Triple Negative Experiences

Breast cancer for me was a wake-up call. Giving it the title "triple negative" frightened me even more. After I learned exactly what it meant to have that sub-type of breast cancer, it also meant that I would not be on any type of SERM drug post chemo for the next 5 yrs. I have a friend that described the SERM drug she was on kind of like a "security blanket" a little extra protection for her. With tnbc, once chemo and/or radiation is complete, there are no drugs that you take such as Tamoxifen because the tumor lacks the presence of 3 receptors that are known to fuel it: estrogen, progesterone and HER2. Also, tnbc can be particularly more aggressive and may possibly have a higher re-occurrence rate. All this information was told to me by my oncologist during my first meeting with him. With the cocktail of chemo drugs that I was given (6 rounds of adriamycin, cytoxin, taxotere every 3 weeks) I feel confident that those drugs "did the trick." I'm now meeting more and more women that have been diagnosed with tnbc. It's also interesting to hear how similar our treatments were. As it's been said, "breast cancer is not just one disease, but many different forms of cancers originating from the breast." After 6 years, I'm still going strong!

Breast cancer for me was a wake-up call. Giving it the title "triple negative" frightened me even more. After I learned exactly what it meant to have that sub-type of breast cancer, it also meant that I would not be on any type of SERM drug post chemo for the next 5 yrs. I have a friend that described the SERM drug she was on kind of like a "security blanket" a little extra protection for her. With tnbc, once chemo and/or radiation is complete, there are no drugs that you take such as Tamoxifen because the tumor lacks the presence of 3 receptors that are known to fuel it: estrogen, progesterone and HER2. Also, tnbc can be particularly more aggressive and may possibly have a higher re-occurrence rate. All this information was told to me by my oncologist during my first meeting with him. With the cocktail of chemo drugs that I was given (6 rounds of adriamycin, cytoxin, taxotere every 3 weeks) I feel confident that those drugs "did the trick." I'm now meeting more and more women that have been diagnosed with tnbc. It's also interesting to hear how similar our treatments were. As it's been said, "breast cancer is not just one disease, but many different forms of cancers originating from the breast." After 6 years, I'm still going strong!