Chemo or Zoladex?

HI Elia - my earlier post got lost - so here is a summary! given your age and desire for more children I think the onc and a fertility specialist need to do a little more investigation. You need to know HOW ER+ you are >80% - that's high and very likely hormonal therapy is going to be most effective. You also need to know whether or not you are going to be a good metaboliser of tamox - there is a test - have it and see. If not you may want to consider an AI + zoladex - this will give a lot of protection and while it will be menopause it is chemopause and things should go back to normal once the treatment stops. However - you need to know how long you will need to do any adjuvant treatment - >5 years and your fertility is at risk anyway - so you may need to tuck some eggs away - if that is an option.

If fertility is the main requirement - work with the specialists - this is something that gets completely overlooked for most of us - for many reasons - but there are many things that can be done - depending on the kind of cancer you HAD. Chemo is only useful for fast growing cells - hormonals only good for the right kind of ER+ - because you want another pregnancy - you NEED more information about the disease you had - these tests are worth having to get more info on the disease - you should not be anxious about getting these things done because you no longer have cancer - what you need to establish is what is the best way of keeping it away and for ER+ disease where you are a good metaboliser and ovarian function suppressed - this is looking like the best way - BUT it must be undertaken for a while to starve any micromets which have escaped...Personally - I would be back to the onc asking for more tests on the tumour for the levels of + and a test on me for tamox metabolism AND an appt with a fertility specialist for the numbers and ways to increase my chances of having another baby - though I am really in agreement with Lauren3 - you want to be around a LOOOOOOOONG time to raise the one you have

cheers,

Fidelia

I was 30 when I was initially diagnosed, and before doing chemo, my oncologist suggested I do an IVF cycle to freeze embryos just in case the chemo put me into permanent menopause (about a 30% chance apparently). I ended up freezing 15 embryos, and had a baby boy last year - it took 5 of those 15 to get him, but boy is he worth it!

After chemo and radio, I did tamoxifen (for 1.5 years) and zolodex (1 year). It took two months for my ovaries to wake up again. 

Hello, I'm 37 and choose zoladex and tamoxifen over chemo.

I decided this after much discussion with my oncologist and looking at the recent research which shows zoladex is just as effective in strongly hormonally positive pre-menopausal women.  So I'd revisit the percentages you quote with chemo vs zoladex with your oncologist and with your receptor results.  I've tolerated zoladex extremely well.

Also, I had a portion of one ovary harvested and frozen prior to commencing the hormonal therapy.

My fertility specialist did not recommend having egg harvesting because of the hormonal exposure required for the ovarian stimulation.

 Hope this helps.