Welcome @boobitis Sorry to hear of your diagnosis and can understand your worry if the Predict score says your percentage is very low. As you are still so early in your diagnosis your MDT will discuss the pros and cons of chemo/Herceptin and the size, grade of your tumour and spread. As. @salbert has said Herceptin is game changing but sometimes they may be over treating you. Chemo and Herceptin are both cardiotoxic and chemo attacks the good and bad cells. There is at least one other person on this thread that was told they didnāt need chemo/herceptin. I think it was @entropy ( I apologise if Iāve remembered the wrong person)
@boobitis I prefer the name boobitis to breast cancer. Next time I see my oncologist I will ask him how he feels my boobitis treatment went! An 8 year old should be just about all the distraction you need. Hugs back atcha.
@sez My GP friend told me they are under a Government directive to get people off sleeping pills and not to prescribe them for new cases of insomnia. Obviously pregabalin is not on their deny list. I sometimes have to fight to get my Zopiclone but the difference it makes to my quality of life makes it worth it to me. Without sleep, the decline is swift for me. I hope the increased dose makes a difference to you but if it doesnāt, then go straight after the GP review. Sleep is vital.
Someone else who said that bc treatment affected their singing voice was Anastacia the well-known singer, so it can definitely happen. I do so hope that before too long, you and your cat will be enjoying kitchen karaoke again.
@naughty_boob - Very good point re the people who donāt need the full works of treatment. It was @entropy and @jill2.
@sooz1 - How are you, our friend? You are on my mind.
Hi, still lurking about occasionally. Yes indeed, I only got offered tamoxifen and radiotherapy. Ended up stopping the tamoxifen due to unlivable side-effects for something that might not be effective due to ācrosstalkā between ER and Her2 receptors.
15 month on, no signs of recurrance- though the possibility always lurks in the back of the mind. Donāt come on here generally as my path was different, but thought Iād reply.
Hello @boobitis , I was ER +, PR 0, Her2 + like yourself. 16mm IDC, but only grade 1 as a rare type of cribiform. I think in your case the small size rather than the grade could end up meaning less treatment- not necessarily a bad thing if you already have other conditions. I am fit and well so nothing to do with my health, it happens.
I was a bit woozy walking to work today, not sure if it was the increased pregabalin still lingering in my system or low blood sugar. Maybe need to take it earlier than bedtime (didnāt think itād linger til midday the next day).
I need to chat to my colleagues (GPs) about this sleeping tablet protocol, see if they can advise a way round it. Itās bloody annoying. The painkillers are addictive too, and Iād rather have the sleep ones and potentially be addicted to that than painkillers which I think are a worse addiction.
@Linda_Corinne I swapped from Phesgo to Herceptin after I finished chemo and surgery and my stomach definitely settled a bit more although not perfect yet.
This picture is everything! Stunning. I so want to try this. Are you on a mailing list so you know when events are running?
@salbert thanks for the advice regarding reading through the whole thread. Some lovely stories and inspiration, especially the Christian Slater interactions.
@boobitis Hi. Iām pretty new too. Although Iām stage 2 Tripple positive grade 3. I just had to have the ridiculously aggressive kind. Iām so glad you have your mum who full understand this diagnosis a d can give you some truful positivity and hope. I had my second infusion Tuesday. The targeted treatment has shrunk my tumor already. X
Thought Iād make you all laugh with my News reader worthy wig. I still canāt believe they only picked blonde straight wigs when Iām ginger and wavy.
Thanks for answering @entropy. Good to hear that you are doing well.
@sez I think you make a very valid point re painkiller addiction versus sleeping pill addiction. You make use of those GP colleagues.
@cass2 I absolutely love your newsreader wig. I say embrace the look!! How wonderful to hear that your tumour is shrinking already. Hereās to seeing it obliterated.
@Linda_Corinne I went on a short holiday in between surgery and radiotherapy/Kadcyla last year as I was only on phesgo at that time and had a few days without any treatment so my oncology team said it was fine to do a city break.
I am also going on holiday abroad again in just over a week and have had 12 Kadcylas (2 to go) and I have a port in. Team okād it and I got insured for the trip no probs through AllClear. Iāve also got other holidays booked that I had to reschedule due to treatment (first one will be about 10 weeks after finishing - still on Tamoxifen though) and have checked for a worldwide annual policy and there are no issues with that through AllClear too
P.S if you havenāt guessed already I love a holiday the last year and a half has felt like Covid 2.0 with not being able to travel again!
Hi @salbert thanks for checking in! Iām doing ok thanks, think the post radiotherapy fatigue has kicked in, and the burns came out pretty badly but the skins all peeled off now so itās much better. Just feel a little bit in limbo at the moment with everything, still on phesgo rather than Kadcyla, I get the impression itās because they donāt want to burn through my drug options too quickly, but canāt get my head round not having the Kadcyla given the amount of residual I had. Anyway, Iām seeing the medical oncologist on 13th August and need to ask him all the difficult questions in my mind about āwhat nowā and prognosis etc. No one has had any of these conversations with me since finding out about the spine before my surgery, I know that makes me āstage 4ā but no one has mentioned that to me yet and what it all means for treatment / monitoring/ the future. So yeh just feeling a bit unsure. Sleep is also poor, Iāve seen others mentioning about drugs - I was prescribed an antihistamine to help with sleep but I donāt find it really helps that much, I still wake up several times a night.
Hope your weekend in the campervan was good despite the not so great weather!
Iāve been reading everyoneās posts trying to catch up, but my memory/brain function isnāt good enough to reply to everyone!! Thinking of you all though š«¶š»
Hugs back atcha.
