Stage 111 Hormone Positive Cancer IDC oral chemo?

AB45

Hi

Any people out there with stage 111 cancer that is hormone positive offered a oral chemo pill versus IV? The reason I am stage 111 is because of lymph nodes positive and not because the size of the tumor, please advise or any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

moth

AB45, I think it would help if you listed your full diagnosis, size of tumor, hormone status.
What chemo is being suggested? Is it Xeloda? What other treatment?

AB45

The breast surgeon said that my case was very unusual. I was diagnosed with IDC stage 1. ER positive and PR positive Her 2 negative. Small tumor 1.7 cm. I completed scans and no positive lymph nodes were found. The day of lumpectomy surgery, the radioactive dye detected seven out of seven lymph nodes positive which as now made my stage 1, a now stage 3. I am being referred for chemo , radiation,, and hormone therapy,, and FREAKING OUT. Are there women with a large number of lymph node positive, how are they? Did they have to do IV chemo or could they do oral chemo? I am 45 so I still have a period every month, should I get a hysterectomy? Has anyone else had a shocked surgical pathology? I hope this answers your questions, I am so besides myself. Does lymph nodes mean it may already be somewhere else? I am also being referred for a CT scan

Thanks

moth

hi AB45,

Glad you're getting a CT scan. Sounds like your MO is on top of things and providing excellent care so far.

Your treatment will likely involve hormone suppression using either oral medications or some injections. Your Drs may or may not recommend ovary removal. It's possible to remove just the ovaries, and leave uterus in place. You might see it mentioned in this site as an "ooph" surgery, short for oophorectomy.

Re oral chemo. There are only a handful of chemotherapy drugs which are oral and I've not really heard of them being used in a case like yours (they also have significant side effects; being oral doesn't make them easier to tolerate if that's what you're hoping). I suspect your Drs will prescribe IV chemo. You might be offered a port to be inserted under your skin to make the chemo administration easier. Is there a specific aspect of chemo worrying you? It's not fun but it's absolutely doable. Some people even continue to work on treatment. Read through the recent monthly chemo threads and you'll see people managing symptoms and side effects and getting through it. I was encouraged to exercise and stay active.

Hang in there. Once you have a clear plan and start dates for treatment etc it will all seem more manageable. You can do this

AB45

Hi

Thank you, my worry about chemo is side effects and duration. Am I going to be able to work and pay my bills, what will be my quality of life. The other part is the number of lymph nodes positive, I have not seen much on the site about Stage 111 because of lymph nodes. In my mind lymph nodes carry the disease all over your body, just scared right now.

Thanks

Anonymous

I believe in the Stage III section there is a thread specifically on "high number of nodes" or something like that. There are more than a few Stage III ladies with a lotta nodes doing well quite a few years out.

moth

AB45, so for the chemo duration - well, not much we can do about it. It takes as long as it takes. Partly depends on how many cycles you're prescribed. 3-4 months is fairly usual. As I mentioned, some people manage to work through it. Not everyone has the same intensity of side effects. For some, just some fatigue and loss of appetite are their only bad side effects. I didn't have any permanent side effects after - I went back to school full time while I was still finishing radiation treatments.

positive lymph nodes does not mean it has spread. It just means it *might* have and was trying to... There are plenty of people with high + lymph nodes who did treatment and are fine. Here's one thread https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/67/topics...

When is your CT?