Stage I doing chemo?

JennH8

I have stage I, grade 3 breast cancer.  I'm about 2-1/2 weeks out from bilateral mastectomy and saw my oncologist for the first time this past week.  I had been given the impression by what I've heard and read that being I was stage I and had no nodal involvement, I would not need chemo.  However, I'm now finding out this may not be the case.  My doc is running the Oncotype Dx test, so I wait for that until any plan is made.  My curiosity now is how many stage I breast cancer patients on this board are doing chemo?  Like I said, I'm stage I, grade 3, no nodal involvement, ER+, PR+, Her2-. 

jancie

I am thinking he is proposing chemo due to you being Grade 3 - aggressive.  

JennH8

That's my feeling, the grade 3 is going to get me.  Ugh.

Rose12

Yep I did chemo. My Oncotype score came back 61. I was like thinking is this a joke? There was no question or decision to make. I had to have the chemo. I think it will all depend on what type of score you get back. I hope the chemo helped me. I had Cytoxan/Taxotere x 4 treatments. I heard it will catch any cells that are left behind in the blood stream. 

NancyHB

I did chemo, too, based on the size of my tumor (1.3 cm; my MO said anyone over 1 cm needs chemo) and my Oncotype score of 42.  I was grade 2 so none of us expected anything "aggressive" but my Oncotype score proved that wrong.  :-(

lgkgde13

I will be starting soon as well. My BS ran mammaprint which came back high risk therefore thy recommended chemo. Still waiting to start treatment as I needed further testing prior to start.

auntienance

I did chemo due to an intermediate oncotype score.

KBeee

I am starting chemo this Friday. We skipped the oncotype test because of my age and the agreement of both MO and me that we wanted to be aggressive. Oncotype is based on post-menopausal women as well, and though they think it applies accurately to premenopausal there probably is not enough long term data to definitively say that.

mdg

I did chemo. Oncotype was only 17 but I had LVI in my pathology. That scared me so I did the chemo. I was 45 when I was dx with a young child so I did the chemo. I had TC x4 and used cold caps to keep my hair. It was not fun but it was doable.

lovewins

I am stage 1 and was advised I needed chemo because I am her2+, I see you are negative.  I would say because of the grade 3. 

JennH8

Mdg - what is LVI?

edwards750

Its the grade 3 - very aggressive. I am Stage 2, Grade 1. I had the Oncotype test done too and my score came back 11. That test was a Godsend for me. I had a micromet in my SN so my ONC ordered the test. Glad she did. Nodal involvement is not automatic chemo. The Oncotype test has proven to be a good barometer for Oncologists when they are ambivalent about treatment. I had a lumpectomy and 33 RADS treatments and am on Tamoxifen. My BS's nurse told me they have had some surprises from the Oncotype test.

mdg

Lymphovascular Invasion - I had cancer cells in blood vessels in the tumor.  This means there was a pathway established that cells could have traveled by blood. My nodes were clear though. 

violet_1

I'd still get a 2nd opinion...;)



Violet

Pessa

I had chemo as well.  Stage 1, grade 1, oncotype score 28.  Had bilat MX also.  Am on anastrazole (AI),  and have completed 2 1/2 yrs so far.  I had a "normal" mammogram one month before I found the lump.  Neither the mammo, nor the ultrasound, nor the MRI saw the 8 cm of DCIS.  They only saw the .9 cm of the ICD.  Can't trust those newfangled machines so had the bilat mx and decided to be as aggressive as possible.  Chemo was doable (ACx4).

JennH8

Edwards750 - my onc says she's been surprised a few times as well. I asked her based on her experience what she thought my results would be, but she wouldn't speculate based on surprises in the past. I've got that feeling though that it's not going to be in my favor.



I just hate the idea of it. I dealt with bone cancer as a teen and went through a year of chemo. Thank goodness it would be much less if I have to do it, but just the thought of going through it again really bothers me. I was so excited when the idea of no chemo came up, and it felt like a slap in the face when I found put that may not be the case.