TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP

Footballnut,Looks like you had a great weekend! The time does go too fast before infusions, doesn't it? Just start to feel better and wham! time to go back. I just finished round three of taxotore with carboplatin and herceptin. Your se's with FEC sound a lot like mine, tummy & mouth issues, so you might not notice a difference. Hoping you have even less!  

Lago, what do you mean it was easy up to round 4,  what happened during 5 & 6? 

Linda, your head bling looks great!

FBN, love the pic!  Looks like you had fun.

football... More probable a SE from chemo. 

Linda-that is so cool

Question-so where do you get prosthetics?  My masectomy side only has one more fill and it will be at 900cc.  However, it is high and wide, and hard as a brick.  I still have that flat look on that side and am very lopsided.  Will a prosthetic help?  I hate the thought of being like this for at least 6 months.  My clothes look funny and I am still working full time.  Suggestions or am I just stuck?

I wish that the na was a side effect but I've had it since last year. Fall at the earliest. I'll chat with him about it again today. Hope for nothing

lago, yes i ate like 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds and 1/4 cachew nuts almost daily, but i dont eat bean or legumes.  i  eat blueberry yogurt here n there.  oatmeal for breakfast every morning for me.  sounds good, i should add avacado to my diet.

Hi girls, i don't post much on this thread but I read.  Just wanted to say thank you for all of the information and inspiration.  Today I am especially encouraged by Pbrain's new avatar!!!!  Your hair is amazing.  I am almost 1 year post diagnoses and my hair is well....you know..."coming in slow but sure".  Can't wait to ditch this wig!!! 

Special K: thanks for the link on Metformin.  I have been researching this too and asked my MO for it.  She denied stating that it was not yet FDA approved for BC.  

Saw my PS this morning and am looking at having my exchange before the end of the year.  Today I got to feel gummies vs. saline vs. silicone.  More decisions

soriya, a tablespoon of chia seeds has 60 calories.  I've been adding them to my morning smoothie, not to gain weight (I don't have that problem but kind of wish I did...).  

Girlstrong, I had the Gummy Bears from December 10 through April 29 and did not like them one bit.  I had regular round 500 cc Mentor something or others from April 29 - June 25 (still have the right one) and love the appearance of them as well as the feel of them.  They are so much softer and feel much more natural than the Gummy Bears.  I say this with the caveat that everyone is different (of course) but thought I would throw it out there. 

ang, that's an amazing fundraising effort.  I think my very close childhood friend might live in your community but I've lost track of her the last few years. 

vettegirl, my plastic surgeon is going to write a prescription for a prosthetic for my left side next week.  I think some insurance companies cover the cost but you need to go to one of their approved facilities. 

linda, amazing head decor!  I'm so curious . . . did it hurt going on and will there be any discomfort removing it?  You're headjazzled!

Hi everyone, I guess I will jump right in. I am 31, and was DX with what you see below.

I am making the choice to have a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. My doc did advise me that I could have a lumpectomy with RADS, but I do not want RADS because I already have implants. My PS advised me that it is more difficult to 'fix' a breast that has had RADS. I have had my implants for 10 years, and I was planning on having a redo anyway. I would need it with a lumpectomy, but the RADS would make it more difficult. 

I also worry about potential SE of RADS. My cancer is on the L. The heart is there, which also makes me nervous. Being a Nurse means I think of some pretty obscure stuff sometimes.. I am young too, so I worry about the effects of RADS on me long term. I am only 31, I have many years ahead of me that RADS could cause complications with. 

Sorry for the babble, the DX and deciding on treatment has been pretty crazy.

LeeA: thanks so much for your input on implants. Much appreciated.  I have been researching since yesterday.  I think ill also jump on some reconstruction threads. 

please someone, if you can help, i did write about it under the local recurrance, if you would please click my name and read it there, and tell me what you think. i tried to copy and paste, but am a little thick i guess. and i have two pages to catch up on here, please forgive! i will, as soon as i am done... thank you guys, i just didnt know where to post cause i am afraid of a recurrance, but you guys know me here best. thanX!!

FBN, did you possibly injure it?  Sometimes those types of injuries take a while to heal.

Kathec, have you called them?  The bracelet could be a misprint.  

Footballnut - that sure looks like a trauma to me too.  It appears to be growing out as the new growth area is lighter.  Glad you are getting the appt with the dermatologist but I would trust that your MO's opinion on it being nothing to worry about being the case.  I know easier said than done.  Good luck today with the taxotere.

Kathec - who gets those MRI's results - your MO or BS or both?  I would call and schedule an appt to go over the results and question why things that you know are there are not mentioned and see if there is a good reason.  I also think that the bracelet wording is odd and most likely just a clerical error.  So hard not to fear recurrence or mets but we have to remember Lago's speeches at times like this!

Treatment #4 in the books - two more to go. MO reduced my taxotere since my liver enzymes are still going up - my ALK Phos is now 400 the upper limits of normal is 140 this has rose about 50  or more points with each test, ALT and AST are still both high although not really rising they are more stable. On the FDA site I found warning to this occurring with taxotere and their recommendation is that treatment be stopped at 2.5 times the Upper limited of normal.  I told my MO that if they continue to rise after this reduction that I may call it quits after this one - he says he agrees to an extent as he feels that the most important things I can do is the surgery, which I have done, and the herceptin, I have my echo on July 17th so we will see how I am doing with that - I don't expect that I am having any issues with it though. 

I really hate the idea that I may be doing permanent damage to my liver as I watched my breast friend die from chemo complications to her liver when she was being treated for leukemia.  My Mo also is skipping the neulasta shot this go around as my WBC's got very high with the last one and really didn't ever come down to normal so he isn't sure I need it - he said if I start to go low that he will give me a few neupogen shots to boost me up.   I asked him if there were any studies comparing 4 doses of TC to 6 and he said no but he went on to say my tumor was small, I had no node involvement and although he would like to see me do 6 he also isn't to concerned with me doing 4 if I make that choice.  Thoughts?

I have not spoken with a RADS oncologist. I likely will not see one because I am not going to do RADS due to personal reasons, as well as health reasons. I already have implants that are 10 years old, and if I ever wanted them redone after a lumpectomy, it would be very very difficult. I will inform the medical oncologist about my decision of a BMX and no RADS, and perhaps they will likely hit me harder with chemo.Due to the location of my tumor, and my existing implants, they can do a skin and nipple sparing BMX. I will not need a lot of expanders, etc, that a lot of women require.

I have asthma, I am steroid dependent and already have lung problems. I have so many reasons to not have RADS.. I am 31, and radiation issues such as skin cancer, which runs in my family, is something I have to consider as well.  I already have implants that RADS will affect.. Basically, regardless of what is advised, I am refusing RADS if offered or advised.

VioletKali RADs and chemo work a bit differently. Rads works on the local area it hits. It is done after lumpectomy to kill any cancer cells that might have been left behind. Chemo sometimes doesn't reach this local area because the blood flow has changed due to surgery. With BMX the margins are typically much bigger but as I mentioned with larger tumors you can't always get those big margins if you don't have large breasts. That would be me. 5.5cm invasive part of tumor, total under 6.5cm. But I did get a pass as I mentioned before.