Weekly taxol and neuropathy. Should I stop?

Brightness456

Hi everyone. I started weekly taxol and every third week herceptin last month. I've done 6 treatments so far. Although my MO called my dose "chemo light", I've struggled with flu like symptoms, taste changes etc and now the neuropathy in my feet is getting worse. I don't think I have to deal with SEs as bad as many here, but the neuropathy is really concerning me.

After surgery, my tumor was determined to be 5mm, so I was right at the point of needing or not needing chemo. I was told if I did not have chemo, my chance of recurrence was 6%, while if I did chemo it was only 2%. I'm ER/PR- and her2+. My KI67 was 96%, which is very high, but some facilities don't even use the KI67 because it can be inaccurate. My tumor was actually smaller than originally thought (7mm) and I did not have node involvement.

I saw my MO last week, but to be honest, I was so emotional that I'm not sure I asked my questions well and I'm not even sure I remember everything she said other than I have an 80% chance of no recurrence just like any other stage 1 patient, which is different than what I was told by her and another MO previously. She's on vacation this week. The neuropathy is getting worse so I called the office and spoke with another MO in the practice and got the impression he's wondering why I'm even doing chemo. My RO asked me why I was doing it as well. My answer is that if it turns to stage 4 mets later. I want to know I at least tried to stop it.

I've never been fully committed. The truth is I don't know if I should even be doing this or not. I still wonder regularly if I'm putting myself through chemo for nothing. What if there are no micro mets floating through my body. What if there are? There's no way to know. But now the neuropathy has me scared and wondering again.

I've completed 6 treatments. Might that be enough to have helped some or does doing some but not all make it less effective? Does anyone know statistics on stopping at 6? I would still do herceptin for the full year and I'd move on to radiation. If I find out it's metastasized later, would I still be a candidate for chemo?

I feel like I wasn't ready to make such life affecting decisions and I've been questioning myself since my first mammogram. I would appreciate any input you can offer. The pain in my feet and legs is so distracting that it's making it hard for me to do more than be emotional and I want to be wise about moving forward