Early Breast Cancer Treatment Decision
Hi All, I recently was diagnosed with early breast cancer (stage 1, grade 2, HER Negative, Estrogen & Prog positive, no lymph nodes involve) three weeks ago I had a double mastectomy with tissue expanders for reconstruction. I now need to choose my treatment for post surgery. For my particular case the percentage for survival purely doing the double mastectomy surgery alone is 95% when I add hormone blocker treatment it adds another 1% so 96% total which has been recommended by my oncologist to take which I will. I have been also given the option to decide if I want to also do chemo or not, the percentage benefit for my specific cancer is less than 1% at about 0.3% (so the percentage still stays at 96% survival) Is there anyone with a similar case to mine and what you decided? Or if it was you what you would do? My immediate thoughts are for a 0.3% benefit that going through 6 months of chemo with everything that comes with that is perhaps not worth doing it? The other thing I will point out is if there are any tiny microcells left in my body anywhere that hormone blockers will stop them dividing and growing, but chemo would actually kill them. Bearing in mind there is no guarantee either way that reoccurrence will or won't happen. Thoughts?
Hormone treatments, tamoxifen and tendonitis
Hi there, I'm very new to this, but wondering if anyone has experience of tamoxifen and tendonitis? I've had two different types of breast cancer, but one side was HER2Positive so since January this year I have been on anastrozole. In late July I got extremely painful tendon damage - a torn and swollen hamstring tendon near my seatbone, so it really hurts to sit, and two other gluteal tendons with tendinopathy as well - no idea what set these problems off, but discovered that anastrozole, in reducing oestrogen, weakens tendons. My Oncologist said suspend it, so I haven't been taking it since early August. She later offered me a script for Tamoxifen instead. As Tamoxifen also is designed to reduce oestrogen I am wondering whether I should switch to it or not? I don't want a breast cancer recurrence, but my life quality at the moment is much affected by the tendon problem which is not healing very quickly at all. It's going to take many many months I think. If I take tamoxifen now will I slow down the healing? What should I do? Anyone out there had any experience with tamoxifen and tendons? Thanks for any experience you can share with me!!!
BYO Cold Cap?
Hi all, I have just found out that my hospital (Monash) doesn’t offer the cold cap for chemo. The breast care nurse I spoke to was very disparaging of them, saying there was no evidence they worked, which surprises me as they seem relatively common in better hospitals. She said the only option was to BYO frozen caps in an esky - has anyone here tried this? Was it successful? How do you keep the caps cold enough?
Exemestane, anyone had this?
Hi everyone, I am going to be going on the hormone blocker Exemestane, I was hoping others may have had this and could tell me what to expect. I could've had Letrozole but was put off that one by someone, not sure if I should have it or which one? My specialist didn't seem bothered which one I had. Any feed back appreciated, all the best from Cindi x
TDM1 - what to expect
Hi, Am post neoadjjuvant therapy, mastectomy and ALND for 2 separate tumours, one HER2+ and the other HER2-, both estrogen and progesterone positive. 1 lymph node positive. I had near complete response to treatment (<1%) and a tiny mass still in the lymph node. Recommendation is to switch from Herceptin to TDM1. I see the oncologist on Monday for further information and to start this new drug. Any experience with side effects and what to expect would be appreciated. Although I know they do this for any residual disease, there was so little that you do start to question the need. So would appreciate both good and bad view just to get myself prepared. On another note, my breast surgeon discussed CTK4/6 with an AI. This was not even on my radar. I will find out more on Monday but very curious and like to have knowledge to make the best choices. Love to hear from anyone who has experience in these treatments. Best wishes to you all.
Skin fold
Hi I am 8 days post radiation treatment and have been feeling great and living life. I now have a split skin fold which is oozing a yellow goo (sorry only way I can think to describe it). My question is it ok to put anything in this? My rad nurse was supposed to call days ago and didn't and I tried calling today my was told the nurses were unavailable and to leave a message (that I did) and my gp isn't available until next week.
Subsidy for Verzenio (abemaciclib) expanded on the PBS
Hi everyone, I thought some of you may be interested to read about the recent expansion of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) listing of Verzenio (abemaciclib) to include its use in combination with Faslodex (fulvestrant). You can read the full details on the BCNA website link below: https://www.bcna.org.au/news/2021/10/subsidy-for-verzenio-abemaciclib-expanded-on-the-pbs/ We recommend talking to your treatment team if you have any questions about abemaciclib or fulvestrant. (This has also been posted in private group 'Living with metastatic breast cancer')
New trial
The technology that created the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is being used to develop a jab that could help treat cancer. Scientists from the University of Oxford and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have developed a two-dose vaccine which they believe can target tumours in humans. When tested on mice, the jab increased the levels of anti-tumour CD8+T cells which attack the growths, greater reducing its size and increasing survival rates. It also resulted in an enhanced response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy - turning a person’s own immune system against a tumour - which is often ineffective as some patients have low levels of the T-cells required. The team created the cancer vaccine with two different prime and boost viral vectors, one of which was used in the development of the Covid jab. To ensure the new vaccine targeted cancer cells specifically, it was designed to seek out too MAGE-type proteins that are present on the surface of the cells. The first human clinical trial will take place later this year, with the jab being trialled on 80 patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Benoit Van den Eynde, of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, said: “We knew from our previous research that MAGE-type proteins act like red flags on the surface of cancer cells to attract immune cells that destroy tumours. “MAGE proteins have an advantage over other cancer antigens as vaccine targets since they are present on a wide range of tumour types. This broadens the potential benefit of this approach to people with many different types of cancer. “Importantly for target specificity, MAGE-type antigens are not present on the surface of normal tissues, which reduces the risk of side-effects caused by the immune system attacking healthy cells.”
TERRIFIED of Treatment
I’m not sure I can convey in writing how terrified I am I’m not sure there is a word to describe it the worry I feel is debilitating, I already suffer from anxiety and this is just exasperating it, i was diagnosed about a month ago and have had a Lumpectomy with good results margins were clear and lymph nodes were clear, my cancer is triple negative and they are still wanting me to have chemo and radiation. The plan is 12 weekly doses of chemo then about 15-20 treatments of radiation along with Herceptin every 3 weeks for a year. I am supposed to go to Hospital on Tuesday for Echocardiogram, Port Insertion and my first chemo. Everday for the last two weeks I have woken up at 6am in what I think is a panic attack I have tingles all over my body and shaking and I don’t want to get out of bed I’m at a point where I don’t think I’m going to be able to get myself to the hospital on Tuesday, and on top of all this I live in Melbourne so we have COVID to deal with which means no one can come to hospital with me I have to do this alone. I am terrified of having the port put in and the thought of it being in my body for so long is terrifying to me I am also completely terrified of the chemo and all the worry it will cause me between treatments having to monitor temperature etc etc will be so stressful for me. I have tried conveying this to various people (Doctors, Family, Psycologist) and all they say is you have to do this and take one step at a time, I feel like no one is really grasping how terrified I am and no one is helping me with the mental side of this, am I the only one that feels this way please HELP me as I don’t think I can mentally survive this and am seriously considering not going on Tuesday.
