TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP

Thanks so much to all of you who personally checked on me since I have not posted for 8-9 days.....it really touched my heart♥

So recently I was able to get AmaWaterways to sponsor 2 autumn river cruises in Europe .....for every booking they will donate $500 to breast cancer research, prevention and treatment.

I started a NEW post in the fund raising section.....

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/63/topic/815789?page=1#idx_1PLEASE 

bookmark it as one of your favorites to maybe join me on one of the cruises or at least to "bump" the post as soon as I have all the info!

Thank you for your help!  xoxo

Exercise helps women tolerate breast cancer drugs

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP Chief Medical Writer

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Exercise might help women beat breast cancer. Researchers found it can ease the achy joints and muscle pain that lead many patients to quit taking medicines that treat the disease and lower the risk of a recurrence.

The study is the first major test of an exercise program for women on aromatase inhibitors. These estrogen-blocking pills, sold as Femara, Aromasin and other brands, are recommended for five years after initial breast cancer treatment for hormone-driven tumors, the most common type.

The pills also increasingly are being used to help prevent breast cancer in women at high risk of it because of family history, bad genes or other reasons. A separate study found that one of these medicines - anastrozole, sold as Arimidex and in generic form - cut this risk by 53 percent. It's the second aromatase inhibitor shown to lower risk that much.

Despite how effective the drugs are, many women shun them because they can cause aches and pains, hot flashes and other side effects. About 15 percent of U.S. women have enough risk to merit considering the pills to prevent breast cancer, yet less than 5 percent take them, said Dr. Powel Brown, a prevention expert at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The exercise study involved 121 postmenopausal women taking various aromatase inhibitors to treat breast cancer who complained of achy joints on a pain survey.

About half were assigned to two supervised strength training sessions a week plus at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. The rest got advice on the benefits of exercise and did their usual activities.

After a year, joint pain scores fell 20 percent among exercisers and 3 percent among the others. The severity of pain and how much it interfered with daily live also declined more in exercisers.

The exercise group improved cardiorespiratory fitness and lost weight - nearly 8 pounds versus a slight gain in the others. Eighty percent stuck with the program, helped by free access to a gym and a personal trainer.

The National Cancer Institute paid for the study, which was led by Melinda Irwin of the Yale Cancer Center and Dr. Jennifer Ligibel of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Dr. Eric Winer, breast cancer chief at Dana-Farber, said the results may help more women stick with the drugs.

"A lot of people will say, 'if it's going to have a lot of side effects, I'm not going to do it.' The truth is, not everyone gets symptoms. Exercise might be a solution," he said.

The other study was led by Dr. Jack Cuzick of Queen Mary University of London and tested anastrozole for preventing first breast cancers. Nearly 4,000 women were given the drug or daily dummy pills, and 70 percent stuck with them for five years, just a little less than the placebo group.

After that time, 40 women on anastrozole had developed breast cancer versus 85 of the others, a 53 percent reduction in risk. That's comparable to how another aromatase inhibitor - exemestane, or Aromasin - did in an earlier study and better than tamoxifen, the longest-used breast cancer prevention medicine.

Women on anastrozole had more joint pain and hot flashes, but these also were very common in the placebo group - more than half of both groups reported these problems, which often are due to menopause and aging, Cuzick said. Anastrozole users had more cases of a painful wrist condition called carpal tunnel syndrome, and dry eye, but these were relatively rare. Aromatase inhibitors are known to raise the risk of fractures, so many women take bone-strengthening drugs to help prevent that problem.

Besides the British cancer research agency, London-based AstraZeneca PLC, which makes the anastrozole used in the study, Arimidex, helped pay for the work, and some researchers are paid speakers for the company.

Results were discussed Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and published by the British journal Lancet. In a commentary in the journal, Dr. David A. Cameron of Edinburgh Cancer Center in Scotland wrote that healthy women still may resist prevention drugs unless taking them turns out to save lives, not just avoid disease.

The cancer conference is sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, Baylor College of Medicine and the UT Health Science Center.

