fiddler's Journey with Breast Cancer

I thought I was clear - Stage 1A, but then came the news that I'm Triple Negative (TNBC), which limits treatment options and has 20% relapse.

Sensitive to clothing rubbing on the wound.

Developed bad fungal infection under breasts and in armpit; sensitive to touch and clothing.

pain, loss of appetite, taste change, constipation,

After all AC and 2 Taxol and 2 Taxotere infusions, I quit because the pain was so great and the remaining 2 infusion represented a 1% - 2% "added benefit", so the trade-off was not enough to endure the pain.

One year on 5/24/14! Met with a friend who is 5 years (Stage 2b) "clean" - also TNBC.

Met the anxiety-provoking 5 year anniversary for TNBC. It was a nail-biter a/c had a couple scareds recently, but they were false alarms whew.

AC went better than I expected - had infusion on a Friday, Saturday went so-so, Sunday the steroids caused muscle discomfort (Claritin helped), Monday on my back all day, the rest of the two weeks leading up to the next infusion went pretty good. The taxanes were difficult. Switched from Taxol to another, but by the 4th infusion the pain was too great to get out of bed. Started to develop pneumonia because of inactivity; went into hospital overnight. Quit with 2 infusions to go. The doc said it was "perfectly fine" for me to quit. Last blood test gave me over 5% cancer cells in my bloodstream. Next blood test at the end of Feb. 2014 (this month).