Scared

Hi Wildcat, sorry to hear this.

i just wanted to say mine was triple negative but I didn’t need chemo. It will depend on size of tumours and  any spread to lymph nodes. Like you I was adamant I didn’t want chemo once diagnosed but as it turned out it was part of the treatment plan in the end so I didn’t have to make that decision. I had wide spread high grade DCIS so needed a mastectomy. Post surgery biopsy showed  some small tumours so I didn’t have to have radiotherapy. It’s almost 3 years since my surgery and all good. Stay positive. X

Sorry it should say “it wasn’t part of the treatment plan”.

I should read my messages before hitting SUBMIT! 
It should read “I did have radiotherapy “.!!!
It must have affected my brain

Hey Wildcat 

I'm so sorry about your husband and his experience with chemo is bound to go some way to shaping your decisions about how you proceed with your own treatment.

Chemo is almost always recommended for TNBC tumours due their aggressive nature, however it will depend a lot on your individual circumstances and they'll take into account things like size, grade and your age and general health.

My TNBC was 1cm so early stage and grade 3 so high grade and was removed with clear margins and nodes. Chemo was the next stage of treatment due to the high grade and my age (apparently 47 is young!), however the start date for my chemo was massively delayed beyond the recommended timeline for effective treatment and now I've had a biopsy confirm local recurrence just four months after my lumpectomy so I may now be looking at losing the breast rather than sporting the neat little scar I have now. Then there is of course the inevitable terror of not knowing if it's now spread beyond the breast.

I know this is really scary but I highly recommend you at least meet with the oncologist if they offer chemo and have a proper, open-minded discussion to weigh up the pros and cons.

Best of luck with your surgery and recovery. x

Hi Wildcat 

I am sorry you lost your husband to pulmonary embolism and can absolutely understand how that makes you very anxious about the idea of chemo. Unfortunately TNBC is usually an aggressive cancer and chemo is likely to be recommended unless your tumour was very small - I think the usual cutoff is 5mm for a grade 3 tumour, which most TNBC are. You don’t have to accept chemo if you don’t want it but it’s worth knowing that not all chemo drugs are the same so their risk profiles may differ. Do talk to your oncologist about what happened to your husband. They should be able to provide specific advice about the drugs being proposed. Most people have an ok time on chemo. Obviously there will be side effects but you are unlikely to suffer everything listed on the drug sheets nor will you experience them all the time. 

I'm definitely going to discuss with my oncologist about chemotherapy and be guided by them. My health isn't good anyway and being on my own is difficult enough.  Just have to be patient