Self-discovery through Triple Negative Cancer

How can I have Triple Negative Breast Cancer when I am a triple positive person? Just the term triple negative sounds depressing.  Shortly after being diagnosed with breast cancer, I had a call from my surgeon to inform me that I have what is called a ‘Triple Negative Breast Cancer,’ which is an aggressive cancer and that I would be needing chemotherapy before surgery.  So what is Triple Negative Breast Cancer?  Triple Negative Breast Cancer is negative to: Oestrogen receptor progesterone receptor Protein HER2 This means that the cancer does not use oestrogen, progesterone or HER2 to grow. Therefore, the drugs used to treat these types of breast cancer are not effective for Triple Negative Breast Cancer. The main treatment for this type of cancer is chemotherapy. I will be having 16 rounds of Chemotherapy starting next Tuesday. Breast Cancer Network Australia state that chemotherapy is the only systemic (treating the whole body) treatment for fighting this cancer. The mai...

This is the first entry of my breast cancer journey, so let’s start right at the beginning with my diagnosis.  In October 2021, I turned the big 40 and celebrated all of the amazing things in my life with my family and friends. Part of turning 40 meant that I needed to be proactive and get my health checked. I went and had a skin check and had a general health check and all was great. My next health check was a mammogram. A close friend of mine had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and it was because of her that I finally booked in to having my first mammogram. On the 12th of January I went and had my first ever mammogram and then continued on with my life without even a second thought. On the 19th of January, I was at work and I received a phone call from Breast Clinic informing me that my mammogram had come back with a cloudy patch on my right breast that looked different to the rest of my mammogram results and as it is my first mammogram and they had nothing to compare ...