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Alice,
Marie obviously has the low down on MaleBC.
My Lyle, at age 70, was dx'd w/Stage IIIb bc ER+ PR+ two yrs ago this month. Same stage as me back in Jan. 2000. He is not Her2+ however.
My onc, now Lyle's too ofcourse, started him on TAC to shrink the tumor. It had totally involved his nipple (size of large red grape with leakage and bleeding) and was very close to Lyle's chest wall. He did not handle the SE's well at all. One week lost 14 lbs. The shot of Neulasta 24 hrs after ea. chemo was part of his schedule. Lyle was my onc's third male patient, the other two being older.
From my research, we dropped the A/C after 4 rounds. Spread the Taxotere over another 4 rather than 2 with dosage in halves. His response was not complete but very good. Nipple shrunk dramatically, no more leakage - and size of tumor inside also smaller.
At time of surgery we insisted on the sentinal node route - all good. We also insisted on no rads if there were nice big clear margins. There were! He was 70 afterall and still doing physically demanding work.
Tamoxifen since then. He has luckily no side effects. Checkups good. He gained his weight back, too. He was bald all over and joked about that to anyone...in a lot of 'off color' ways. His worst time was the week following the chemo. All the 'normal' SE's.
He always had my back during my dx's, but was/is much more in tune what it was all about. And I was there for him from my own exp.
Lyle was helped through this by:
*keeping some sense of humor
*schmoozing with the nurses
*having someone that understood what he was going through
*someone who could give him accurate info
*staying open about having male bc
*keeping his attitude level, with an upward turn
*and ofcourse the support of his family and friends
I apologize if this is not the info you were looking for. And probably too long...
pattyz
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