Chemo at age 91 for Triple Negative breast Cancer?

Thats a very difficult question to answer, hutchnjo2.
Whats your natural instinct? Whats your gut and heart telling you?
Im glad youre asking here because it would help to know what others have experienced with the chemo for TNBC and your possible tolerance to it.
Age IS a factor and the fact that youre just now experiencing a first cancer at 90 is remarkable.
I hope others will share their reactions.
Personally, speaking for myself, if the treatment is going to last 3 months, and isnt harsh, maybe I would consider it.
If it was 6-months to a year treatment, and youve been feeling good and have been physically active, I might consider alternatives like immunotherapy, or totally change my nutritional panel and consider the Chris Beat Cancer way of nutritional and supplemental lifestyle focusing on the body healing naturally. Its his Square One Program and it so good anyone with cancer, in treatment could benefit from it.
If you choose chemo and youre active and have a good community of friends, pool them together and discuss it. Ask them if theyre willing to help you, physically, socially, etc. You do not want to go thru chemo alone. You need some support group or friends.
Blessings.

Hello @hutchnjo2 chemo and in fact any treatment is a cost vs benefit decision each of us has to make, evaluate and re-evaluate. Different things are important to different people, and at 90 you certainly would have a different list than I had in my 30’s. I imagine that I would want to ask my doctor, what if I do nothing? What kinds of side effects would I have from this chemo? What can I reasonably expect to gain from chemo? I am sure you have more questions already. I might also get a second opinion, just to feel like I have all the information I need to make the best decisions for myself.
Do you live near a large cancer center or a teaching university where you might be able to get a second opinion? Do you have family, and how do they feel about all of this?

I had an advanced case of TNBC at 38 so a very different situation than yours, but a picture of what it may look like if it reoccurs...

By the time we started active treatment it was in my lymph nodes, chest wall, and skin and was very very painful. At the first diagnostic it was just in the breast. If I could have started chemo earlier on I definitely would have.

I certainly hope that with a good surgery and no lymph node involvement you won't have it come back, but if you are active and healthy and your docs think some chemo might help, I would err on the side of getting what they say.

Most people on these boards don't have TNBC and don't always know the speed that it can grow at. I went from Stage 2 to Stage 3B in 4 weeks.

Thanks for hearing my 2 cents - I wish you well whatever you decide. Hugs, @hutchnjo2 .

just wondering if you had any gene testing for BRCA 1 or 2 genes?
Agree with Chris's response above.

Best of luck...this is a very difficult decision

I was dx with TNBC at 68 and started treatment two months later at 69 - I'm also BRCA2+ so my dx and treatment might be somewhat different than what would be prescribed for you. I had chemo and worked through all my treatments (during COVID). I had my chemo treatment late on Thursday, was a little tired on Friday, slept in on Saturday and was feeling better by Sunday and returned to work on Monday. My first round of treatment was once every 3 weeks for 3 months, then every week for another three months - so this took 6 months to complete. I then had a bilateral, then radiation after that since my surgery margins were not completely clear. My first treatment was January 2022 and my last radiation treatment was April 2023. I'm one of the fortunate ones, I think, my entire treatment was a slight annoyance - my side effects were minimal. I also made sure I was prepared for what to do to combat any of the potential side effects I'd have. One of the best things I had was the medical port for my chemo treatments. This allowed me to knit or read during treatment. I did start to loose my hair so I had my head shaved. My hair is curly and it was getting matted and falling out in the shower - so I got rid of the reminder of loosing it.

I researched to find out what my potential range of side effects would be (so I could be prepared) and what impact each treatment would have for my recurrence rate. I have 3 grandchildren (all toddlers) and my goal is to see each of them at least graduate high school. There is longevity in my family - father deceased at 96 and my mother is 96 and still lives alone with some day time caregiver assistance for shopping, cleaning and doctor appointments. I felt I have an extremely good chance of reaching or exceeding that age and I planned to do everything I can to do just that.

I didn't have family close by except for my mother, husband and sister-in-law, all my siblings live out of state as does my daughter. So my immediate support group was small. I have one sister that stayed in contact with me weekly and frequently offered to come help; but, since my side effects were minimal I didn't ask for assistance. I did use her to periodically vent when I felt the need. But it was a vent then I quickly counted my blessings and moved forward with the next step in my treatment plan.

The decisions I made were based on conversations with my doctors and research I did from reputable websites. I purposely tried to stay away from discussion boards that only focused on the negativity of someone's journey. For me, I felt having a positive attitude about my experience would be the best approach. That doesn't mean I didn't have down days where I would have liked to just shut out the entire world. I did practice what was for me my own self-care because I was the only one that knew how I felt and I was the only one that could figure out how to work through it.

I wish you courage and strength for your upcoming journey.

I agree with everything bpknitter said. I would only add a few things. At 64, chemo was the scariest thing I ever faced, but it was not as bad as I imagined and it worked. I would add that your doctor or maybe the PA can tell you more about outcomes. If you make the decision to have chemo, know how to stream TV shows if you don't already know how. Netflix helped me through those days when I was tired. That was 8 years ago and there are many more streaming options today. It's also good if you have somebody to do your dishes. My sisters were appalled by my messy kitchen, but they caught on the the fact that I wasn't about to do them.

@hutchnjo2, I'm wondering if you've made a decision about whether to treat with chemo or not. How are you doing?

No Decision yet. We have opinions on both sides and more next week.

If you are healthy and strong I say have treatment. What do your doctors say? I had triple negative 17 years ago and have been fine after lumpectomy, chemo and radiation . Prayers and good luck.