Hello. I was diagnosed with grade 3 breast cancer in October 2024 (HER2 negative, PR negative, ER positive). Had mastectomy in November including sentinel lymph node biopsy. 1 out of 3 were cancerous. Not seen on MRI, CT or ultrasound. So had axillary clearance Feb which revealed no cancer in main lymph nodes.
Consultant and breast care nurse said, this is a very good cancer, not sure if you need chemo, margins were good, all cancer removed. Only tiny spot of cancer in one sentinel node it did its job. I never had a lump or any symptoms was just cancerous cells all over breast picked up whilst diagnosing a fibroadenoma.
First appointment with Oncologist last week she said it has a high recurrence rate of 12% (oncotype was 26). I am 41 and pre-menopausal.
She has recommended 12 weeks of chemotherapy which is frightening. Taxol and carboplatin every week for 9 weeks followed by Epirubicin and cyclophosphamide once every 3 weeks 3 sessions.
Also, I am BRCA2 positive.
Has anyone had the same type of cancer and/or treatment regimen?
Hi Sparkle498uk and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I’m Anne, one of the Community Champions here on the Online Community, and I was diagnosed with TNBC in April 2022. I had a lumpectomy and SLNB where one of the 2 lymph nodes removed were found to have a micro amount of cancer cells.
I was offered 3 cycles of EC, three weeks apart, followed by 12 weeks of paclitaxel, so very similar to you.
The online community is divided into different support groups so I'm going to recommend that you join the breast cancer group, which is a great place to ask questions, share experiences and get support.
To join, just click on the link I've created and, once you've joined, you can start a new post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
It would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and treatment into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Thank you so much for replying. How did you get on with the treatment if you don’t mind me asking? I hope I can complete it all. Good to hear that you are 3 years out of the other side of it 
️
The EC was harder than the paclitaxel. While on EC I lost my hair but by the end of the paclitaxel treatment it was beginning to grow back.
Besides the hair loss my main side effects on EC were feeling a but under the weather for about 10 days then I'd feel perfectly normal for the remaining time before my next EC. This was exactly the same each time. I also lost my sense of taste but found that I could still taste spicy food like curry and chilli. Also pineapple always tasted like pineapple in whatever format it came in!
On paclitaxel I had no side effects at all.
Wishing you all the best
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
I didn't try the cold cap although I had long hair. I decided that I didn't want to add a lot more time on to the treatment day and wasn't sure I'd like the really cold feeling.
Loosing my hair turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I love my new ultra short hairstyle. I'd never have dared try it this short if I hadn't lost my hair. I always assumed I'd let it grow back long, but prefer it short 
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
