ER-, PR-, Her2+ Roll call
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@grammie2 oh yes, the dropoff of support after chemo must be a thing because most of my people totally went away as well. Dr Tepilinsky had a reel on her page that this also is the time when we start to process what weve just gone through. Im not depressed but i dod notice i can cry some days at the drop of a hat…I am a crier but this is different. I know it’s all part of the process (which goes way beyond active treatment in my view).
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Glad you are doing ok @jessybessy! Are you using Pepcid for heartburn? I had it horrible the first 3 treatments. They would even give me an IV dose at every chemo and fluid infusions.
@catarina_fm please let us know what you find out tomorrow! Praying for great results. And funny you mentioned that about the HR positive ones. At radiation the past two days, a lady who looked familiar has been at radiation as I am leaving. Today I spoke to her and told her she looked really familiar. We figured out that we were at the same chemo infusion place. She asked me about my treatment and if I'd had surgery. I explained that I was HER2+ and had chemo first, then surgery and now radiation. I told her that I had a complete response to chemo praise God. She then told me she didn't know what HER2 was but hers was hormone. Then she said hers only shrunk about 25%. I felt so horrible for blurting out about my complete response. We chatted a bit but she had to get into her radiation treatment. I wondered why hers had only shrunk 25%, but your post explained that a bit. I cried all the way home for her and prayed for God to comfort her because I was afraid I had made her really concerned that she still had a tumor at surgery. Ugh!! I'm going to read up on that type and hope to talk with her more.
So far no SE's that I see or feel from radiation. PE is a different story LOL. My boob is sore where she is working on the seroma! But we both agree it is helping and def. keeping it from getting worse. I still am anxious when I am getting the treatment. But today seemed quicker and seemed over in no time.
Hope everyone is doing ok!!!
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Sorry @djschmidt1 I didn't see this earlier. That makes sense about starting to process. I struggle with the feeling better, feeling crappy, feeling better and on and on. Then when I finished chemo and feeling decent, I had surgery LOL. Then start feeling a little bit better, then stress of radiation. Thank heavens Phesgo seems to be leaving me alone and not messing with anything ☺️ I'm sure there will be a new "phase" once radiation is done and then after targeted therapy ends. Can't stress enough about how thankful I am for each of you! You are all such warriors and help keep me uplifted and on track! Hugs, hugs and more hugs to all!!!
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@grammie2 I have a friend who has a triple positive tumor and had a reduction of only 50% of the tumor, and in the pathology results after chemo (she did AC and TCHP like me) and surgery, there was still 50% of the active tumor. She is currently taking hormone blockers and Kadcyla. The good part is that he tolerates the treatments very well and even went on vacation to Egypt, 2 months after the surgery! She skipped the radiation part. Therefore, we cannot be discouraged, whatever the result. There is always hope.
My MO said that at the moment HER2+ HR- are some of the ones that have the best results in terms of reduction because of the blessed phesgo. If it had been a few years ago it would have been much more difficult. With TCHP, the faster the tumor cells grow, the better the chemo works!
The "good" part about hormonal cancers is that women can continue taking hormone blockers for 5 or 10 years and we can't take Phesgo or Kadcyla for that long.I was doing some research and realized that HER2+ cancer has an overexpression of this protein, but there are other "healthy" cells in the body that also have this protein but in normal amounts. One of these cells are the heart cells. That's why we need to carry out cardiac monitoring throughout Phesgo intake.
However, my MO said not to expect side effects from Phesgo, because after all, it is designed to only attack cells that overexpress the protein (cancer cells), not the normal ones! Of course it will end up affecting healthy cells too, but much less. She explained to me that generally, only those who have previously had serious heart problems can experience more SE.Keep telling us how the radiation is going. I'm happy because it seems like you're adapting well! 🌹
Tomorrow I will be back to tell you what they will tell me at my pre-operative appointment 🙏
Take care!
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Hi guys. Would love to hear some stories of women thriving and living their lives after going through all of this. I am on day 4 after #3 of 6 TCHP (stage 2a, HER2 positive/ER neg) and struggling to see the light. I miss cancer not being a daily reality for me and its difficult to see at the moment how this will pass.
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Day 4 after Chemo #3 was so rough on me, too. I stayed in bed ALL day and started running a fever. Day 5 was better and day 6 great…but day 7? Super tired again (maybe from thrush?). So far so good on day 8. You will feel better, I promise! Sending good vibes and prayers your way!
Question for the group - did any of y'all develop a super, dark red rash on your body? I'm a bigger girl with an apron belly, and have a rash all the way under it. I also developed a red, bumpy rash under my boobs. I read online this is from the chemo drugs and is actually a good sign they are working, but man! It looks horrendous. I alternate putting hydrocortisone cream, anti-fungal cream, and a prescription Nystatin cream that my husband had on it. Luckily, it's not itchy anymore. I plan to send pics of it to my onc and see what they say. I've also got red patches on my hands, but figured that might be from the neuropathy? idk. I thought I was going to make it through treatments easily, but this last go round has me questioning that.
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hi ladies! @beekaycro24 i didn’t have a rash on my body but my face had issues after every treatment. I would get a rash day two from steroids that would susbside and two ish weeks after treatment I got these horrible white bumps on my face, worse on my forehead seems like i recall it was folliculitis or something and i had to use prescription cortisone on it. I had so many darn side effects, muscle pain, leg and foot cramps, super fatigue, diarrhea then constipation, rashes and finger and toe numbness..my hands turned brown..it goes on and on. The good news? Im six months out from chemo and i feel “pretty” normal. Im just starting back to a walking routine. Im really seeing light at the end of this tunnel. I do still have “discomfort” at my surgery site and armpit but i guess thats normal…it will happen lovelies, it really will. ❤️
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