TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP

I met with my breast specialist yesterday. She did a thorough exam, didn't feel a thing, pulled everything up on the screen to show to me. She had talked to the radiologist in the meantime also. They still both feel it is related to the scarring, but she did say she wants another MRI in 6 months, and told me to check the area often to make sure there aren't any changes. So, that's the plan.

I think I am going to restart Arimidex after my 3 month break. That made me a little nervous

Terrific news Fluffqueen. MRI sounds perfectly reasonable. Take good care.

fluff - yay! Welcome to 6-yearhood, it's a good place to be!

Congrats Fluff!!

hi all!

this is what i know so far, IDC,right, 2.5 cm by UTS, 3cm by MRI. DCIS, both breasts. ER,PR, Her2 all positive.MRI, no nodal, no chest wall, no nipple involvement.chest x-ray negative, CBC,BMP normal. i am 44 y/o. oh i have endometriosis and i will need tamoxifen later on so the uterus and ovaries might need to go away at some point?meeting with my OS and MO this friday. i know i wont get the whole picture until after surgery but with these info, what are my options? what have you done? i would like to be prepared and i am taking the advice of some sisters here and will be writing questions in a notepad when i meet my team. i am a mother of 8y/0 twins and i would like to give this cancer my best shot, i would like to see my kids grow up, go to college . thank you ladies for keeping my sanity since i got diagnosed. i need to get a 2 d echo right? i will request for a pet/ct and bone scan also, hopefully my insurance will pay.God bless us all.oh i live in the US.

kae

Thanks Debi,

yes i am thinking about BMX since both breasts are involved. i wonder if neoadjuvant chemo will be suggested for me.....yes, i am really scared about being her2 positive.

kae

Kae, our stats are somewhat similar, but i was diagnosed last July. What i can tell you is the first few weeks after diagnosis are truly horrifying. But you caught this early, and there is every reason to believe you will have an excellent prognosis. Clear nodes, small tumours, no skin or nipple involvement. Excellent. Even being triple-positive is a pretty decent roll of the dice. Since Herceptin arrived on the scene, our stats are on par with HER- sisters.

Chemo sucks, but not as badly as you might think. A few days of being unwell interspersed with mostly ordinary days. Radiation is a walk in the park (for me, so far).

Mastectomy probably sucks but reconstruction options are good and since you have no nodal involvement, you might be a candidate for nipple-sparing mastectomies with immediate reconstruction, no radiation therapy. Waking up with new boobies, none of this tissue expander business that drags on.

If you do decide to go with a lumpectomy, recovery is easy. I was on just ibuprofen after the first day. If your rack is big enough you might even have the option of a breast lift during your lumpectomy surgery. Honestly, mine turned out so well it almost (*almost*) makes breast cancer seem like a nice idea.

Best of all, you found your way here. It is awesome to have access to this 24/7 support forum, with lots of thoughtful, kind, insightful women encouraging each other through this.

After my diagnosis i felt like i was in free-fall, not knowing whether i would die from this. The two biggest things that helped me get a grip were

1) the Predict breast cancer online calculator giving me solid stats on my prognosis, and

2) getting a treatment plan in place. (Like the Paul Simon song where he says, "breakdowns come and breakdowns go, so: what are you going to do about it? That's what i'd like to know".)

There has never been a better time to have breast cancer. You are probably going to do great. Sorry you have to experience all this. But you *can* be the hero of your story, not a victim of this. Choose for yourself what you want. Navigate as a protagonist. Good luck!!!!

Kae, I think it is likely that you will have neo-adjunctive chemo with heceptin and perjeta. I had adjunctive and just Herceptin, but things have changed since then. I had a DIEP recon (tummy tissue used to make new breast mounds). The outcome was great, but its an involved process with more than one surgery.

When selecting a Plastic Surgeon know that they will usually only tell you about the types of recon that they themselves do. Before seeing a PS, you may want to learn about the types of recon possible, then find a PS who does the procedure you are interested in. My first PS gave me the option of implants or tram flap. I didn't like the tram flap idea, so I considered implants, thinking that was my only other choice. But from this forum I learned about DIEP flaps and I looked for a micro-surgeon who did that type of recon - and found it way my PS's partner. Even with implants, there are different options. You'll have plenty of time during chemo to figure out what you want to do regarding surgery.

