from the airport! I fly again on Sept. 30th - I am nervous about it happening again.
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Thanks Ladies.
I now think that the "writing is on the wall" for me. I have no choice but to go ahead and have the BMX if I want to avoid chemo and herceptin.
I am scheduled for a mammo June 2013, so I think I will ask my oncologist for a referral for a mammo to be done a few months from now so that I know that all is clear for the present. If something should be lurking I will do the BMX then, otherwise it will be BMX for me next Spring. The Spring time frame is because we go to Florida for the winter and we return in May. With being away for 6 months the BMX will have to be on my return unless something shows up in my mammo to be scheduled for the next few months.
As mentioned above this is a new primary and is a completely different cancer and is DCIS but the tumour did have the HER+ protein and very different from my first diagnosis in 2008. I had chemo for my first diagnosis because I had an isolated tumour cell. The chemo left me with permanent side effects so this is why I cannot do the chemo again.
So now my opening question to the oncologist will be "what is your recommendation for me to avoid chemo and herceptin?
Thanks Ladies!
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Painterly did you have a lumpectomy already? As you know sometimes they don't know everything till the get in there. Your onc might need to have the full picture before s/he can give you the true plan but right now, with DCIS and your history of chemo sounds like you'll get a pass on the chemo but I bet they push for the BMX.
Are you doing horomone therapy from your 1st diagnosis?
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Jennifer- great article, and you look beautiful!
SpecialK- good to hear your eyes doing better
. I don't like flying anymore, Bothers my ears. Hope this next trip goes better for you. Sounds like a pressure issue with that flight. Also, sometimes the pilot just descends to fast. Thank you for the mosquito repel spray recipe. Maybe I can get them to leave us alone.
Painterly- good questions. Thanks for asking them.
And thank you all for answering. I will be seeing my oncologist soon and still have lots of questions on the rest of my tx. I've had surgery, so my next steps are chemical. I've been learning along the way and all of you have been wonderful teachers.
Lago- I do the same with my eyeshadow. I use my eyeliner brush, wet it and dip it in my brown shadow and use it as eyeliner. Works great and stays on longer than other liners.0 -
OMG SpecialK for u'r son to see someone with that around the same time u had sounds really strange to me--How often could that happen. Find out if there is something different u can do nxt time u fly????
Painterly what kind of permanant side effects did u have?
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camillegal - I am going to have to do a little research on the prevention of the eye thing.
sol - I had weekly CBCs during chemo, and I received Neulasta after each tx. The nadir for WBC is about the 9 day point, basically halfway until the next tx. As long as they are checking you prior to chemo and your counts are decent they may feel it is not necessary to check more frequently.
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soltantio I was on Nuelasta and my labs were always good so no need for additional testing. It sounds to me that your onc sees you are doing fine so no need to do it again so soon.
MRI for what? I didn't get any scans during chemo. The only reason why I get the liver scan is because they saw something in the initial scan. My BS order my initial scans. My onc doesn't scan unless there is a reason. Both my BS and onc don't feel tumor markers are reliable so I don't do those either.
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sol i guess you are asking about a breast mri because you had a lumpectomy. They base this on your breast density, I was told that (if i was still keeping my breasts) i would be screened using mri b/c my breasts are very very dense and mammos don't work on me. I am not sure if mri's are standard of after care for BC patients whose breasts can be screened using mammos or u/s. Honestly tho, I would push for mri's as they seem to be the most accurate screening tool we have (not sure if your ins covers it etc) - best to discuss with your team but ask about the density of your breasts0
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My BS has me get a mammo every 6 months, MRI every 6 months (alternating). Not sure how long that will go on. I had close margins after MX, so this is why the extra vigilance. Otherwise after MX one would not get anything other than a physical exam.
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Sol- before my bmx, and dx, I was being followed by MRI each year because my breasts were so dense. And it was actually the MRI that caught the changes in my breasts this year that lead to my dx. My mammo came back neg this year. Sonogram was only being done to follow a cyst at 3 pm position on lt breast. So if not for my MRI, I would not have known. Scary.
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Painterly: good advice from the ladies on here but do let us know what your onco says. Treatment plans do change. Jenn: We have similar signatures. As discussed recently being node negative is no guarantee that cancer hasnt sperad, but Im just curious to ask what your medical team told you about the risk of having the one positive node.
I have always felt Grrr it has just squeezed through the gate, but of course it can also spread through blood even when nodes are negative.
Here in the UK I was originally given a month wait for surgery on the NHS. My gut feeling at the time was to have surgery asap so I went private and had a lump 13 days after my dx. I wonder how many positive nodes I might have ended up with if I'd waited that whole month? Scary thought....
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jackboo09 - just told me it wasn't good :-/ I figured if it was already there there could definitely be stray cells elsewhere. Didn't bother with an ALND since it wasn't going to tell us anymore. Counting on the chemo, Herceptin and Tamoxifen to try and catch any cells elsewhere. None of those will address cells that may have made it to the brain though - just have to cross my fingers on that.
Jenn0
