Refuse treatments

sophie64

Has anyone out there refused radiation and chemo treatments because of your age? Only treatment is surgery to remove the cancer tumor.

pupmom

Sophie, I was 62 at dx and did everything they said (surgery, rads, Aromasin). I was healthy, other than cancer, and have fared very well. I'm 63 now and had my first cancerversary last month.

exbrnxgrl

I'm a sprightly 56 and beside stage IV bc am remarkably healthy. My parents are both still alive and in their mid 80's. I will do whatever tx is needed as long as it doesn't totally derail my QOL. I work full time and am enjoying my first grandchild. Not ready to give up yet.

Caryn

1Athena1

I refused chemo and rads but not because of age (I was on the young side). I did surgery and hormone therapy, but was unable to complete the course of hormone therapy. I'm still here, many who did chemo and rads are not. Many who did chemo and rads are still here, and some who didn't are not.

I do believe that recommendations tend to change for people, say, over 75. Age is an important factor to take into account, especially if the person in question is close to her life expectancy and has additional diseases or conditions that might not react well to chemo or rads.

I am sorry you haven't yet received a response from someone who fits the description. Hopefully you will soon.

BilateralBeauties

I'm acquainted with a woman who completed radiation in her mid 80s and is going strong now at 91. My grandmother was 83 and had surgery plus tamoxifen. She passed 10 years later of heart failure. She did not have radiation or chemo I'm assuming due to her age. The important part is to make your decision and live with it. No second guessing.

BilateralBeauties

If you elect to bypass aggressive treatment - make sure you look into all the important ways food choices can help you prevent cancer. Things like tumeric or curcumin. Good Luck

Kicks

I was 63 when DX'd IBC - 66 now and doiing great.  I did 4 A/C, then a mod. rad. mast., then 12 Taxol, 25 rads and doing Femara/letrozole.  I never thought about not doing everything that was offered me to fight the Monster.  If I need to again I'll do it in a heart beat.  I intend to live to be at least as old as 1 G-Mom and 3 Great G-Moms which means I have to make it to at least 95.    At least I will as long as I remain as healthy otherwise as I am and they were.  1 Great G-Mom was still riding her horse daily at 98.  Unfortunately she was 6" shorter than me so her sidesaddle was much too small for me once I was no longer a child and her gorgeous habits would never fit.

mlinthicum

I have been scared to take radiation treatments to the left breast for stage 1, grade 2, ductal carcinoma, lymph nodes clear, margins clear......Scared because of learning of secondary cancers caused by radiation to the breast. I talked to radiologist and he said that he also knew of this, and brought up a good point. If he does radiation to my left breast he said I still have a 30% chance of cancer appearing in my right breast, so he said I was 30/30 in both right now. I forgot to ask if that is taking into account that I'm on arimedex. I told him that I had heard that there is a window of time to do radiation after the surgery and he said yes 6 months from date of surgery. I had surgery Aug. 13th so I'm running out of time to make my final decision. The secondary cancer that the article from cancer.org had was lung cancer in women getting radiation to their breast (and more so in women who smoke). This doesn't happen often, but my thoughts have been, that if I can get breast cancer, when there is no history of any type of cancer (except for skin cancer) in my family line and I'm the youngest, well then I'd probably get that as well. Of course, there can also be coronary artery problems as well, but reading about effects of arimedex can also cause heart problems in addition to the joint pain. I've had some effects on the arimedex but only once in awhile (I've been on that since Oct.4th, and I take it in the morning around 10 am at work since I figured I would have less stiffness if I was up and moving when taking it rather than taking it before bed and waking up stiff).. By the way, I just turned 57. When I asked my oncologist how armidex works, he said that my cancer cells liked estrogen and it should starve any cancer cells that may have been left behind and prevent any new ones since there will be no estrogen to make them grow. Just hope I can stay on this medication and that he is right. *I should add that this has been a confusing journey thus far for me as there are so many treatment choices and I can assure you that if my diagnosis was much more involved, I would have gone with everything suggested. Since i was having tingling under my left armpit, but doctor couldn't find enlarged lymph nodes, he did have me have prior to surgery a CT scan of my head, chest and abdomen, and MRI's of both breasts and the only cancer was what showed up on my regular mammo. I have a large fibroid in my uterus though I was told nothing to worry about. I hope that I've helped you somewhat in explaining my situation, still I know it has to be so confusing as there are so many variables to consider.

Frapp

I know a woman who is a sprightly 92. She still lives alone and you would never know she's 92. She seems 25 years younger. Her doc asked if she wanted chemo as she was early stage and she opted for a mx and no chemo. That was last year and she is doing very well. Still following her busy schedule and feeling fine.

Kicks

mlinthicum -

Any radiation can contribute to future cancers.   My Drs have said that there is a possibility that my IBC may have been at least somewhat a result of radiation early in my life.  There has been no cancers on both sides of my family for at least 4 generation before I turned up with IBC.  I was 1 1/2 when my tonsils were taken out and then had radiation to throat area that was supposed to keep them from growing back which was a common practice until in the '60's (wrong - they grew back anyway) and I lived in the West for a while in the early '50's as a small child when there was a fair bit of 'dirty' above ground nuclear tests being done.  Where I have lived for the last 18 yrs, we have naturally occuring radiation in a lot of our ground areas (there is a lot of 'discussion' going on now about opening some uranium mines) so thus in our water also.  There is no way of knowing what will happen in dooing all the fighting possible but there is also no way of knowing what else that we have no control over will do to us either.  IF something does develope in the future which can never be proven why it did - then we/I'll handle it then.

Each to their own choices.