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If You Have Stage IIIa Breast Cancer, What Treatment Have You Had And What Side Effects?
A MyBCTeam Member asked a question 💭

As I am ready to make a decision on chemotherapy, radiation and hormone therapy, I am interested in hearing from others who have Stage IIIa breast cancer, have had bilateral mastectomies, took/or taking Taxotere/Carboplatin/Herceptin chemotherapy once every 3 weeks for 6 treatments, radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks, and herceptin for 1 year for hormone therapy. Interested in side effects. Interested if other chemo drugs recommended. Has anyone tried holistic methods to rid body of excess… read more

posted April 30, 2015 (edited)
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A MyBCTeam Member

You have gone through a lot. For now, am going to forego treatment with chemo and radiation. Will check out ways of ridding body of excess estrogen with holistic measures. Glad I am retired. Could not imagine working when going through this.

posted May 2, 2015
A MyBCTeam Member

Hi, I'm 3b er/pr+ but hers- I did three months of AC then twelve weeks of Paclitaxel or Taxol. I'll start the 33 radiation treatments in aprx three weeks. I had quite a bit of trouble with the AC, nausea, headache, neutropenic on two out of four treatments. But it really did get better with each treatment. The taste buds have been off for both rounds, you just eat anyway. The Taxol symptoms were very similar to my friends on Taxotere. We both had swelling and lost or are loosing our nails. I hope this isn't too depressing for you. I have been working through most of this.

posted May 1, 2015
A MyBCTeam Member

I did TCH+ Perjeta(complimentary drug used in conjunction with Herceptin, but I believe it has to be used before surgery only, so that may be why your oncologist has not mentioned). Side effects were manageable, not terrible, hair loss, ridges in nails, loss of energy(I worked through the 18 weeks so it is manageable),loss of WBCs(but given nuelasta shot for that), the thing that effected me most was loss of taste buds...but they came back as is my hair slowly. Still doing Herceptin infusions to complete my one year...will be done in November. Let me know if you have other questions about the drugs, happy to help!

posted May 1, 2015
A MyBCTeam Member

*i have had no reaction to herceptin (should have proofread)

posted April 30, 2015
A MyBCTeam Member

I had all except radiation, and I may still get that, have t decided. I am triple positive. I finished the 6 rounds of chemo (same as yours) and just had the double mastectomy on April 13th. None of it was that bad. Wasn't always fun, but The chemo wasn't that bad at all. Wasn't even as bad as the flu for me. The double mastectomy I didn't need, but did on the interest of symmetry. It didn't hurt as much as my sprained ankle in high school. That was way worse! I have al out of reaction to herceptin at all. I have 6 months left of that every three weeks. I did lose some hair but not all. I shaved my head and I wish I hadn't. Keep hydrated ad stay positive. Mic you have a good attitude it will make a huge difference in everything. Also sit outside everyday for a bit. Fresh air and sunshine is medicine on its own.

posted April 30, 2015

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