Hi Marigold, think you are right about stress i have always lived life in the fast lane not really taking time out to relax, i do try and have some me time now, as for diet and exercise the experts dont know what causes bc so i would stick to there advice prevention is better than cure. Processed food again like you say is a no no. I have never been overweight, eat healthy very rare i drank alcohol but still got it so i can also see what border collie is saying also, but i don’t think we dont really have a choice, i really do try and do everything in moderation. Good Luck everyone x
Hi Josie, Its great after 9 years that you are still think about how others are feeling, Thank you for your post it is really helps, there are many negatives on here its nice to hear some great promising news, i was diagnosed tn age 40 with 1 node positive out of 7, had 3x fec 3x tax 28 rads, go on tuesday for my 1st mammogram, take care x
When I was discharged from follow ups my lovely consultant gave me a big hug and said she never thought she’d see that day, and now recommends her TN patients to do as I did - a very low fat diet, keep as slim as possible and take up exercise - power walking being about the best!. When I first met her and asked her advice about keeping mets at bay I was told to just get out there and enjoy each day (might as well have said write your will) Being a life long vegetarian I gave up all dairy produce and took up power walking. I was like Fforest Gump out in all weather. Every time things got to me I’d grab my coat and off…the more worries I had the faster I walked!..
My first year after diagnosis was horrific. I was attacked by a lunatic and had my ribs broken half way through chemo, then just after my last rad my bro in law in Ireland came out of the closet and took a massive overdose, I had to rush over with the moral support. Then my beautiful little grandson was born dead at full term, I was with my daughter and held him in my arms. A few weeks later my 20yr old fit as a fiddle son had a suspected heart attack, a few wks after that my other son was nearly killed in an horific car crash and is now badly handicapped, My best friend Bruce the rottie who wouldn’t leave my side throughout chemo died unexpectedly outside my bedrm door one morning…it went on and on and on.We are just ordinary folk but in the end I was afraid to pick up the phone and my consutant sent me to a stress councilor. She told me she wouldn’t be able to handle my situation any better herself…and gave me her number if ever I needed a chat (I never did). I’m telling you all this for you not to worry about stress bringing cancer back because if it did I wouldn’t have made two years let alone nine!
Josie xx
Hi Josie, my god your story is amazing how the hell you got through all that is beyond my thoughts you must be one strong lady, i have just come in from a 4 mile walk in the snow!! very much like you love getting out walking it helps my mind. I have walked 45 miles this month try and go 3 - 4 times a week, i have changed my diet too hopefully i will be ok, my onc says i am doing everything i can and they have. Its really out of my hands, so glad you are past all this and it definitely has helped hearing your amazing story, Take care and Thank you xx
Thanks for giving advice on what I should be eating . should the fruit and veg be organic ? I am feeling a little better seeing other ladies talk about TN an having survived.
One interesting thing about tnbc is that the evidence shows that,whilst tnbc is more aggressive than +++ bc in the first three years ,if you get to 8 years post surgery with no recurrence then the doctors will regard you as ‘cured’ which never ever happens with ++ bc.
It is further complicated because tnbc is especially receptive to chemo,especially taxotere and since the widespread use of taxotere some oncologists are talking about ‘cure’ after 5 years.
Of course it is all statistics and percentages.Some will never have further problems if they have only surgery,others sadly will have recurrences/secondaries whatever treatment they have.
I hope you all have long cancer free years ahead to enjoy your lives and your families 
I posted at the beginning of the thread but quick stats from me-dx October 2006 with 2cm grade 2 tnbc.No nodes involved and I had WLE, 4xfec and 4xtaxotere followed by 15 rads.
There is nothing to say I wont get a completely new primary of course or develp a totally different cancer somewhere else but for now all’s well.
Hi Emjayjames, they do advise organic, but i find the supermarkets don’t have enough variety, buy organic when you can wouldn’t stress over it, some good promising stories on here it defo helps, it hasn’t got the best topic name has it, stay strong and take care x
I’d keep away from all animal fats organic or not and definately anything with milk in it. Reading Jane Plant’s ‘Your Liife In Your Hands’ during chemo started me off dairy free and its probably the best thing I’ve ever done! I was ridiculed by a few girls on here but knowing I was doing everything I could kept me going. I think being dairy free was my crutch in the early days. I’ve only ate organic when I’ve grown it myself and have never given up alchohol, I was drinking my usual pint of guinness all through chemo. My end of chemo blood tests showed my liver count very high so I had to embarrassingly tell them that chemo hadn’t affected my social life down the pub! It was an allergic reaction to the taxol so I should have kept my mouth shut!
Josie xx
hi Josie, just wanted to say thanks for sharing your positive story, gives encouragment x
Hi lea w thanks for the advice . can I ask if anyone had radiotherapy, my breast where I had it has got really dark marks on it . is this normal ?
Hi Emjayjames, i had 28 sessions of radio to my breast and under my arm, finished end sept, my breast and armpit were all different colours especially my armpit it was really dark, does seem to have settled just looks like ive extra sun around the treated parts, think this is normal and nothing to worry about you can always ring your breast nurse who will reassure you, and there is a leaflet on this site which mentions discolourment of the skin Take care x
hi Lea W thanks for the information and support . I have had 15 sessions of rad … Why is it different for everyone ?
