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Dec 20, 2013 06:23PM
blessings2011
wrote:
Not sure if this qualifies as a long-term survivor story or not, but here goes.
In October, we were out of town, and went to a grocery store late one night. The first thing I saw was a HUGE stack of Frito-Lay chips, in six-packs, all swathed in pink, saying they "support breast cancer research"...
DH and I looked everywhere for details on where the money went, and found nothing. So I called for the store manager.
When the woman came over to see me, I explained that while I knew she wasn't personally responsible for the display, there were hundreds of thousands of women who were fed up with the whole "pinkwashing" aspect of marketing products in October.
She absolutely stunned me when she said she understood and agreed. In fact, she told me she was an 11 year survivor, with a triple-negative dx.
She said that she tried to be the voice of reason when it came to such horrendous pink campaigns, and that she was generally ignored by big management. (It was a chain of stores.) We had the most incredible chat right there... DH wandered off to give us privacy... and she told me what she had been through in the beginning, and how she is coping now.
She has a stressful job, but it's a good one. She has good family support. Her only limitations are occasionally heavy lifting, and she can always find a stock person to assist. She is no longer receiving any treatment, and just checks in with her MO on an as-needed basis. Can't remember the details of her surgery, but she did have chemo, and now feels fine.
I told her about this board, and she said to please tell women that triple-negative patients do go on to have very normal lives.
Dx
9/15/2011, IDC, Left, <1cm, Stage IA, Grade 2, ER+/PR+, HER2-
Surgery
12/5/2011 Lymph node removal; Lymph node removal (Left); Mastectomy; Mastectomy (Left); Mastectomy (Right); Reconstruction (Left): Tissue Expander; Reconstruction (Right): Tissue Expander
Surgery
8/22/2012 Reconstruction (Left); Reconstruction (Right)
Hormonal Therapy
9/5/2012 Arimidex (anastrozole)
Hormonal Therapy
10/22/2013 Femara (letrozole)
Hormonal Therapy
10/1/2021 Tamoxifen pills (Nolvadex, Apo-Tamox, Tamofen, Tamone)
Dx
IDC: Papillary, Left, <1, Stage IA, Grade 1, ER+/PR+, HER2-