If you are choosing no recon, you will want to talk to your Breast surgeon about not leaving extra skin behind and you may want to seek the opinion of a plastic surgeon to "clean up" the area after you've healed or want to get some fat transferred to fill the divot.

The roller coaster starts moving real fast after dx . Ask your questions here, there are so many knowledgeable people, They helped me tremendously.

I'm a nervous wreck - last Herceptin tomorrow, as well as my first mammogram since dx last year. I think I would be a little more emotionally stable if it weren't for my dad passing on Sunday, his birthday is today and the funeral is Saturday. Of course, it was from a cancer diagnosis. <deep breath>

Hi-- I am finishing up my last chemo and then have to have an MRI mid Feb. to see if the tumor shrunk and they saw something on the right side that they may need to biopsy but since I had already started chemo they decided to let that move forward and said if the mass in the right shrunk, they would know if it was cancer.

Read the post and it looked like some folks knew it had not spread to the lymph-- I was told that it doesn't appear to have spread but there is no way to know until they are in surgery and they can biopsy them. One doc said lumpectomy- one said mastectomy but both are saying have to wait for final MRI? Then plastic surgeon said that if the lumpectomy is too large or they need to go back in - the ship has sailed for reconstruction. Feel like I am buying a used car-- have no idea what to believe-- also am so unbelievably depressed-- is this the chemo or just how life with this disease is going to be? Having a hard time finding hope--- I am grateful it is not worse and I tell my self that constantly but today is a rough day and I cant stop crying -

Hi SportsMom16,

I too am sorry this all has been so upsetting. Maybe you could ask for something to take to calm you down for a few days while you make some decisions.

Crying can be a good thing. It is a cleansing process.

If it is any help, I too listened about "saving the breasts" versus the double mastectomies. I decided on the double mastectomies with immediate tissue expanders inserted. Once I made the decision as to what I wanted, I felt in charge. I did not ever want to revisit this issue again. I have no regrets. Like you I cried for what seemed forever but today I dance on my eyelashes (well, the few I have LOL) when I look at my new breasts!

Best wishes.

Coach Vicky

hi all,

so i went to my oncologic surgeon today. i really like him,he is old with 50 years of experience and i am happy i have him. according to him i will have neoadjuvant chemo with herceptin and perjeta. he said that in his practice ( he is the head of 2big hospitals where i live) everybody who got the neoadjuvant chemo all responded except for one so far. i pray that i will have the same response. i asked about SNb and he said that we could do it prior to chemo but it will not actuallyy change anything.he ordered brca testing and ultrasound of my nodes.he said that he could do lumpectomy on me if i respond to chemo but he also said that since i am young and i have 3 cancers in both breasts i might want to do Bmx, with immediate recon. he said immediate recon has the best cosmetic effects. i will see my Ps and onco next week. he said he said he will already talk to my MO regarding his findings. he did a very thorough exam on me ,felt my breasts,chest wall,lymph nodes,armpits amd even my organs. he said he does not think pet/ bone scan but he will leave it tomy MO.. i forgot to ask him about radiation and how long is my neoadjuvant chemo will be. to those who have had it,how lomg did it tke you to complete it?thanks y'all

sportsmom - there are no dumb questions! BRCA is a genetic mutation that pre-disposes one to breast and/or ovarian cancer. You will see newly diagnosed people being tested for it, but the majority are not affected - it is relatively rare, but shold definitely be looked at in families with a lot of either of those cancers.

kae - most who receive TCHP have 6 infusions, 21 days apart, of all 4 drugs, so about 15 weeks all together - give or take. My husband only took off the day of chemo, but I don't have small children to take care of. I felt pretty good the day of infusion, and day after. Days 3-5 were not so good, so I had infusions on Thursday so my husband was home on the weekend. Once those 6 infusions are done, you continue with Herceptin for the remainder of the 12 months. Radiation is not automatic with a BMX, it is dependent on nodal status and tumor position. If you have multi-focal and bi-lateral they may encourage rads though.

thanks specialLkand elaine!

Kae,

I had a MUGA scan, as well as an MRI and PET scan. The MO routinely did two blood tests: a comprehensive metabolic panel and CBC with differential. None of my doctors did tumor markers for me, and I still don't have tumor marker tests because they are often unreliable.