Trying to figure this all out at 30...

HaileysHooters

Hello fellow breasties!

I was hoping to gain some insight from anyone, anywhere, who has ever been in my shoes. My shoes are currently size (age) 30 with Stage 1, Grade 2, HR+ (100%) PR+ (90%), Her2-, IDC. My Ki67 is 15%, there were small focal traces of lymphovascular invasion, my oncotype score is 20, and all of my lymph nodes (4) were negative. As I'm sure any of you can guess, several of these features throw me into the dreaded "gray zone" for chemotherapy. I've met with a few oncologists at two NCI-designated hospitals. Thankfully, my last oncologist spent a lot of time with me and made me feel so comfortable, and that I can trust her. She does favor doing chemotherapy (4x TC), but she has many of the same reservations I have; the big one being, is this "NEEDED"? She is submitting a Mammaprint for me, and we will reconvene once those results are in.

Every doctor I've met with has said, my treatment plan is up to me. I know I'm not the first patient who's experienced this, but HOW do you choose? How do you know what is right and what is wrong when so much is unknown? How does one make life-impacting decisions on hypothetical outcomes? Grrrrrrrrrr. The only things I know for sure is I will be doing 20 rounds of radiation since I did a lumpectomy, and I will be on tamoxifen for 10 years. This puts me at about an 8-9% risk of distance recurrence; adding chemo would lower that risk to about 6%.

Perhaps I should also mention, my diagnosis was no surprise to me. Both of my gradmothers are (and were) breast cancer survivors. I always knew at some point in my life, I would hear the words every woman dreads hearing. I felt a tiny bump in my left boob on my 30th birthday - great present right? And I knew, KNEW, that my birthday would always be the day I found my breast cancer. Several tests later, the results were confirmed, and my genetics were negative (head scratcher).

That same odd, instinctual, gut instinct-reaction to discovering my cancer is the SAME reaction I have to chemo. I don't need it. I don't feel I will benefit from it. But is that enough? It's not enough to make my doctors feel reassured, that's for sure.

I will be starting my fertility preservation cycle shortly, so I have this little bit of "buffer" time to decide how I want to proceed. If there are any other 30-somethings out there dealing with the same thing, or past 30-somethings who struggled with the same decision, please please please let me know where you're at today, and how you came to your decision, and how you feel about it now.

I'm so looking forward to hearing from you all!

( . ) ( . ),

Hailey

littleblueflowers

Hey lady! Sooooo....that sux. So sorry you have to be here! Well, I was diagnosed at 34 and had a totally different agressive cancer. Because I am that kind of personality, after doing all my research and running the stats over and over, I decided that killing the cancer deader than dead with chemo rads lymph removal and BMX was the right decision for ME, because of pathology. All my treatments carry risk of long term side effects, so it came down to a numbers game. Each one reduced my risk of reocurrance by X amount. Each one carried X risk of side effects, some very nasty. I put blinkers on and fouught what was in front of me. I may well live to regret it. Basically what it comes down to, research until you are done. Then make a call. There are no wrong answers. Hopefully someone with pathology like yours can chime in soon! Best of luck!

Barron

Hailey,

I too was one of the fortunate ones to fall in that gray area I was diagnosed with stage 1A IDC with DCIS at 39 no lymph node or lymphovascular involvement. I had a unilateral mastectomy so no need for radiation. I was ER- and PR- but HER2+. I was told from my oncologist it would be my decision whether or not I wanted to do chemo and IV therapy. My oncologist felt either way I went I had a good prognosis but he wanted to offer me this regimen. For me I knew if I did not do chemo I would not feel like I did everything I could to keep it from reoccurring so for peace of mind I chose the chemo I am currently doing 12 weeks of taxol and one year of Herceptin. There is no protocol for women that fall in my category so it really is hard to make an educated decision without the education. I just went with my gut feeling. I do have a strong family history my mother and to maternal aunts all have had breast cancer. But like you we all tested negative for the BRCA I and 2 gene. I wish you all the luck with your decision making I know you'll make the right choice for you.

Hugs

Lisey

HI Hailey. I was diagnosed at 41, so a little bit older than you. I had an oncotype of 20, node negative, stage 1A ER and PR + and a higher KI than you. I got the Mammaprint to decide once and for all if I needed chemo since I was in the gray area. It came back low risk, so no chemo for me. I highly suggest the Mammaprint for everyone who is in the gray area.

HaileysHooters

Thanks everyone. I start my fertility injections this weekend and should have the Mammaprint results within the next week or so.

I don't even know if I should "hope" that it's high or low... Hopefully one way or another I just gain some clarity.

HaileysHooters

My oncologist called me last night with my Mammprint results.... high risk. Great.

I'm meeting with her on Wednesday to discuss next steps. I'll look into the chemo forums since I'll be heading towards 4xTC