Chemo or no Chemo

Anonymous

Chemo or no Chemo

Arcy

Hi Everyone

I just got my OncoType Dx results back and I rec'd a score of 28 and my stage is 1 borderline 2. My dr is recommending Chemo but because I am borderline  they are not making chemo mandatory. My cancer in Invansive Ductal breast cancer.  I am 48 with a ER+,PR+ and HER-, my dr said that my HER- is slightly aggressive. I am having a hard time deciding if I should go the route of chemo. I do not have my BRCA results back yet and I was wondering if I should wait to make a decision until I get those results. Has anyone been in this position before with similar results? This is all new to me and feeling a little scared. Any advice is appreciated

Meow13

I had a score of 34, my situation was 53 years old post menopausal great health, had 2 tumors one ilc one idc grade 1 and 2, mitotic scores of 1. Each tumor was 1cm, no nodes, er 95% pr 0%, her2-. I didn't do the recommended chemo I did 4 years AI drugs better for er+ pr-. I am 7 years NED.

Beside your oncodx you may wamt to look closely at your pathology. If you are grade 3 you want to consider it but the choice is clearly yours. What do you feel most comfortable doing?

keepthefaith

Arcy, with the results from the TailorX trial being recently released recently, it is my understanding that part of the chemo decision is now based on the patients' age. There are many factors and if you have questions, ask your MO why they recommend chemo. You can always seek a second opinion also. It is very scary and a lot to think about. You did not state your age, stage, grade, etc. All of those should be taken into consideration. Your onco-score is a factor, but not the only one. As far as the chemo itself, we all have different stories, but for me, it was not that difficult; I managed pretty well. I have no regrets having been through it. My onco-score was then considered intermediate, at 21. Gather all of the information that you need before you decide. You don't need to rush. Best wishes.

Arcy

Hi Meow13

Thank you for your response as I feel blind in this situation. Basically I am a borderline grade 3. My dr said if I had a reoccurrence score of 30 then chemo would be mandatory. My cancer is Invasive Ductal and my oncologist said it is slightly aggressive. I am 48 and I only had 1 tumor which has been removed. I had 1 cousin who had breast cancer. I guess I am just not sure if I should only do radiation and wait, jump into chemo or wait for my BRCA results to come back an then think about a mastectomy. It's all overwhelming at the moment but I am glad to have access to these discussion groups. By chance do you know how much time you have to decide if you want chemo?

Arcy

Hi Keepthefaith

I just updated my post. I am 48 and I am stage 1 but borderline stage 2. My dr told me that my HER- is agreesive and maybe this is why they are recommending chemo. I need to look at my other paperwork to get the additional information. Thank you for your comment as I really appreciate hearing from you.

Denise-G

Are you Her 2 Neg or Positive - huge difference.

Meow13

Arcy, I received my oncodx results a few days before christmas 2011. I asked my oncologist if I could make a decision the beginning of January, his response was you need to start chemo this week. He felt waiting would close the window of opportunity. I was diagnosed October 7th I believe. I told him no chemo he said ok we will have you on high surveillance and start anastrozole the next day.

I was really made to feel afraid but as soon as I said no chemo I had a sense of peace that I was making the right decision. Sure hope I did.

Meow13

Arcy, I know you are both er and pr positive AI drugs haven't really been shown to work better than tamoxifen in your case. I feel better kind of after the fact to understand tamoxifen, as oncodx score assumes, isn't as effective for er+ pr- but AI drugs are considerably better in my case.

So my 34 score is probably not as accurate since I never took tamoxifen.

PebblesV

Hi Arcy - I'm glad you posted this topic as I'm in almost the exact same situation as you. I'm 43, ER+/PR+/HER- and tumor 1.8cm but also in 2 lymph nodes. Am waiting for the Oncotype DX score but met with the oncologist who already feels chemo is more than likely the recommended path for me based on what he sees. And I hate that idea. Really, while my entire family is telling me to do it, I'm SOooo nervous about it due to all the life-altering side effects I've seen and read about.

So right now, I'm stuck. I keep wavering back and forth. I have no great advice to give but can share some empathy in your current situation. I do know that the ER+/PR+/HER- cancers tend to be the slower growing kind which allow us some time to decide. Also, because chemo and tamoxifen basically make you infertile (another thing my husband and I are grappling with), our oncologist did say it was fine to take a couple months to pull and preserve some eggs, and as long as we started chemo - if recommended (depends on my oncotype dx score) within 3 months after surgery, that was fine.