New Diagnosis - Chemo or Hormones

Hi, Barbara:

Welcome! Are you pre- or post-menopausal? At the time I was diagnosed at age 55, my surgeon told me that any one of the following could warrant chemo: Grade 3, pre-menopausal, and/or PR-. Of course, it also would depend on everything else on the pathology report.

They want to hit it hard initially with chemo, you know, so hopefully it won't come back. It's good you are getting a second opinion.

Here's a big hug to you; and I hope you get more input from others pretty soon.

Hi Barbara, things are done differently in Northern Ireland,but in my opinion i would have the chemo to make sure everything was destroyed. That is my personnel opinion. My thoughts and prayers are with you.By the way i had chemo 5years ago and i am still keeping well. Hope this has been a help to you.

Barbara,

I was diagnosed 15 months ago at the age of 48- very pre-menopausal at the time.  I had a 27 on the oncotype and decided to go for chemo.  I was (and am now) in great health, no conditions that would be risky-- I did 4 treatments over 8 weeks.  I don't want to suggest it was a  picnic, but I did manage to work full time through most of it and I have 2 young children---and somehow it all worked out.  

Once I saw the oncotype score, I knew that even with clear nodes, clear margins, medium grade and stage, that I would not rest easy unless I did it all.  One theory is to really kick this to the curb as soon as possible so that you don' t have to deal with it later.  I saw alot of people during chemo who were older and struggling.  It was the right decision for me, but not for everyone.  

 The randomized study makes the decision for you--- I declined that study because I wanted to make the decision.  Only you can know what is right for you.  For what it is worth, with a grade 3 I would do the chemo...... 

I also agree that the hormonal treatment is as important if not more than the chemo for those of us with er+.... since you are post menopausal, it will be something like arimidex, femara or aromisin-lots of info on the boards about that.

 I think your onc should be able to tell you the % benefit of chemo for you--- so if it is less than 5%, would you want to do it.  For me, adding chemo dropped my chance of recurrence from 15% to 7% (or something like that) so I felt those were big enough numbers.

All this said, no one knows what can happen.  So this is a decision that you really have to be comfortable with---for me, the line in the sand was "what decision can I make that will allow me to sleep at night?"  and I have been sleeping soundly ever since!!!

Best of luck- we all know how hard this is--- don't feel rushed- you have some time to decide.  Let us know if we can help in any way.

By the way, I feel fabulous now!  Radiation actually wore me out far more than chemo.  Keep us posted.

By all means get a second opinion and be sure to find out how much of a benefit it will give you; if it's substancial don't be afraid to have chemo. Is is NOT fun, but for most people very doable; and if it gives you a much better chance of never having to do this again, it's well worth the effort. I was in the same boat as you, my surgeon just mentioned a mastectomy or lumpectomy plus radiation; and since my lymph nodes were clear, I was totally SHOCKED when the oncologist recommended chemo; but after seeing the numbers, I knew I had to do it & am glad that I did. I wonder if surgeons just don't want to freak you out more than you already are, or if they don't think about anything other than surgery; but I've had several friends who have had this happen to also. Best of Luck! Ruth

Your diagnosis sounds like mine almost exactly. I decided not to even have the oncotype score done. I am having mammosite/radiation done and taking femara or arimedex for 5 years. I did not want chemo. I too was told if not in the lymph nodes then we do radiation and take the femara. But then came back ER positive and they started talking chemo.The oncologist had told me from the adjuvent score on the internet that chemo would not make but a 2 -4 percent difference and I'm not going through chemo at this time for that small of a difference. Soo I am sticking with radiation and the pill for 5 years. I hope i'm doing right but feel the chemo causes more problems that the little percentage I was told it would help. But once again I did not do the oncotype scoring!!!  Good luck. I hate all these decisions and then once you feel like you know what you want to do they throw something else  out at you. I am 55 and through menopause so don't know if that makes a difference or not.