Grade 3 triple negative

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Hi I’ve just been diagnosed and wondered if anyone on here has the same as me? They said it’s grade 3 triple negative whatever the hell that means?! I am booked in for a lumpectomy and dual technique SNLB on 19th. Pretty clueless so any advice would be much appreciated! 

  • Hi 

    Welcome to the forum but equally, sorry that you find yourself here.

    There is another breast cancer group for triple negative. Here's the link https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_types/triple-negative-breast-cancer-forum

    It isn't as busy as this group so do stay with this one too as your treatment will be largely the same as any others on this forum with different diagnoses. There are different types of breast cancer (BC) and you have one that hasn't tested positive for these main 3 so you have triple negative.  Grade 3 is the speed at which it grows. Grade 1, slow up to grade 3.

    The SNLB is sentinel lymph node biopsy. When they carry out your lumpectomy they will remove your sentinel lymph nodes to check if there are any cancerous cells in these. If not it is good news naturally. If there are, they may remove all your lymph nodes on that side to prevent any further spread.There will be a meeting after your op to let you know the results and what the plan of action is. 

    I hope this helps a little, but do keep posting on this forum if you have any questions.

    Kindest wishes,

    Lesley 

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  • Thanks Lesley! Much appreciated. Yeah I’ve just seen that other group so I’ve posted in there too. 
    Thanks for taking the time to reply.

  • Hi I am tnbc grade 3 , my advice to you is don’t Google tnbc until you have asked your questions on here the internet information is very negative and out of date. 
    all the treatment is doable the thing that kept me going was everyday I walked even if I felt rough I never finished a walk feeling bad. I think exercise helps the body function. The operation isn’t bad to recover from. Most tnbc are offered chemo first then operation 

  • Hi thank you for your reply. I can’t help Google it but I’ll stop now and listen to you guys! What I’ve read is chemo is offered first like you said but I’m having op first so I’m confused. I must exercise. At the minute I’m moping about feeling sorry for myself but I need to get out of it quick! 

  • Same here, triple negative, grade 3.

    Breast cancers are graded according to how aggressive they are. At grade 1 they are the least aggressive, grade 3 is the most aggressive. However, more than a year from diagnosis and well on the way to recovery, I can tell you now that while this seemed significat to me at the time of diagnosis I have realised since that it isn't. My cancer behaved itself and never wanted to go anywhere other than my breast, even though it took them 11 months from diagnosis to mastectomy. (I was having systemic treatment and dealing with other issues during that time.)

    As for tripe negative, that means this cancer is not hormone-sensitive and so will not benefit from that type of treatment. Again, at the time of diagnosis I thought that was a door closed, now I feel lucky in that my treatment is relatively short-term and does not involve years of taking medicine, or having to deal with hormones suppression. (Opinions here may vary on this; this is my take on it.)

    From what you are saying, they are grabbing your tumour really soon, which is great, and you may have some systemic treatment after as needed, but you could be in for what I call, "Hit and Run," type of treatment -- all done fast.

  • Ah well that’s really positive! Thank you! The lump is only 1cm so I’m hoping I’ve found it quick. Hit and Run sounds like a good approach! Thank you so much Slight smile

  • Hi Cereza I have same diagnosis as you and had lumpectomy first.  It seems to be done in that order when found early and when they don’t believe there has been any spread to lymph nodes. Im currently having chemotherapy and afterwards will have radiotherapy both as preventative measures to help prevent possibility of recurrence.
    It’s all very overwhelming at diagnosis but once you have had your lumpectomy I’m sure you’ll feel so much better knowing ‘it’ has gone.  
    Good luck x

  • Hi thanks so much for replying! Ok that’s great. I feel so much better already reading these replies! Google is terrible! They mentioned radiotherapy first and probable chemo so I’ll what happens after my op. How long were you off work for if you don’t mind me asking. That is one of my main worries x

  • Hi Cereza I haven’t been to work since diagnosis as I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate but then I’m 61 now and we had been making plans to have a change of lifestyle anyway.
     For me, lumpectomy was simple, even went quite a long walk the day afterwards and I  could probably have worked  after a couple of days.    Chemo not that pleasant but better than I’d been expecting.  I seem to be very sick the following day but then start to recover on 3rd day so I could probably have worked 4th or 5th day afterwards.  I have a friend who had tnbc (9 years clear now) and she managed to return to her very physical job on day 5 or  6 after chemo x

  • Hi thank you for your reply and helpful info. I think my issue is working in a school and the risk of covid before appointments and surgery etc. Not sure what to do x