No Chemo?

Patti777

The doctor reccomends I do Chemo but is there any of you that decided not to do Chemo? Do you feel it was a good choice?

Letlet

You have triple negative BC...it means that you will not be treated with anti-hormonals because it wont work (your tumor did not "feed" on your hormones) you wont be getting Herceptin because you are Her2 negative. After surgeryr to remove the cancer the option for chemo is to destroy any cancer cells that may be lurking that surgery did not all get out. I don't know if you are recommended for radiation but that is usually to prevent a local recurrence at the surgery site. In terms of systemic treatment to wipe out the possible remaining cancer cells...chemo would be the only option (if you do the conventional route).

I hope you don't think I'm telling you what to do, it is your body and ultimately you are the one who will live with the effects of chemo or no chemo.

Luah

Patti - you might want to do a search on this topic; I think there have been other threads. But having been on these TN boards for almost 4 years, I can tell you there are precious few who opted not to do chemo - sometimes only because of complicating medical factors or extremely tiny tumours. It's certainly not pleasant but doable.  

dobby

My mother will be meeting with the MO soon but I believe her pathology report findings are TN.  I know the BS was surprised at that.  She is over 80 and doesn't want to have chemo; we will have to see what the MO offers her.  She had the lumpectomy and as of right now is planning on radiation.  I don't know if this is the right course but it is also a QOL issue.

dobby

I wanted to update; the MO told my mother he did not recommend chemo.  I assume age is the issue for her. 

MsBliss

You can see by my stats that I did not do chemo, or rads.  But it was not an easy choice.  I suppose I could have sidestepped the secondary issues and forged ahead with chemo, but ultimately, I went with my gut and alot of research into my personal histopathology.  Thank goodness for the internet.

But I didn't do nothing--I went on a protocol cobbled together from 5 different consultants and my own research, plus a few lifestyle changes (which haven't stuck!)  Anyway, there are very few tnbc patients who forego chemo cause tn is, well, tn.

What is your situation?

SewStrong

With TNBC, I have read from more than one source that no matter the size of the tumor, we all need at least some chemo. I had a 6mm TNBC invasive ductal carcinoma and I'm having 4 rounds of intermediate grade taxotere/cytoxan at three week intervals then 5-6 weeks of radiation. Since there is no targeting agent for TNBC, I felt like I would be playing Russian Roulette if I didn't have chemo. I went to a TNBC specialist who agreed that we all need chemo.

wrenn

I am triple neg and 66 years old with hypertension diabetes and generally not in great shape (especially post DMX). I am seeing onc this week and will see what he recommends. I am going for quality of life and that may mean no chemo. It is a hard decision and it helps to read about what others decided

InspiredbyDolce

I have never heard of any chemo treatment being called an Intermediate Grade. Is that what your Onc called it? If so, what are the low grade and high grade chemo medicines?

InspiredbyDolce

Wrenn, chemo is usually only a temporary adverse effect on QOL. Many women are able to work and live well during chemo other than a few days each cycle. I would check with your Onc for survival statistics with and without chemo. I feel it's a small investment of time for a potential advantage to living a long full life.

I have a pamphlet that says most women won't have a recurrence and that the most effective treatment for TNBC is chemo.
I can send this to you if you give me your email address. With you having found this at stage 1 you have so many attributes in your favor and you have the opportunity to add one more.

jarris77

I was also told I had intermediate grade. It is grade 2. I believe grade 1 is low and high is grade 3.

wrenn

Sent you a PM inspired by. thank you so much. 

InspiredbyDolce

The post I was referring to had called the chemo treatment an Intermediate Grade, it was not referring to the grade of the tumor. Tumor Grades are 1,2,3 ( which is low, med, high grade, and yes, med grade is sometimes called intermediate grade).  But I've never heard of the chemo itself ever being referred to as an intermediate grade.

aaoaao

I'm not TN but as someone who is Stage IV due to recurrance, I'd do the chemo.  Yes, it is a temporary pain in the butt but it helps to prevent recurrances.  With TN there are very few options but chemo/surgery.  Stage IV triple negs have fewer options for extending their lives so anything to help prevent it from getting to that stage is vital.  Of course, if someone is very elderly or already very ill I can understand not wanting to do chemo.  You don't want to look back and say I regret not doing what I could to fight this disease before it becomes terminal.  That's just my two cents.  Everyone has to do what is best for them.

Anonymous

Hi Patti,

I'm newly Dx'd TN and met with the oncologist for the first time today. I have to say, every fiber in me wants to run away from any form of chemo, but of course, chemo is the best tx for this cancer. I'm 52 and have had chronic medical issues for the last 10 years, so I'm not looking forward to the regimen, only to be in the same chronic pain after all this tx. Not sure yet if I'm going to do it. I'm waiting to meet with the surgeon first.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Kruise

I had the same doubts about doing chemo too Patti. Everything you read about it makes you wonder if you are doing more harm than good to your body. The oncologists told me it was my choice and there was a 50% chance I was completely cured from surgery alone.

However - at 44 years old with 4 children I decided that 50% was not high enough odds. I didn't want to look back in a few years and know that I hadn't taken every option available to me and gone at it all guns blazing so too speak.

Plus my mother who also had breast cancer when she was 45 was never offered chemo immediately. She had it 3 years later when she kept getting reoccurrences. Sadly she passed away by 50. I knew she would be yelling at me from 'up there' to damn well do it NOW!!

I finished the 6 months worth last Friday. If I can make it through - anyone can!! Now on to radiation for me for 6 weeks.

I am also being tested for BRCA genes.

Good luck with your treatment decisions. x

relocatedtarheel

I too am considering foregoing chemo. My MO said statistically I have a 70% chance of no recurrence from surgery alone and that chemo and rads will cut my recurrence rate by 1/3...which sounds like a lot until you realize it takes my recurrence rate probability from 30% if I do nothing to 20% with chemo and rads. So I need to weigh the long term damage to my body/heart/etc to move from 30% to 20%....

QueenKong

It is your choice. You give no details of your circumstances so it's difficult to have an opinion. Everyone is different. TN often responds really well to chemo. I went with the chemo, no regrets. 

BikerLee

Dear Patti

Given your DX:  Dx 7/2/2013, IDC, 2cm, Stage IIb, Grade 3, 1/5 nodes, ER-/PR-, HER2-

I'm not at all surprised that your docs are recommending chemo.  I had TNBC and zero positive nodes - classified as stage IIa... And I did chemo. The docs were adament that I do chemo.  In fact, I ended up in a clinical trial, and I did chemo before surgery, which let them track the response of the tumor to the chemo.  I had a complete pathological response, which meant that the cancer appears to be completely killed off (to the best of their detection methods).

TNBC tends to respond well to chemo - by "well" - I mean that chemo is particularly effective on TNBC.  HOWEVER, on the flip side, with no positive hormone receptors etc...  chemo is really the only option for treating TNBC that may have gone beyond the confines of the original tumor.  

I had quite an aggressive chemo, with taxol x 12 plus carboplatin every third treatment followed by AC times 4...  Total was about 22 weeks.  It sucked, but it was manageable. I worked through all of chemo, with only the last 2 AC treatments causing me to shorten days at work....  

So, at the end of the day, it makes sense to me that your health care team is recommending chemo.  It's a hard decision, and only you can make that decision for your case...  But, if I had the stats that you've listed, I would choose to do the chemo.

Good luck - I'm so sorry you are faced with this decision. It sucks.