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What chemotherapy did you have to treat your triple negative breast cancer? And what were the worst side effects for you?
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member896 (Current Patient) - 06 / 12 / 2012
I am also a Triple Negative patient. I just completed 16 weeks of Abraxane and Carbo. Based on a physical exam my oncologist or surgeon can find no signs of my tumors which is great. I have my double mastectomy scheduled for July 16. After they examine the tissue, they will determine if I have to have 6 weeks of radiation and 12 more weeks of chemo.
I am a fighter. The exhaustion is difficult. I know the feeling of walking like you are dead. I am doing that today. :) I am ready to see the light at the end of this journey.
I am a fighter. The exhaustion is difficult. I know the feeling of walking like you are dead. I am doing that today. :) I am ready to see the light at the end of this journey.
TeriFuller (Survivor (2 - 5 years)) - 06 / 11 / 2012
Right at the time of my diagnosis, an important research study came out of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium arguing that women with early stage breast cancer would benefit from TC, or Taxotere and Cytoxan (docetaxel/cyclophosphamide) vs. the standard AC, or Adriamycin and Cytoxan (doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide) given to most breast cancer patients. The reason? TC was thought to extend survival for early breast cancer patients and pose less threat to the heart than AC, which is infamous for its cardio-toxicity.
And let me be clear: I wanted the chemotherapy. I had a nine month-old daughter whom I could not leave behind—motherless. I told my oncologist to give me everything she had—to kill any rogue cells that may have escaped via the lymph nodes and/or the bloodstream.
I knew it was going to be chemically bad, but I had no idea how chemically bad it was going to be. I could handle the hair loss. The lack of appetite and the constant metallic taste in my mouth. I could even handle looking like the walking dead. What I couldn’t handle, though, was feeling like the walking dead. I hated not being able to pick up my daughter, carry her upstairs, and put her in her crib because I could not get up from the couch. I hated hearing the phone ring but not having the energy to lift my head and talk to the other person on the line. And most of all, I hated the fear—the fear that maybe my daughter would grow up without a mother, which is something no child should have to experience.
But my hair did grow back, and now I can pick up my daughter and carry her upstairs. I even like to think that maybe I’ll be around to love and care for my daughter as she grows up, and I’m not sure this would be possible without chemotherapy, and for that: I’m grateful.
And let me be clear: I wanted the chemotherapy. I had a nine month-old daughter whom I could not leave behind—motherless. I told my oncologist to give me everything she had—to kill any rogue cells that may have escaped via the lymph nodes and/or the bloodstream.
I knew it was going to be chemically bad, but I had no idea how chemically bad it was going to be. I could handle the hair loss. The lack of appetite and the constant metallic taste in my mouth. I could even handle looking like the walking dead. What I couldn’t handle, though, was feeling like the walking dead. I hated not being able to pick up my daughter, carry her upstairs, and put her in her crib because I could not get up from the couch. I hated hearing the phone ring but not having the energy to lift my head and talk to the other person on the line. And most of all, I hated the fear—the fear that maybe my daughter would grow up without a mother, which is something no child should have to experience.
But my hair did grow back, and now I can pick up my daughter and carry her upstairs. I even like to think that maybe I’ll be around to love and care for my daughter as she grows up, and I’m not sure this would be possible without chemotherapy, and for that: I’m grateful.
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