Please help; advice needed

Angela C · New User Joined: 28 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

Hi. I hope people still read this forum.

My mom was diagnosed with mucinous carcinoma of the breast, with a very large (10cm) tumor that's invading her chest wall and positive in her axillary nodes.

She's still waiting for an appointment with an oncologist since we got the news just yesterday.

Has anyone had similar experiences? I just want a glimmer of hope. We're ready for chemo, surgery, radiation, and whatever is needed to get through this.

Muttsmom · Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:05 am Post subject: Re: Please help; advice needed

Hi,

An online friend had Invasive Ductal in both breasts with positive nodes and also in her chest wall and one of the pectoral muscles. She finished treatment about 6 months ago, and so far so good. Never give up hope!! She has the most common kind of cancer, Invasive Ductal but the difference is, her has a lot of mucous.

I'd say she needs to get started with her treatment ASAP. Did she had a modified radial mastectomy? Oncos do things different ways, but I'd want the mastectomy NOW and get rid of the known cancer and then get started with chemo and rads as soon as she healed. Has anyone done a bone scan and other tests to see if it's spread anywhere else? My onco is the one that ordered those, so she may not have yet. Praying it's nowhere else!!

I didn't have it in my chest wall, but I did have ILC and 9 lymph nodes positive. It's been 5 1/2 years and I had just turned 42 (the younger the worst) and I'm doing great. Living with NED (No Evidence of Disease).

Please let us know when she gets an onco appt. I got mine within a week after my followup with my surgeon said I had healed enough from surgery to get started on chemo.
_________________
Nancy
2/14/02 ILC 43 - 5.5 cm 9+/16 nodes
Stage IIIA er/pr+ Her2-
2/02 MRM
FECx6 radsx33
Tamoxifen - Arimidex (chemo induced menopause)
4/03 SM w/bilat. recon.
9/03 expanders removed
5/04 repair reconst. disaster
10/04 Actonel for bone/joint pain from Arimidex
NED - 5 years
3/07 Diabetes
In memory of Kim 12/1/04

Angela C · New User Joined: 28 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

Thank you so much. I can't tell you how much you've helped.

We're still at the very beginning of this. She's only gotten the MRI and pathology report. She'll be seeing the oncologist for the first time, hopefully, by the end of the week.

We'll be bracing ourselves for news on her bones, other nodes, and the rest of her body. And I'll be hoping for the best.

I'll be updating this forum with any news, and for subsequent advice. We'll make it through this!

Angela C · New User Joined: 28 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

update

my mom got a CT scan which showed no spread to her liver, lungs, abdomen, etc. so we're facing stage III cancer at the moment.

we're still waiting for the results of her bone scan, but she starts chemo tomorrow morning.

what a long journey. i feel a lot calmer from the first time i posted here. we're going to face this, and i'm just glad we're finally going to fight this tomorrow.

one setback is that her insurance (she's a nurse) did not cover appointments at the #1 cancer center in the nation, which happens to be across from her work. she was trying so hard to get a doctor there.. but it just didn't work out.

but we're still moving forward, and she has a doctor we trust.

any info on chemotherapy experiences? we're going wig shopping this week. hopefully the side-effects won't be so bad for her.

Smile

Muttsmom · Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 11:35 pm Post subject: Re: Please help; advice needed

Hi,

That's great news about the scans being clear. Remember, I was dx Stage III and that was 2/14/02 and I'm doing great. I have my check up on the 25th, but don't have any reason to think there will be a problem. Did they only remove 2 of her lymph nodes? Have they done a mastectomy? I know some oncos want to do chemo before surgery to shrink the tumors, and others do surgery and then do chemo/radiation.

As far as chemo, with her having Invasive Ductal, I think the chemo most get is AC for 4 treatments, 2 weeks apart and then 4 of either Taxol or Taxotere. I had a completely different course of chemo because I had Invasive Lobular, so I had 3 chemos at the same time and the only 1 that was the same was the C, which is Cytoxin. The AC/T is what I've seen given but with it being in her chest wall, the onco may have a different treatment plan. Let us know when you find out tomorrow what kind she'll be getting.

The most important thing is for her to drink LOTS of water the day of and for the next couple of days. I couldn't stand the taste of water, so I got bottled water so I could guzzle it. I drank 6-8 of those a day, during the 1st few days. Some women work through treatment, some only take off a couple days after treatment and then work the rest of the time. The most common side affect is fatigue, and with me, that wasn't all the time. My had a cummulative affect, so I stayed tired more days each treatment. I had nausea, but never got sick. They have new nausea meds out now then when I was dx. For me, eating something actually made the nausea go away.

Keep us posted.
_________________
Nancy
2/14/02 ILC 43 - 5.5 cm 9+/16 nodes
Stage IIIA er/pr+ Her2-
2/02 MRM
FECx6 radsx33
Tamoxifen - Arimidex (chemo induced menopause)
4/03 SM w/bilat. recon.
9/03 expanders removed
5/04 repair reconst. disaster
10/04 Actonel for bone/joint pain from Arimidex
NED - 5 years
3/07 Diabetes
In memory of Kim 12/1/04

brainman · Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 11:41 pm Post subject: Re: Please help; advice needed

Hi Angela, that is great news! I just want to let you know that I am thinking about and praying for your mother. She still has some hard days ahead, but with your support she can make it. Keep us informed when you find out more about what chemotherapy her medical team plans to us.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

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