Hello Justathena

What fantastic news! I'm sure it was a great relief to hear that the cancer is contained within your breast and that they are going forwards with treatment with the aim to cure. 

There are many women who have posted here on the forum who have successfully been through treatment for triple-negative breast cancer. Hopefully, some of them will post to share their stories with you but if you use the forum search function to look for TNBC  or triple negative you'll see lots of posts that you can read through.  You might also like to have a look at the TNBC group on the Macmillan forum

I know that it's been a difficult few weeks for you since diagnosis Justathena and it's understandable that you have concerns and questions about the treatment plan that the team is suggesting for you. Do lean on your BCN and contact her to talk things through if you're worried. Alternatively, you can call our team of nurses to chat things through. I'm sure they will be happy to offer any advice, information, and support that they can as well as help you think about some of the questions you might want to ask at your next appointment. They're available Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm on 0808 800 4040.  

Keep leaning on family and friends for support and posting here on the forum as well as I know a lot of members have replied to share their stories and advice with you over the past few weeks. I'm sure that those around you both in person and online will do all they can to support you in these next steps of your journey. 

Best wishes, 
Jenn
Cancer Chat moderator 

But you have a 65% chance of it not coming back.

Those percentages change depending on responses from the treatment. My wife's odds were worse than yours initially at diagnosis, but dropped dramatically as she had a really good response to the treatment, and clear margins and no cancer cells at op.

No one can ultimately tell you what to do or not to do, as you have full autonomy over your own body. But 65% is better than if it was flipped over to 35%.

Your very first message on here stated you initially thought it was stage 3, and you were prepared to give it a good damn try, then you freaked out thinking it was stage 4, so lost your initial fight. Results then showed you were indeed stage 3. So regather that initial determination and give yourself a chance of being in that 65%.

No one has lied to you, the chemo will be a challenge at times, but it's nothing like you see on TV. Folk bed bound for months on end, being sick 24/7 and barely able to function. You'll have a *** few days once the steroids wear off from each dose (usually lethargy is the over riding symptom), but you'll quickly pick up again. The first 2 courses of EC, from personal experience with my wife and from the stories we picked up before she commenced treatment, are usually fine. The symptoms become more noticeable come the 3rd as chemo tends to be accumulative.

I have zero idea about the 2nd round of chemo treatment you're getting, but it will be at a lower dose as to allow you weekly infusions. The amounts my wife was getting it required 3 weeks in-between.

I know your confidence has taken a massive knock, but you will pick yourself back up and navigate this. 1001 things can bite anyone one of us on the backside, at any time, so the only difference is, you're more aware of your risks whilst those without the disease are blissfully unaware.

Thank you for your excellent knowledge 

Thank you for being so supportive, so is your lovely wife 

I have started to walk for an hour a day to start to build up my strength to fight

inrelly hope I have the same results as your wife does ... 

Its just that they don't give me anything after the treatment has finished to help stop it coming back this scares me 

I know the chemo is going to be very hard ... my family are under strict instructions to tell me to shut up if I say I'm not doing it anymore... 

I am bit o erweight so need to be fitter 

the weekly chemo is for 12 weeks 

I know the reverse odds are awful and I should becgrateful , 

a d your right other people don't know what's coming around tge corner 

thank you for your words of wisdom 

x