My nipple went almost black but then it sort of peeled like sunburn and now,6+ years later it looks normal.
HI Emjayjames, think it is to do with size, grade, and stage i also has nodes involved. I had 23 rads to the whole breast and under arm then a booster set of 5 to the area were the lump was removed. Had mammogram on tuesday got all clear results today what a relief!! Take care x
Hi all,
I have not been on here in ages. I was diagnosed with Basal TNBC IDC Grade 3 stage 2 in September 2009. It was a 2.5X2cm tumour. Fortunately my lymph nodes were fine - I had neoadjuvant chemo but the cancer did not respond at all - even to to the chemo which specifically targetsTN. I do get a little frustrated sometimes when people say that TN cancers ‘always’ respond well to chemo - that’s not the case unfortunately. My medical team decided to withdraw the chemo after 4 rounds. I did not find chemo easy and my liver enzymes were not good - plus as the MRI showed very little response, I was happy with the decision to stop treatment. I had lumpectomy in Jan 2010 and rads so treatment finished March 2010. Then October 2011 I was diagnosed with TNBC in opposite breast (contralateral breast cancer). I had a bilateral mastectomy and I am doing fine at the moment. I have a BRCA1 mutation of ‘unknown significance’ and I am taking part in BRCA research in the UK. I have lots of BRCA type cancers in the family and mum had ovarian cancer at my age. I was first diagnosed when I was 45. My oncologist has suggested that I have my ovaries / tubes removed but I would just like one year without surgery! I am planning to have my ovaries removed soon though.
I am running 10k in the Race for Life this year. Work is as busy as ever (I am a teacher) and I am busy preparing students for their A level examinations. Like some of you on here, at times I have been filled with the fear of this cancer coming back again. A year post my second diagnosis, I am starting to feel more confident about the future.
Thanks for sharing all your stories and nice to meet you all! I often feel that TNBC is little understood.
Karen.
Hi everyone
I was diagnosed with TN last May - a week before my 30th birthday. Some birthday present, huh?! My tumour was large (4cm) and had involved lymph nodes. I had chemo first 3xFEC and 3xTaxotere, followed by a wide local excision and lymph node clearance, followed by 22 rads, including 5 booster sessions. The chemo worked really well and my surgery results showed all lymph nodes were clear and only 1mm tumour left, removed with clear margins. I finished my rads a month ago and despite the encouraging response to treatment, I am completely frozen with fear. I am so terrified of it coming back or spreading, I am constantly getting myself in such a state about it. I’ve been having weird discomfort in my neck on the same side as the cancer, pain in the breast and also a pain in my chest on the other side that won’t go away. I’m so scared that the cancer has come back already. I’m seeing my BCN on Wednesday and I really hope she can reassure me. I worry that my concerns aren’t going to be taken seriously or investigated - does anyone else have this?
I do think some of you are right that if it’s going to come back, it will no matter what we try to do to prevent it. Everyone I know can’t believe that me of all people got cancer. I was 29, slim, don’t drink or smoke, have eaten a healthy vegetarian diet for 20 years. It’s so unfair, but none of it seems to matter - cancer doesn’t care who you are 
I am encouraged by your posts, Josie and some others I’ve seen on here. I keep being told that it’s normal to feel this scared once treatment has ended, but that doesn’t really help! I can’t stop crying and feel sick whenever I think about what could happen to me 
Thankyu for your inspiration my daughter of 35 has under gone a mastectomy in june last year followed by 3 months chemo and 6 wks rads not responded to the treatment, she has now a local reacurrance and tripple negative the oncologist at the royal marsden has now put her on tablet form chemo hoping this will help xx
Where did I read recently … oh lord, I don’t know, but somebody’s oncologist said he didn’t use the term triple negative for cancer that did not have hormone or her2 receptors as it was pointless to describe something in terms of characteristics that were missing. He said it was like describing a readhead by saying that person whose hair is not dark, blonde or brunette!
I guess it just struck a chord. I wonder if “triple negative” could actually be describing more than one type? That could explain why not everybody’s will respond well to chemo.
One of the things that bothers me is that I had surgery first, (lumpectomy and then mastectomy), and the second surgery showed no evidence of disease. At least if you have chemo first you can see the cancer responding … or not, I guess, … but I don’t know if I have any cancer cells remaining, let alone whether they are responding to the chemo …
Thats why when a friend said “but you’re responding well to treatment, yes?”, looking all expectant and encouraging, I had to swallow the urge to poke him right in his eye! 
So far I am still a survivor. It is now almost a year since I finished chemo and about 18 months since the horror of the dx. I had a small tumour, no lymph node involvement and so far I am doing well physically. The emotional cost is another issue!
None of us know what will come next, regardless of our original dx and the prognosis we have been given.
But I think we need to embrace each day, despite feeling down or gloomy, as I frequently feel.
I now have HAIR again, have gone back to work part time and have realised that life is about so much more than day to day rubbish. I am now trying hard to do something about that realisation and learn to work less, spend less and live more. It can be hard to orchestrate I think, when you been through the mill like we have.
I am sending lots of love to Moondog and really hoping that she is feeling strong.
hi
i am two years free so keep positive. you have no choice but to be positive keep on fightening.
jo xx