What road do I wish to travel :(

The more I read to more confussed I get.  Had TNBC in 2005 Stage 1b kinda large  2.5 cm no nodes involment, so I went ahead and did chemo 8 rounds and 7 weeks of radiation.  Have been fine for over 7 years. Now a NEW TNBC in my left breast. They confirmed that is was new and NOT a reacurrance. Really small only .3 by .5 cm also no node involement.  Had surgery and the doctor said she was glad to have given me a second dye.  She had a hard time seeing it since the biospy took so much of it already. Did the Savi (internal) radiation for 5 days.  Originally my onc wanted to go AC and taxteral 8 rounds but after the report he  changed to 4 rounds of a drug I never heard of carboplatin with taxol.  Those two drugs together cause kidney, eye, hearding and neropathy problems.  He said it was up to me and when I told him I didnt want to he now wants to see me.  Are they just pushing drugs on everyone? Plus you can only use carbonplatin once....so if anything happeneds I feel like I will be screwed! Having a hard time getting to a place of peace with anything I deside.  Anyone every hear about those drugs or have used them?

Hi Sandra,

I did Cisplatin, a cousin of Carboplatin, so to speak, on a clinical trial. I did not have it in combination with Taxol but I did have Taxol with my initial chemo. I found the Taxol itself to be much better than the AC and did not find the Cisplatin to be horrible either. I did experience ringing in my ears with each infusion but the worst of it was always gone in a few days. I made sure that I pushed plenty of fluids (including Gatorade, not just water) and had no kidney problems. My neuropathy did get a little worse with the Cisplatin, but not horribly so.

SO very sorry you are having to go through this again. I am assuming that you have had the BRCA testing done. A second opinion would certainly be worth the peace of mind that you might gain.

Hopefully some others will chime in also.
Deb

Thanks for responding.  I told my onc I was not doing chemo again.  It's not the immediate effects since I really didnt have that much the first time.  Its I dont really want more posions in my system and could cause more harm than good.  I have been checking out the three (that i found) web sites that you get to input your stats in and get an percentage of survival with and without chemo.  Doctors said 75% clean in 10 years with no chemo (but smallest turmor size was 1cm) another had 88% and the last one had a quote as shortens the life of a 58 yr old by 1.2 years with no chemo and improval of only 6 months with chemo.  We just all need to be strong and live.  Thanks for your support.

Sandra,

Hi Sandra,

Lisa, I too was wondering if chemo was need for something so small.  My surgon said she would not do chemo, my radiologist said she would not, but the onc guy said he would have even his sister do it since you "never know".  As I posted earlier I have contacted MD Anderson in Houston for a second opinion.  I hear some people have the chemo and are fine some do not and are also fine.  I just dont want the "what if's) to creep back into my mind. Heard alot of people talk about carboplatin and gemzar I will look into it.

Sandra

Dear Debra,  I went to another doctor in my area and they showed that a tumor as small as mine chemo had no benefit so I didnt do chemo.  That being said my other doctor said that carboplatin and taxol were just as strong and A/C and I checked the US trail data base and found that they dont really have data on triple neg tumore and carboplatin and taxol it is still ongoing.  If you are going to use those two be aware of the side effects an start taking  mushrooms complex and astragalus and fish oil.  All can be found at the health food store.  Carbopolatin will interfer with your nevers in your fingers and feet.  Last time I went thru chemo (7 years ago) I ended up with osteroarthritis in my finger joints and didnt want to make it worse.  A great book to read is Natural Strategies for cancer patients my Dr Russell Blaylock.  There are alot of things you can go before chemo starts and during that can help with protecting your body from the the bad drugs they want to give you.  Ongologist dont really know about nutriitional things you can do for yourself to help fight your cancer and make chemo work better. 

I hope this helps is some small way I wish you luck in whatever you deside.  But a tumor yours size chemo should be used if it is 6mm and not .6.

Sandra