Triple Negative Chemo Cocktails

Hi,

Well, I am happy to say that if what I experienced for my first chemo is anything to go by, then I am more than pleased with how it went.

Broni

Great - you are a very lucky lady. I hope all your treatments go as well. Has your hair started to fall out yet? I completed my CT prior to my mast/resconst, and was to have started back up following my surgery. However I developed 2 infections. The incisions had to be re-opened,  the incisions removed and the area cleaned out, which pushed back my chemo 3 times. I will be starting again next Friday - darn my hair has just started to materialize and it will be quickly falling out once again.

I hope you continue with no issues. Drink a lot of water and take a stool softener the next time it will help with the constipation.

Jean

Hi Broni,

My onc had me do chemo first, then surgery. I think this order is especially recommended for people with larger tumors upon dx. Even in the US, people are surprised to hear I had chemo first. It is done for several reasons. 1) to reduce the size of the tumor prior to surgery. In my case, this meant I had a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy. 2) to prevent mets by chasing down any rogue cancer cells that may have escaped the breast. 3) to see how well a tumor responds to a particular chemo cocktail. Post-surgery, it's hard to tell.

I'm glad your first chemo went well. My experience was similar to yours. I had a few bad days each time, but I would bounce back and start to feel pretty good after about a week. If you do have side effects, don't suffer in silence.  Mention them to your onc or your chemo nurses. They usually have good suggestions.

Best to you,

Cheranthia

Cheranthia

Just another point of view on chemo before surgery.

My biospy turned out to be a lumpectomy, 6cc tumor. Following that I had 3 treatments of chemo before having a bi-mast/reconstruction. I was told the cancer had spread. The good and bad news was my path report showed no signs of cancer so the mast was unnecessary, as was the recon ( I am now on week 6 post surgery) and, of course, all the pain and infections that have gone with all these procedures. I had to have 2 post-surgery "procedures" which amount to more surgeries to remove the entire incision (one side) clean out and resuture. The other side required only half the incision be removed.

Because of being triple negative , no form post surgical meds to prevent a relapse, my onc will start me on 2 MORE chemo (TC) - just to be safe and kill any remaining cancer cells, if there. I was to have started these 3 weeks ago but do to the infections it has been pushed back 3 times. I will be starting them the day after Thanksgiving.

Jean

Galina:

I had my lumpectomy in June, followed by chemo three weeks after. Three weeks after completing my chemo, I had my mast/reconst. (Sept 26th) I was to have both rads and chemo starting shortly after (Chemo I guess 3 weeks) however I developed an infection on the BC side within 2 weeks. My PS had to cut me open, clean out the infection, remove the incision's scar and resuture. Two weeks later, the non cancer side became infected. Last week, I had my stitches removed. On the BC side, the stitches had been in for 4 weeks. Both sides looked like they were starting to become infected again. (I thought 4 weeks was far too long to leave in stitches, but the PS would not removed them sooner.

The most upsetting fact in this entire fiacso is, the path report showed no sign of cancer ...NOTHING. That means all the chemo, removing my breasts, the horrors of reconstruction, infections etc., was all done for no reason, except to provide my  BS with an Orient vacation. AS I had no BC, my onc said NO RADS. He does want me to have more chemo, "just in case". He fears a cell could have gotten loose and he wants it killed. (HE is my second ONc, the first one caused all this horror.)

Hello, I just had my first chemo of FEC100. The nurse had to administer both F and E manually.  After 1 ml of F I got stomack problem and after 5ml I got pain on the left side of my chest, followed by convultions.  The EKG was normal, they told me it was allergic reaction (!?). 

Also had the chemo you're having.

One side effect form Taxotere - you may well lose your nails, and not until long after your normal SE are gone.

I started my first Chemo sessions about 5-6 months ago, three treatments prior to surgery, then more following surgery. I just completed chemo the day before Christmas.

Most trama can show up as lines on your nails. I had three deep ones for each of my first treatments. About 2 weeks ago my nails started to lift. At first I thought it was just a large piece of nail polish that had lifted off, but to my horror it also included a large chunk of the under lying nail. Now, slowly, one by one they are coming up.  However it wasn't just my nails, 2 days ago, all the skin on one of my finger tips just came up. I had little to no feeling on some of my finger tips, so had no warning. Yesterday, the same thing happened to another finger. Gee when will all this end and we can go back to some sort of a normal life?

Lady4law - what is SE - oh - side effects, right?  Congrats on finishing your chemo.  You will feel more normal some day - just not right away.  I am almost 5 months out and still have some SE, but nothing serious enough to impair my enjoyment.

I misstated about my chemo - I only had 4 treatments, not 6.  I think if I had more I would definitely have lost my nails, but I think they'll stay on now.  Good, healthy nail is growing out to replace them and only one still looks like it might be partially loose.  This is one of the surprises no one told me about, and I thought it might have been just trauma, although exaggerated from the chemo, as I had grabbed a long-haired dog (which was attacking me) rather abruptly and it's hair kind of wrenched my nails.  The other thing that can come late is continued hair loss.  My eyebrows and eyelashes never fell out until after my 4th (and final) chemo.  That was weird, too.

Jan in Michigan.  best of luck with your last treatment - yea to be done soon!!  Not everyone gets the Neupogen along with the chemo.  I only had it when I ended up in the hospital with low white count. 

Radiation was easy compared to chemo, but you do get fatigued by the end.  I was more mentally fatigued than physical and it was surprising even though I was warned by many people of the fatigue.

Nora