Quitting chemo early?

Hi Spark, My diagnosis was the exact same as yours. I wanted to quit to. It was bad. My onc wouldnt let me. ! year later it came back in my liver so i am fighting again at stage 4. So no dont quit. Chemo is all we have so throw everything you have at it while you can!!! Brenda

Please don't quit. I know how you feel. I wished I had chemo prior to surgery but I had treatment 3 weeks post surgery - I was still weak and sore from the surgery. I also had dose dense and after the 2nd round I was begging my husband to let me quit - he said "no way". But I stuck it out and I'm glad I did. Take care and stay strong, you can do this!! ((((Hugs)))) 

Hi Spark, I have not started my chemo yet. And you did not mention which surgery you have to do after. I didnt have a choice and had a double mastectomy on July 29. I have both infiltrating ductal and lobular. They took out a 9.2cm out of my left breast and thankfully there was no cancer in my right. I never want to deal with this again. I dont know what a dense dose is but I will be having ACT for 4 months and than another 3 months of radiation. I have to agree with the other ladies, I've been on this road before with others. Throw everything you have at it now. You are the strongest you can be NOW. And know, somewhere in Illinois, I will be praying for you. Onward

Hi Spark. I am doing the same chemo as you. I finished my fourth AC and begin Taxol tomorrow. I know how you feel. I would like to quit now too. But we can't. This is all we have to fight with. For me, the first 2 rounds of AC were the worst. And the second was actually the worst of all 4. Maybe it will be the same for you too.

These boards are a great place to talk to people and get suggestions on how to cope. I tried everything for my side effects with a lot of good results. There are discussion groups for each month of people starting chemo. Have you read the August chemo thread? I'm in the June group and it is a big help to talk with people going through this with you. Stay strong and don't give up! : )  Donna

Hope all these answers are making you realise just how important it is to persevere. Cancer is such a sneaky beast, that all it takes now is for one cell to escape-and sooner or later it will cause trouble. I had 12 years between primary and secondary diagnosis-and was really beginning to think that all would be well, and that I would be one of the lucky ones. Sadly, this was not to be. I did everything we could-so the fact it came back is down to pure bad luck-I'd make the same decisions all over again. At this stage in your treatment, you need to focus on the bigger picture-not how rotten it's making you feel in the short term. You'll have nothing but regrets, if you quit now, and it comes back. You could continue with treatmnet, and it will still come back (as it did with me, and at least 2 of the other posters). But at least we have the comfort of knowing we did all we could to stay safe-should you quit, and this happens to you, you'll be filled with regrets-and probably unable to cope with this emotionally, when every day becomes a fight to stay alive. I've been on chemo for nearly 3 years now, so know all too well how draining and difficult it is-but am hoping to have many more cycles of treatment-before the cancer kills me, or before I can no longer tolerate the side effects.

The chemo won't be shortened-so please try to accept that it's a necessary evil. Those of us with recurrences need treatment permanently-some, who are hormone receptive (ie, er+, pr+), can sometimes use hormonal therapy. Those who are HER2 can use herceptin. But as you are triple negative, you don't have any of these options-all that you can do is use chemo. Hopefully you will never end up in the same situation as we are-but if you don't complete your treatment now, then the danger of a recurrence will be high. It's only a few months of your life-try to go with the flow, take a day at a time, and listen to what your body needs. You very well may end up exhausted, so will need to rest more-but it will pass-as will all the other symptoms.

Hi Spark--

I finsihed the same chemo regimin you are on in March, had a mastectomy in May, and I had my last dose of radiation today.

I can lend you some encouraging words by saying that I totally turned a corner when I switched from the AC to the taxol.  I found the taxol to be way easier and started feeling more like myself while I was on it.  The one I thing I felt so good doing is feeling that lump in my breast get smaller iwth each week of chemo going by. 

Hang in there.  And make sure to talk to your onc about side effects.  They are more than willing to make you feel as good as possible during this process.

Let me put it this way Spark.  I did the short course of the Chilly Hilly on Day 7 of Taxol, Round 3 of 6. There is no way I could have done that while doing AC.

So I really did have that much more energy.  True, it was the short course and I walked a lot of the hills, but I got my hide around the 22 miles of the cycling route.

Spark - I did 4 dose dense AC and it was difficult.  I made it through & glad it's over. My onco ended up putting me on the weekly Taxol (12 times, smaller dose each time).  It has made my quality of life much easier!  also, when they first give you Taxol, they give it to you slowly to see how you will react.  I get steroids to take in pill form the night before and the morning of chemo and they put it in my premeds with some other stuff.  Some people get Benadryl, too.  I am allergic to Benadryl, so I don't get it.  Taxol is easier for most of us than AC. 

Good luck and don't quit!!!!!