Stage II without chemo?

Anonymous

Hi everyone! Good news! My oncotype came back with a score of 15! It said that my recurrence risk with Tamoxifen alone is 11%, and with chemo it is actually worse at 12%! Of course I am going to see what my oncologist will say, along with a second opinion, and make a final decision then. Again, thank you all for your advice. I'll let you know how everything goes from here.

God bless!

coraleliz

Rose-maybe your friend was stage IV from the start. Because most/many women don't have scans that will pick up mets. There is a women on the boards, where she was initially diagnosed as stage II & then a met to her hip(I think) was accidently found while evaluating something else. I agree with you, the decision making process is mind boggling.

loving-great news!

Hopeful82014

That's very good news, Loving! Thanks for keeping us posted.

Anonymous

Rose, I'm sorry about your friend. I have to admit her story scares me. Do you know if she had any positive nodes? My tumor was 3.0 cm across but 2cm in length, so not truly 3cm around. But your side effects from chemo are like my brother's. He also has Stage 4 breast cancer in his spine. He had Taxol in the beginning and he now has horrible neuropathy. His quality of life has taken a huge hit and that is really the hardest part of it all. Prayers for you and your friend.

I finally got an appointment this coming Wednesday at the Breast Cancer center here in San Diego. The doctor is involved in a lot of studies so I'm assuming his knowledge is very up to date.

marijen

Rose, a macro positive is worse than a micro positive node?

alf9511

I also just had one positive node and an oncotype of 17.  I am leaning against chemo and glad to read your post.  Makes me feel a little less queasy about passing on chemo.

Anonymous

Hi again! I had my appointment with the second opinion oncologist. He went over the standard recommendations of care for my type of cancer, which are Taxol and Cytoxan for 4 rounds. But he went on to tell me about current trials (RxPonder) that target Oncotype results of <25 in people who have 1-3 positive lymph nodes. He said that the trial is now closed, but that it is "reasonable and ethical" to forego chemo, since half of the women in that study are randomized to just horomone therapy. It shows that the researchers are confident in their theory. That means someone with an oncotype of 25 and 3 lymph nodes could go without chemo according to the trial, and I just have one positive lymph node with an oncotype of 15! He said that I would get about a 5% benefit of chemo over 10 years, which is just not enough for me.

And about the original oncotype study on lymph-node positive women: even though there were only ~350 women followed, Oncotype studies have always shown to be effective in preventing unnecessary chemotherapy. He said he has many people who come in similar to my situation and ultimately decide against chemo, but until it is proven in the studies 5-10 years from now, he can't make it my standard recommendation. Basically, it needs to show that those 5% of recurrences are in women with high scores.

So his plan for me with or without chemo would be to do Arimidex for 10 years with Zometa infusions every 6 months (because of my weak bones). He said that Arimidex is shown to have a 1% benefit over Tamoxifen, and that Zometa has a further 3% benefit in overall survival. I am all for those *proven* odds. I just don't want to inject a poison into my body if the question on whether it will hurt or help me is still up in the air.

I am SO glad I got a second opinion. The doctor, his nurse, and the whole staff were so kind and caring, and went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. I hope my story can help others make their decision, because having to make the choice is not easy at first. My advice is to get as much information as you can before making any decision. Get the oncotype/mammaprint/etc. READ your pathology report. Get a second opinion, because you ARE worth it, and these decisions will impact the rest of your life.

Best wishes to you all. God bless.

coraleliz

So glad to hear you came to a decision. (The same decision I made 4+ years ago BTW). I also think it's great that the Rxsponder trial has reached capacity. This will help both doctors & patients feel even more comfortable with their decisions. Best of luck with the anti-hormonals.

Lenn13ka

loving - glad you have made your decision and your second opinion put you at ease. As I mentioned early on in this thread, Icame to the same decision with the help of Dana Farber and that's was almost 3 years ago now! Thank God for all these clinical trials that are paving the way for more personal treatment ( and less invasive treatment as well) . I am in a trial now that may eventually lead to adding Palbociclib as a treatment option for lower stage ( 2 and 3 ) BC patients. Good luck moving forward!

Anonymous

Hi all, checking in again! I hope you all had a nice and relaxing holiday with family and friends. Today I will be starting Tamoxifen! I went in to the appointment expecting to start on Arimidex and Zometa but she said my bones were so weak (who knew) that it was risky to rely on Zometa without knowing what was going on with my bones. So for now I'm going to take Tamoxifen for 2 years and then recheck my bones to see if I can switch to Arimidex. She told me that chemo was still recommended but that it is perfectly reasonable to just do endocrine therapy. Meanwhile I am going to eat as healthy as I can (no dairy or beef) to make sure I kick cancer in the butt for good! I wish you all the best and thank you so much for all your support. Happy New Year! May it be a great one!

imani76

I see my oncologist tomorrow morning and this post really helped me prep with questions. I am not scheduled for surgery yet but my ultrasound suggests a very enlarged lymph node and raises my concern about being able to skip chemo. Up until today I was so focused on my HER2 results forgetting about the lymph node interaction. I will have the biopsy of the lymph node before surgery is scheduled. Thanks for this post and forum. Be well ladies

marijen

So I had a lymph node that was 4.1 cm to begin with shrunk to 2.1 cm with six months of Femara and upon surgery pathology turned out to be 3mm. Chemo not needed, there's hope