Triple Negative Breast Cancer: What treatments are you having?

I am on my reoccurrence for TNBC- what can I help you with ? 🙏🏼

There are also NCCN guidelines, which one oncologist I saw referred to that don't exactly recommend no radiation for older women with low-stage cancer lumpectomies but suggest that skipping it be considered a viable, accepted protocol.

I kidded my breast surgeon, asking if this is just another economic triage idea (as recommended by Ezekial Emmanual and Cass Sunstein who advocate severely cutting funding for health care for the elderly) and she laughed, being in her late 50s.

And said that it's more a function of three things: there is very, very little data in breast cancer in older women since, until recently, routine mammograms in their case were not even offered; breast cancers in the elderly tend be less virulent and grow considerably more slowly; and the majority of women in that age group have comorbities and other health issues that can increase the risks of poorer outcomes.

She added that a lot of healthy active women also concentrate more on quality of life ("remaining years') issues and are far less likely to willingly tolerate side effects of various treatments.

All of that makes sense to me, variables that affect younger womens' decisions are viewed differently by older women with maybe a differing package of responsibilities.

May I ask what your age is? My decision would be different if I were younger and hadn’t had clear lymph nodes.

Standard treatment is the Red Devil and Taxol no matter what age. I had Lumpectomy, chemo and rads. This time lymph node dissection, started Gemzar/Carboplatin yesterday then I will have rads. First time I was 65. Now 68. Now if you have DMX they may add Keytruda before your surgery or after. Good luck 🍀 and keep me posted🙏🏼

I agree....at 80 I wouldn't try chemo or radiation either. I would fear the treatment would kill me faster than the cancer.

I've never had either, but chemo and radiation can be quite tolerable from what I've heard. It's such a complicated set of decisions to make that the only thing I've learned since a lumpectomy last fall is that there are no right answers, just choices that 'feel more right' than others. And a decision to not endlessly second-guess however it turns out. But it's not easy either way.

Thank you for your encouragement...I also felt the treatment would kill me
faster than the cancer would catch up to me.

I am 70 and the same info was shared with me that you referred to. I am happy with my decision of no chemo/rad.
I wish you well in the journey we share

Sorry to hear of your recurrence. I have the same diagnosis and had a mastectomy in Dec. Of course I worry about recurrence and constantly think, when will it be back? Where did yours show up?
In the same area as your lumpectomy?
I wish you well with your treatments and send hugs for better days to come

I’m 73 and was diagnosed with triple negative 7 years ago. It is a very aggressive cancer. I have no signs of my cancer returning. I would listen to my doctor if I was diagnosed at 80. My mother lived to be 95, so if I felt healthy at 80, I would do chemo again, maybe one of the newer drugs.