How To Decide Next Steps After Lumpectomy.

I found that pure aloe Vera gel made it feel a lot better too.

@lisman1408, your experience is almost exactly like mine. I have been on various AIs and now on Tamoxifen. I have to continue it until 2023. Like you, i had bad side effects from Anastrozole, Exemestane etc. Tamoxifen has side effects, but more tolerable than the others. I am going to have a HUGE celebration in 2023! Still, I am grateful for the protection of these drugs.

Sparklegram, I was also on Tomoxifin, and overall felt pretty good! Unfortunately, after a week or two of taking it, I broke out in hives! It seems I’m allergic to something in Tomoxifin…. so I’ve settled on Exemestane. It’s not great, but it works. I agree, there are side effects to most of these drugs. I count my blessings and just move on. Thanks for the response. It’s good to hear from you! Sending you best wishes!

Lisman1408. I have had a rash also and treating it with a prescription cream. recently, elsewhere I have been having little itchy places that look like bites. Hmmmm... Best of wishes to you, too!

Hello. I had Triple-negative breast cancer (diagnosed in Aug. 2020) I'm 66 years old and after chemos, lumpectomy, and serial sectioning of sentinel node surgery (only 1 node removed, and it was clear) my tissue was removed with the 2 cm margin (tumor completely disappeared on my third infusion of Taxol) my biopsy came back as a complete pathologic response. Next was the radiation that was highly recommended, especially after a lumpectomy. I only needed 4 weeks, 5 days a week sessions, full breast radiation, and the last 4 sessions were boosters in the area of the tumor site. The oncologist said relapse without it runs 20 to 40% and with radiation used reassurance is 5 to 10%.

Hello @trisha97 ,welcome to connect. I am so glad you found this. I am also really glad you got your radiation and lowered your risk by a ton of recurrence. How long since radiation? Are you having any issue after having taxol and radiati9n

Hello @auntieoakley, and thank you. I finished radiation almost 4 months ago. The taxol was my 1st chemo. Dense dose 12 infusions once a week. I did very well on Taxol in general, didn't even affect my WBC count was in the normal range for the entire 12 weeks. The tumor completely disappeared after 3rd session, however, on the 10th session I developed a fever of 38°C/100.4°F, that climbed to 39°C/102.2°F, and was hospitalized for 8 days. They couldn't keep it down without IVs of Tylenol. Tested me twice for COVID, negative. Then tested me for bacteria infections, negative, and a panel of 27 viruses, all negative. Tried one antibiotic, no response, the fever went back up, finally, they put me on another type of antibiotic plus an antiviral drug. Finally, I began to respond, fever broke, although we never knew if I was responding to the antibiotic or the antiviral drug. We never knew what was the actual cause. The oncologist gave me a 3-week break from Taxol. We resumed the last two infusions without incident. Then a month's break, and we began AC once every 3 weeks for 4 months. AC was ugly, made me feel poorly and after 2nd infusion, it wiped out my white blood cells. Need to take injections of filgrastim to get my count back up to normal to finish out the AC treatment. Lomptomy went very well. One month break, and then we did the 4 weeks of radiation, took me about 6 weeks to get my breast skin back to a state of normalcy. My 6-month check-up will occur in November. Trying not to think about that until November. Just continue to work on healing. 🙂

Same recommendation and amount of radiation sessions.

Congratulations on getting through it. I took TAC for my initial so I have an intimate knowledge of what you went through. Are you starving for all the good things you couldn’t or wouldn’t eat for a year? Lol

Ohhhh, yeah! However I had a lite state of nausea that was all day and night long, so, it was just lite enough that I never felt hungry at all. Just recently, it's all over! It's come to mama with all my faves now!! 😂