terrified

mama26

terrified

mama26

I was recently diagnosed with IDC, stage 1 grade 3. ER weakly positive, PR negative, HER2 negative. My doctor has recommended  chemo for 5 months before surgery. I am reluctant to do this as I am worried about my health declining before surgery. Has anyone else had weakly positve receptor tests? I've read that triple negatives are not good and it seems my Dr. is treating me as such even though 26% of my cells stained. She didn't mention hormone therapy as part of my treatment plan. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

ElaineTherese

Hi mama 26!

Sorry to hear that you've had to join our club. I have strong positive receptor indicators, so I can't answer that question. However, I did have 5 months of chemo before surgery. While it wasn't always fun, I'm glad I had neoadjuvant chemo because we could see the chemo working as it dissolved the lump and cleared out the active cancer in my positive node. If you are being treated as a triple negative, then yes, neoadjuvant chemo is commonly recommended.

As far as your health declining before surgery, that's a valid concern. However, most surgeons will wait a month or so after chemo before operating so that your body has had some time to recover from chemo.

Hope someone else comes along to answer your other question! Best wishes.

voraciousreader

Since you are ER positive and HER 2 negative, you should request the Oncotype DX test. It will tell you how likely, or not, you would benefit from chemo and it also tells you how like you would recur at 10 years. The Oncotype DX score assumes you are taking Tamoxifen.

Good luck!

mama26

Thank you for your helpful responses. This is truly a learning journey. I was just diagnosed on June 25th. I am having

an MRI in the morning, genetic testing on Friday, and a second opinion on Monday the 13th at the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis, MO.

After that, hopefully I will feel well enough informed to make my decision regarding what type of surgery I will choose.