For lots of links to the San Antonio Breast Cancer symposium http://www.chemobrainfog.com/2013/12/the-real-deal-from-san-antonio.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ChemobrainSurvivingCancerAndLosingMyMind+(CHEMOBRAIN.......++++++++++++++++++++++++++SURVIVING+CANCER+AND+LOSING+MY+MIND)&m=1

Lago, I've heard that, and we have a women's shelter we are associated with at work, so let me get off my dead butt and donate them!

Well today I planned to search for the SA breast cancer news. Instead I spent time @ my cancer center visiting with my MO about my continued side tours of cancer SEs. Today stopped Femara and started Tamoxifen despite past menopause. As he expained I could no longer go on with the SE profile I experienced on the three previous oral drugs. If this works great. If not. I have to decide quality versus quality. And I so agree. I am freaking miserable. I get out of bed like a 99 year old woman and stumble to the shower. When I finally get to work I do OK but it is hard to stay. Last week I came home Thursday afternoon before graduation and slept from 1-5. Got up to go to the ceremony and read names. Came home, went to bed, called in Friday morning and slept until Sunday afternoon. Got up, showered, got ready for Monday and went back to bed. That is crazy. But typical. I make it through about Thursday and crash. Start chewing oxy dry. All scans, MRIs, CTS, etc clear. Maybe I am crazy as a loon.

Going to bed. As usual.

Love to all.

SusanHG123 All that discomfort is what's making you tired. I really hope the Tamoxifen has fewer SE. Remember before they had the AIs we all got Tamoxifen, not just premeno women.

susan

You sound completely sane to me but maybe I'm not sane either! Who cares?

Whatever gets us through the night and everything else that's involved here.

Had the AI v Tamoxifen discussion with my mo recently BC of all the SE's and he said that AI's are better but tamoxifen is good too. Like Lago said women have been getting it for a long time and have done well on it.

I know full well when you are physically & mentally spent it is hard to go here but I must tell all again ... Yoga has helped me enormously both physically & psychologically. And I am no yogi. Can't do some of the moves... My balance is off after t treatment... But it is so much more than movement. A chair , restorative or beginner yoga class is good.

If you are not ready yet... I will remind you.

lucas, there are so many reasons for choosing MX. In my case it was a strong family history of missing a dx and dying from it for my mom, and at least 2 aunts. I had 20 years to think about what I would do. My DMIL had just a lx and rads. That was fine for her. For me the invasive was in the prophylacticly removed breast. So i made the right decision FOR ME. Much love.

lucas - other than some stage IV patients - for whom surgery is a decision based on a more complicated set of factors, I don't think there is anyone on this thread that did not have surgery after neoadjuvent chemo, whether they had a pathological complete response or not.  Some have had a lumpectomy, others a mastectomy, and still others a bi-lateral mastectomy.

Just returned from my post chemo appointment with BS. Complete MRI response! My chemo was TCH + 3 doses of perjeta.

 I thought I would celebrate this, but hubby was a complete a$$ before the appointment, so I just feel like crying. Men and their freaking timing. 

I hope you all are well. 

Yippee Leanne! Ditto Nicky... We'll celebrate with you!

Nicky keep forgetting to ask you. You said your knee surgery went well but I remember if was an unusual kind of break. What did they do? You feeling okay otherwise too?

LeanneF: wonderful news, I am so happy for you. Your making great progress, stay strong and keep fighting!! Men........

Not a dumb question - actually discussed oopherectomy today! I have a gynae visit tomorrow afternoon as it happens, so my onco wants to discuss it with her, but for the moment he doesn't think the advantages of having one are enough to warrant doing it.

As for perjeta, yes, it's been approved and on my list, but we're saving it for the moment. I'll be staying on xgeva and herceptin and adding faslodex for the moment. Obviously this could change if the MRI throws up anything tomorrow. Its a cervical MRI because I still have a lot of problems with my neck. Over the last few weeks it's gotten worse and now I can't turn my head from side to side at all

Nicky

Yay Leanne! Another milestone down! We will always celebrate good news here!

Leanne, such a wonderful news yay!!!  we celebrate here with you!