u/FlatwormBig5514

If you are in the United States, this is a good resource to track your legislator's record on animal welfare.

My wife has Stage 3 Triple Negative Breast Cancer. She has completed three rounds of chemo so far.

She had her Breast MRI, CT, and Bone scan last week. MRI and CT came back clear. Though her bone scan said this:

"Nonspecific increased tracer uptake noted throughout the sternum. No suspicious bone lesions are identified at this location on contemporaneous CT imaging".

Her MO is out for another 2 weeks, so she's been spiraling a bit. We're assuming the next step will be a PET scan. But overall, is this something to be concerned about, considering the the CT and MRI came back clear + it's nonspecific and spread throughout vs. focal?

Hello,

My wife started chemo two weeks ago. There were several delays in trying to get the MRI, CT and Bone scan scheduled. Anyways, the MRI and CT scan came back clear today. But the Bone Scan read this:

Impression:

1. Nonspecific increased tracer uptake throughout the sternum. No suspicious bone lesions are identified at this location on contemporaneous CT imaging.

Next round of chemo is tomorrow so we'll ask about this.

Anything we should be potentially concerned of here?

Hello, my wife had her first TC + Keytruda on Wednesday. The first two days, she had relatively minor symptoms. But yesterday evening and this evening, her nausea has been severe.

We are using the prescribed medications and receiving an additional one tomorrow to start using. We asked our oncologist about taking them regularly vs waiting for symptoms, but he told us to wait for symptoms before she should. It seems like once symptoms start, it's too late and the meds do very little then, so I'm not sure why he said this.

I want to ensure I help her prevent this from happening again next week. Should we start taking them the day after chemo?

For example, should she take Zofran every 8 hours every day no matter how she feels moving forward? Should she do it every single day moving forward through all of treatment, or just day of chemo and 3-4 days afterwards?

I will also mention that she's going through significant extra stress because her mom is in the ER, and as her caretaker, she hasn't been able to be there for her now. The emotional stress has been really difficult on her and I know is contributing to it. She's spent her whole life taking care of her mom, and now out of nowhere she can't. The stress is unbearable for her.

I appreciate all your advice.

In case it's helpful, I wanted to share some experiences for my wife when her port was placed.

Placement itself wasn't bad. She was in a twilight sedation and barely remembers anything. When I told her it took ~60 minutes, she was shocked because she thought she was only gone for ~10-15 because the meds made it seem like it went by so fast. She felt pressure at times but was mostly aloof and didn't care.

First few hours were good. Mild-moderate level pain. Then, she accidentally without thinking put her arm over her head when adjusting, and the pain got severe. Word of advice: do NOT put your arm over your head. Pay close attention to limiting your movement.

She laid completely flat in bed for a few hours after this, and when she woke up, the pain was horrible. She couldn't get up or move, and the pain scale was 7-8. I would recommend not laying completely flat if you're in a lot of pain. Try to stay propped up a bit if possible using pillows or a recliner.

Her pain started improving once she got up and walked around. She walked on the treadmill at ~.6 mph, just very slow, and slowly moved her shoulder, arm, neck and hand on the affected side. She took two Tylenol every 6 hours.

Now it's mild and very manageable pain today. She started chemo today, and the port access was tender, but the initial pinch wasn't too bad.

Overall, if you experience a lot of pain, I would suggest:

1. Limit movement. But don't stay completely still. Slightly move your arm, neck, hand and shoulder when you can. If it's painful, then move it even less. I'm talking super slight movements even if necessary. But don't fight through pain doing it.

2. Be careful about laying flat that same day after the procedure. Getting up was extremely difficult and painful for her. Get your bed or recliner ready before your appointment with this. I wish I knew better.

Also to say, some people have barely any pain and discomfort and this may not apply to you. I figured I would share her experience though in case it helps someone else. It doesn't necessarily mean it'll work for you.

Hello again, appreciate everyone's help these past few days.

My wife is starting Taxol/carbo/keytruda on Wednesday next week. We were originally told it would be AC, but they switched it up because of a certain trial she's being assigned to.

Are there any lists or links out there that helps prepare for managing side effects with Taxol? I want to be as prepared as possible to help her through this journey.

Thank you for your help.

Quick question for my wife who has been diagnosed with Stage 3 TNBC. The oncologist wants to start with A/C first, then go to weekly taxol. It seems like the majority of people begin with taxol first.

Is this just a doctor preference thing? Does it really matter in the end?

Hello, my wife and I had our first meeting with the oncologist today after receiving the TNBC diagnosis on Friday.

The meeting was relatively short (about an hour). He didn't really go into much detail. At the end, he said she is currently stage 3B, which confused us. The mass is 4.1cm, with one 3mm node identified on biopsy.

We haven't had the scans (MRI, PET, etc) yet, and when I asked why she was 3b, he said that's what the calculator algorithm told him. We don't know yet if it's invaded more lymph nodes or her chest wall/skin. She does have bruising on her breast but that was from the biopsy a week ago, which we clarified when he asked about it and he didn't enter it into the calculator.

The tumor is a grade 3 with a KI67 of 90. She is 32 years old.

This seemed a bit odd? Is that normal? We also expected to learn more today, but it was kept very high level/general/vague.

Wife's mass is 4cm. BIRAD-5. Biopsy in a week, preparing for the diagnosis. 31F

Is the mass really large? Based on what I'm reading, it seems most people get the diagnosis when it's smaller? Is that something to be concerned about?

She first noticed 3.5 months ago. Took this long after scheduling primary care and mammogram (both getting delayed several weeks each).

So, here are the results of ultrasound below. We are preparing for it to be cancer. Given these results, what is the likelihood of what stage and type potentially? We trying to prepare for the worst. Biopsy next week.

31F

Targeted ultrasound was performed of the left breast. In the 6:00 to 7:00 position 4 cm from the nipple the palpable abnormality corresponds to an irregular hypoechoic shadowing mass which measures approximately 4.1 x 1.5 x 2.9 cm. Internal blood flow is seen on color Doppler images. This is highly suggestive of malignancy and biopsy is recommended. On imaging of the left axilla and abnormal lymph node is seen measuring approximately 1.7 cm with focal cortical thickening of 3.6mm. This is suspicious for metastatic involvement and biopsy of this lymph node is also recommended.

no calcifications found

ASSESSMENT: BI-RADS Category 5 - Highly Suggestive of Malignancy