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Diagnosed with breast cancer & primary lung cancer: Next steps?

Posted by bdurel @bdurel, Feb 10 7:15pm

Hi. I’m Barbara. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in October. At the pre op I had a slight cough. I was diagnosed with pneumonia and breast lumpectomy surgery was rescheduled. Cough didn’t resolve so further testing was ordered. I was diagnosed with Lung cancer also at Christmas. Had lumpectomy and lymph node removal Jan 7 and just started radiation. In meantime my case has been presented to the tumor board and I should hear treatment recommendations for the lung cancer by end of week. Dr ordered a pulmonary function test for tomorrow and said it’s looking like surgery may be best option.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Lung Cancer Support Group.

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katgob | @katgob | 5 days ago
In reply to @mamajite "@katgob wow - you experienced the full gamut of treatment associated hair loss twice!! I'm delighted..." + (show)
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@katgob wow - you experienced the full gamut of treatment associated hair loss twice!! I'm delighted that your hair returned unaltered. I'm still not feeling great about mine. They told me initially I wouldn't lose my hair on Tagrisso. To be fair, it was only about half. I just started a treatment pause and I'm hoping it will help my hair, but my oncologist couldn't tell me if my hair would improve or not.

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@mamajite
My hematology oncology Dr said straight-faced i would not lose my hair. HA! Read side effects of Melphalan and BMT conditioning chemo.
I just googled Tagrisso. Interestingly, it does not say for sure. Thinning does not mean gone. I met women on breast cancer .org who used cold capping and ended up with loss but hair that was noticeably thinner with one having patches done. Most were glad they did it. ME? I do not like BALD. But i did take pictures and found way more acceptance the 2nd time around.
I will say that nearly 5 years into this cancer stuff i have a GREAT hat collection. I wear them all the time or have one with me. My sister on her cancer journey wore baseball caps and the hair things with the scarf that fell across the shoulders or down her back. Choices.
Ultimately your medical team has no idea. That is my Med Oncologist Dr. Patel said just allow it to happen. Your hair nearly always grows back. Mine did twice.

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mamajite | @mamajite | 5 days ago
In reply to @katgob "@mamajite My hematology oncology Dr said straight-faced i would not lose my hair. HA! Read side..." + (show)
Profile picture for katgob @katgob

@mamajite
My hematology oncology Dr said straight-faced i would not lose my hair. HA! Read side effects of Melphalan and BMT conditioning chemo.
I just googled Tagrisso. Interestingly, it does not say for sure. Thinning does not mean gone. I met women on breast cancer .org who used cold capping and ended up with loss but hair that was noticeably thinner with one having patches done. Most were glad they did it. ME? I do not like BALD. But i did take pictures and found way more acceptance the 2nd time around.
I will say that nearly 5 years into this cancer stuff i have a GREAT hat collection. I wear them all the time or have one with me. My sister on her cancer journey wore baseball caps and the hair things with the scarf that fell across the shoulders or down her back. Choices.
Ultimately your medical team has no idea. That is my Med Oncologist Dr. Patel said just allow it to happen. Your hair nearly always grows back. Mine did twice.

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@katgob I have a whole drawer of hats now, too. I'm either cold or need sun protection. hoping I can stay off meds and that my hair will come back. 🤞🏻

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lisawolub | @lisawolub | 7 hours ago
In reply to @flusshund "@bdurel hello. I have the EGFR Exon 19 mutation and was first diagnosed at stage 2b..." + (show)
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@bdurel hello. I have the EGFR Exon 19 mutation and was first diagnosed at stage 2b in 2018. Tagrisso is the targeted therapy for this mutation, although it is not helpful for ALL EGFR mutations. So it's important to know which EGFR mutation you have. Tagrisso doesn't hunt down and kill the cancer, but it does keep it from spreading. (Well, most of the time. My brain metastasis seems to be an exception, but that's another story.)

Chemo before or after depends on many factors, so I'm going to agree with everyone else and ask you to get more opinions. You don't have to stop at two!

Finally, in the 5+ years I've been taking Tagrisso, I've only had one payment of a couple thousand dollars. Your hospital or cancer institute should have a social worker that specializes in helping people in your situation.

I wish you all the best. Feel free to ask more questions. I'm a patient research advocate and have had a lot of training on different types of lung cancer and their treatments.

Kind Regards,
Matthew

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@flusshund
I’m just getting ready to start taking Tagrisso … I’m encouraged you and your friend, Frank, are tolerating it well for 5-10 years each. 🙏

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