Chemo and immunotherapy

  • 6 replies
  • 31 subscribers
  • 1002 views

Hi all 

I was diagnosed two weeks ago with stage 1, grade 3 triple negative. I have been to see my oncologist this evening and I start chemo next week. He has asked if I want to do immunotherapy at the same time and I've said if it gives the best outcome then yes but he stressed for me to think about it. My question to you lovely ladies is, has anyone had immunotherapy and can give me some feed back on it, any side effects etc. He has given me some information about it but its all pretty generic. 

Thank you. Xx

  • Hi, I was offered it but declined. The risk of an autoimmune condition, which could be serious, was the same as the increase in life expectancy. I guess you need to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages against your prognosis. Your consultant should be able to give you a ten year outlook based on someone with your stage and grade and your age.

    My consultant was happy with my decision.  

    Think about it and discuss with your family and friends if that helps 

    Best wishes

  • I had 5 months of Pembrolizumab. It worked really well on my cancer but I am unfortunately still suffering from the accumulation of damage from a fairly serious immunotherapy adverse event that happened to me in September. I had to stop treatment at that point. My situation is different as I have metastatic TNBC. If given the chance again, I would still choose to take it given the paucity of options for metastatic TNBC. 

    I will let you decide whether you want the detail of what happened to me - it’s all in my blog. Entries from April / May 23 onwards cover the Pembrolizumab journey, and those from September onwards cover the IRAE. Not all of the issues were immediately obvious, some emerged as I attempted to wean off the steroids they put me on. I am still on the steroids.  A trip with triple negative breast cancer  

  • Hello, I hope your first chemo session went okay and you’re feeling strong and positive. Sparkles
    i did immunotherapy during chemo. Every third week it was administered and was fine. 
    My immunotherapy drug was called pembrolizumab. As I was triple negative it was offered and I accepted it. It doesn’t not cause hair loss and was always administered first after the pre-meds.

    if it’s offered then I would strongly recommend - you want the bestest chance Sparkles

    sending lots of warm strong vibes over to you. 
    zoe 

  • Hi Sarah Lou, I was diagnosed stage 1, grade 3 TNBC in October 2023. I started both chemotherapy and immunotherapy in Nov. Like others on here my immunotherapy was pembrolizumab. I had this every 3 weeks alongside carboplatin and then paclitaxel every week, cycles 1-4 over 12 weeks. Now I've started cycles 5-8 over the next 12 weeks. Will be Pembrolizumab, cyclophosphomide and Epirubicin once every three weeks. I am also cold capping. I feel its hard to say what side effects belong to what treatment and every single one of us is different. Good luck with whatever you decide x

  • Hi Bore da, you are having the same treatment as me. I'm currently having my 4th chemo tomorrow which is weekly and tomorrow will be immunotherapy aswell. I decided to take everything they threw at me. Good luck with your treatment. 

  • Hi Sarah.lou, that was my motto too. Good luck with your treatment x