Rheumatoid arthritis and tnbc

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My wife  Moira  was diagnosed  with tnbc in April  23 underwent  chemo then a lumpectomy  once finished  was told chemo  hadn't  worked as they  hoped  so then had a further lumpectomy  and three lymph  nodes removed

This was followed  by 19 sessions  of radiotherapy  and 6 months  of preventive  oral chemo  which only finished  in October 

In november  had a mammogram  no sign of anything  but lymph nodes not checked?

Prior to Xmas felt a lump in her collar bone area ultra scan shows two tumours  so ct and mri on 21st  Jan

As she has rheumatoid  arthritis  it seems  treatment  for her is limited  as her oncologist  tried to get her on a stage three trial but was turned down don't know where to turn need advice 

Kevin  a very  worried  husband

  • Hi Kevin,

     

    Thank you for getting in touch and welcome to our online community.  I see that you have joined our breast cancer forum and triple negative breast cancer forum.  I hope that you are finding them supportive.

    My name is Adrienne and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists at Macmillan.

     

    I’m so sorry to hear about the tumours found on Moira’s collarbone.  It’s completely understandable that you’d be worried and want to know what possible treatment options are available. 

     

    Moira’s oncologist is the best person to speak to about what potential treatment options are available to her.  Especially as she also has rheumatoid arthritis and the management plan may be more challenging. It might be worth Moira’s oncologist liaising with her rheumatologist to discuss any concerns they have over treatment and how this could be managed, ensuring a multi-disciplinary approach.

     

    Treatment offered will depend on what stage the cancer is at now and will take into account the chemotherapy she has already had.  The results of today’s scans will give a clearer picture of what is going on and therefore determine the best plan going forward.  It may be that they offer more radiotherapy to the collarbone, offer chemotherapy again or a combination of both.  If the cancer has spread, it may be that Moira is eligible to have Sacituzumab Govitecan (Trodelvy) however only her oncologist could say whether this would be an option and how safe it would be given the arthritis.

     

    I can’t imagine how disappointed you both were that Moira was turned down for the phase 3 clinical trial.  Although we don’t yet know what stage the cancer is at until the results of the scans are through, I wanted to make you aware of a charity called Make 2nds Count.  They focus on secondary breast cancer and have a patient trials advocate service that will conduct a clinical trials database search on Moira’s behalf.  You can read more about that here and it includes a booking form.

     

    I hope this information was helpful but please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions.

     

    Take care and best wishes,

     

    Adrienne 

    Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

     

    You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email

    Ref:  AMc/RH