Does my mother really need chemo?

Marta123

Hi

I posted yesterday on the "mixed breast cancer" section but I feel that my post was not thought out very well and maybe this would be a more suitable place for my question.

First I must say that English is not my first language so forgive me any errors. 

My mother was diagnosed with BC in January; On Jan 17th she had her left breast removed. Her right breast was clear. 

Her diagnosis: T1C (m4) N0 + M0 IA

So she has Stage IA (tumor is less than 2cm and has not spread to lymph nodes or distant sites). 

She had 2 types of breast cancer: one was mucinous carcinoma & the other was papillary carcinoma. The mucinous carcinoma tumor was 1.5cm in diameter and there were 3 papillary tumors, the largest was 1.7 cm (im not actually sure about these numbers, i.e im sure about the sizes but a bit confused about how many tumors of each type). 

Both types of tumors are ER+ and PR+ and HER2 negative. Both have Ki67 index lower than 20%. 

As I understand, both types have a good prognosis (not very aggressive types of cancer).

Now they wrote that the guarding lymph node was clear but that they found a micro metastasis of 0.2mm. This is a bit confusing because the doctor said that they are not sure what the metstasis is.. but considering my mother`s age (only 47) and that they did find that micrometastasis, she should go through chemo (as a prevetion). Just in case. He said that the operation itself gave her the 90% of cure, the chemo will give another 2% and the hormone theraphy another 5%.

So she was suggested chemo treatment (FEC and T) (total of 6 times; interval every 3 weeks) and Tamoxifen. 

My mother agreed to it and had her first chemo last Monday. It was really bad ... on the second day she suddenly felt like she was going to boil - she didnt have a fever but described it as "i feel like everything inside is burning, like my brain is going to explode" .. it lasted for a few hours and then came the usual symptoms... nausea, dizzy, weak, etc. Her skin turned yellow (lasted for a few days). Today she is feeling more like herself again, she even went to work for a short time. 

But she (our entire family actually) have started thinking about if the chemo is worth it - I know that no one can give us a 100% guarantee.. but is the hypothetical 2% increase in cure really worth the possible negative side effects of chemo? I guess she`s sort of a borderline case... what if the chemo does more harm than good? Is it possible? 

We would really appreciate any info/opinions you have to share. 

Greetings from Estonia!