leepenn's Journey with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Ductal

Clinical trial

ISPY2 - I got in.

This sucks, but I know it's working.

Shrinkage-keep it coming!

SHRINKAGE! Yay! And last carboplatin/taxol combination ... Ten chemos down, six to go.

DANG IT - I have cellulitis on/in my shin. I just started antibiotics. This might squirrel up my chemo schedule by pushing chemo this week back a day or two. That would squirrel up my work schedule!!!! I hate the loss in control of WHEN you get to ... you know .. .. do regular stuff like WORK and take care of your family and even just have a little fun. This happened because I got a big bruise on my leg... and my neuts dropped like a rock. Sigh.

Blood counts back up - chemo this week - phew! I did not want to be ANOTHER week behind!

PHEW - it's hard to not have much hemoglobin... If it goes much lower, I'll end up with a transfusion. AVOIDING THAT!!!! Yes yes - I know we work hard to keep our blood supply safe, but we can only keep it safe against things we actually know about....

MRI results are in! And the tumor doesn't look like a tumor anymore.... YIPPEE!!!! Chance that it's just scar tissue! As far as I know right now, I still have four more cycles of chemo to complete... But this is AWESOME news! I'm stoked! Full of positive optimistic thoughts for the first time in a while.....

Started my four cycles of AC yesterday.... Queezy... but otherwise, I seem to be doing alright. Rode my bike this morning - that helped a ton....

FInished my last chemotherapy today! Woot woot! I feel like crud, though.... Can't wait to get through this one last nadir... And I hope I never have to do this again! Next up - surgery.

Well, I dodged 15 out of 16 bullets, so one of my nurses says. This last cycle was AWFUL!!!! I was puking for several hours... not able to keep anything down... slept on the bathroom floor (thank goodness for the in-floor heating elements!). Seriously, it was like something out the movies. But, this was my last cycle... so, I have only one direction to head- that's up and up and up!!!!

I finished chemotherapy about two weeks ago and had my post-chemo scans (one required by the research study). NEGATIVE by both scans! I am N.E.D. by scans!!!!! Next step is surgery, which will allow detection of microscopic disease, if it is there.... But, I'm hoping for more N.E.D. news!

I'm astonished with how well I'm doing! I LOVE being flat. Phantom nipple sensations are weird tho!

cPR - complete pathological response!