Taxol only? Anybody else?

JanMarch

Taxol only? Anybody else?

JanMarch

My oncologist has prescribed 12 rounds of weekly Taxol for my locally recurrent breast cancer and I'm wondering if the treatment is aggresive enough.  A little background - I was originally diagnosed 5 years ago with Stage I IDC, 1.7 cm tumor, no positive nodes, and I opted for a bilateral mastectomy.  My oncotype score was an 8, so no chemo was prescribed and because I went the mastectomy route, no radiation was indicated either.  I took Tamoxifen for 5 years.  3 years ago I noticed a pinkish/reddish thickening at the end of my mastectomy scar, showed it to my oncologist, breast surgeon and plastic surgeon, all who agreed it was scar tissue.  The breast surgeon had ordered an MRI and the results came back as non-malignant thickening, so he put the issue to bed without performing a biopsy.  I accepted this since I had 3 doctors all in agreement, however over the last 3 years I watched the area and noticed it getting slowly bigger over time.  I went to a dermatologist this past February and showed the spot to her - she immediately performed a biopsy which came back positive for breast cancer.  I fired my local oncologist and went straight to MD Anderson.  Bone scan, chest xray and CT scans all came back clear, so thankfully at this time there has been no spread.  MDA oncologist prescribed 12 weeks of Taxol to be followed by surgery and then radiation.  My concern is that I'm not getting the usual treatment of AC following the Taxol.  I've just finished the 12 weeks of Taxol and believe me, I'm happy to be done with it, but something in the back of my head keeps questioning whether the Taxol only regimen is aggressive enough.  Everything I've read about locally recurrent breast cancer after mastectomy says treat it aggressively, but my onc doesn't want to make me "toxic" with AC.  I've asked him several times about it and he stands firm, and says he wants to keep that in his back pocket in case he needs it later.  He also told me I'm technically Stage IV since the recurrence is within the dermis (skin mets??), but he thinks I'm still curable at this point since there's been no distant spread.

Has anyone else had only Taxol prescribed for their treatment?  Should I push for the AC?
Thanks so much for any input.

JanMarch

bump