Hi all
i have invasive ductal carcinoma stage2 grade3
triple negative. im having epirubicin & cyclophosphamide for my first 4 and then 4 docetaxel(taxotere) to reduce the size of tumour 50mm befor i can have surgery. also waiting to hear back from genetic testing. anybody having the same treatment as me or has the same dx as me would like to hear from you.
billie
Hi Billie - very similar to you, also triple negetaive. I was diagnosed Feb 09 and had 4 ec and 4 tax to reduce the size of the tumour. I then had a mastectomy and rads. I had full axillary clearance but all lymph nodes were clear. Am back at work part-time.
Good Luck and keep in touch
Clare
Hi, I had grade 2 (2.5cm) triple neg tumor, SNB with 2 nodes removed which showed no lymph involvement. 6 FEC chemos and tumor shrank away completely so had to have a wire marker inserted after chemo5 before WLE surgery. I wish you good luck for a similar response to what for me was by far the hardest part of the treatment process.
hi billie
i had grade 3 invasive ductal TNBC last year, it was small enough to have surgery at the time… 1.9cm extending to 2.7cmm including high grade DCIS. i asked for bilateral Mx at the time as had BC 3 years before in other breast but they wanted to go down the breast conservation route.
had genetic testing which came back showing i have brca 2 and now have to have bilateral Mx, which is going to be quite tricky due to the location of my WLE scars.
i think if you have the results from your genetic testing before you are going for surgery it may give you a better idea of what you want to have done.
i was at a Bc forum recently too and they were discussing the benefits of neoadjuvant chemo for younger women and it shows a significant benefit to prevention of recurrence in the longer term.
best of luck
Lx
Hi Billie,
Very similar - I was diagnosed Jul 07, with a 50 mm lump, TNBC, stage 3, had pretty much same chemo, 4 x EC, then 4 x Paclitaxel (I think thats how it was spelt - but basically in the Tax family) followed by a skin-sparing mastectomy with immediate implant re-con. Had 7 nodes removed, 2 had traces of cancer, but had been killed by the chemo. The 50 mm lump had reduced to 1 mm with the chemo. Final result is pretty good, and I’m now a way down the line, and still clear, and keeping fingers crossed… I didn’t have genetic testing as there had been no major history of cancer in my family.
Hope you treatment goes well, it seems daunting at the start, but you can get through it, and pick up the pieces of your life again.
Take care
Shannon
x
Hi Billie
I was diagnosed Jan 2008 with 6.5 x 4.5cm (yes cm not mm)triple neg tumour with node involvement and I opted for chemo first as I wanted to get my head around having a bilateral mastectomy. (I’d had DCI in my other breast in 2004 and just had WLE no other treatment.)I was given six lots of TAC and by the third one the tumour had disappeared, it could not be found on ultrasound but I still had to have all six lots. It’s hard but you can do it. I had the bilateral and full clearance of nodes on the side of the tumour, 5 out of 19 were affected with spread to surrounding tissue, the chemo had not touched the cancer cells here. My Consultant could not explain why it had killed the tumour but not these! I then had three weeks of radiotherapy. I have not gone down the reconstruction route and have found it very liberating to be able to go with or without boobs as the mood takes me.
So yes Chemo will reduce the tumour size but in my case did not get all that was there which is what I was hoping when I opted for chemo first.
Good luck all
Nonny