Trouble making a decision

dexxy, I would agree with you Dr's if you are young do everything you can to fight it now. My diagnosis is very similar to yours, but I am 58 not young. Do the chemo, and then do the other things to try to heal and never get it back.

Hi Dexxy,

I was also 43 last year when dx'd. My tumor was large so there was no question about doing chemo. I just wanted to tell you what my onc said about breast cancer. He said the reason it kills people is because it is very good at finding its way to other parts of the body. I will never forget that. Chemo is rough, but doable. At our age, we have a lot to live for. Blessings!

Hi dexxy,

I'm exactly in your shoes right now.  I'm 43 also.  My diagnosis was LCIS & ILC, grade 3, 2.7 cm, stage 2a, 0/3 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-.  No history.  BRCA 1 & 2 neg.  My onco score came back RIGHT on the line of low & intermediate.. yup... it was an 18... ughhh.  The doctor recommends chemo due to my age, tumor grade & size.  I know chemo has some awful side effects and I really don't wanna lose my hair, but I also don't wanna be thinking what "IF".  So confused right now, I'm just getting headaches.  I'm just sittin on the fence...ughhh.  

I had a different dx - IDC stage 1, ER?PR+  and HER- onco score of 20.  I am 68 yrs. old and did chemo because if bc mets it is usually in the lungs, liver, brain and bones and I just didn't want to take a chance with those organs!

Drink lots of liquids, and eat small meals every 2hrs that have lean protein and naturally lots of fruits and veggies and it is doable.  I had 6 rounds of TC last year.

It is a hard decision, but I didn't want to regret NOT doing chemo if bc ever comes back.

judy

I'm stage IV.  It's not a fantastic place to be.  I am currently writing down my memories for my young son and talking to HR about the best way to get my life insurance to my family.  I'm "getting my affairs in order" and that doesn't mean calling Brad Pitt on the phone.  

If you have a shot at avoiding being where I am, I think that you should take it.   

I understand your objection but this could be a life or death situation.  If you were a vegetarian but were starving to death, would you eat chicken, or would you die?  If you had a moral objection to wearing man-made fibers but had nothing but polyester - would you wear it or go naked?  Sometimes, you have to throw those beliefs aside and do what is physically best for yourself as well as everybody around you.

By the way, many chemos are made out of natural plants.  The newest one that I start tomorrow is made from a periwinkle plant.  So, you might still be taking herbs in a way. 

For the record, chemo is not as bad as you imagine it to be and it's nothing like the movies make it out to be.  You will, for the most part, live a normal life during it, and it's over for you early stagers quickly.   You are young, a few months is nothing.  Your hair will fall out but it grows back in.  You can work, go on vacation, chaperone field trips or do whatever it is you always do. You might get a bit tireder than normal but it's not forever and recovery is swift.

I wish you luck whatever you decide.

Edit:  I wanted to add that I've been on this board long enough to see plenty of women with your small tumor and intermediate grade end up on the stage IV board.  Don't think it can't happen to you.  

I did do chemo - I did six rounds of taxotere and carboplatin and a year of herceptin.  And, it still got me - only five months after my last herceptin.

I had no nodes either.  

I am HER2 and I had a larger, fast-growing tumor that we now know is extremely aggressive.  But, like I said, I see many women on this board who end up where I am.  Browe the Stage IV board and see what the initial diagnoses of these women were.  You'll be astonished at how many had <1cm tumors and Grade 1.  

Breast cancer is sneaky and you never know what it will do.  I wouldn't take chances, but that's me.  I  didn't and here I am.  

That's just me and you have to make a decision based on your doctor's advice and your own intuition.  But, I do want you to know that chemo is not that bad.  I thought I'd be puking in bed for days but not at all.  They have really good preventatives now and there are lots of ways to deal with side effects that are natural.  Water is the best one. 

It is your decision and I know it's tough.  I wish you luck. 

Hi dexxy,

My diagnosis is very similar to yours: 9mm idc, grade 2, ER/PR+, HER2-. I'm 46 years old. However, my oncotype score was 8 (6% chance of distant recurrence). My onc recommended no chemo. I was nervous about not doing chemo. It just seems like I should because I had cancer, but my onc convinced me that in my situation, chemo would probably of little, if any benefit. She explained to me that chemo works on fast-growing, aggressive cells and if the cancer is not of that nature, it would do little to counteract it's growth. I'm still a bit nervous though.

Dexxy I am similar to you.  I was 48 at diag last year and my onco score was 23.  I had two MO's tell me no chemo.  The problem with being in the intermediate area is they really do not know if it even benefits you.  The second MO told me I would only get about a 2-3% benefit and the side effects would be way worse.  My KI67 was also under 10%.  The 2nd MO did say that will all of my stats had it been over 10% he would have recommended chemo.  He still left it up to me and I just could not see that there would be enough benefit. My tumor was 1.6cm, no family history and BRCA neg but history of ADH.

Dexxy, thank you for the encouragement! I'm just nervous because I wanted to throw everything at it. Also, I'm not sure how the oncotype scoring works. It seems that based on our pathologies, that you and I should have similar oncotype scores. However, our scores are more divergent than expected. I think that my scores on the oncotype report were ER 9.3, PR 9.8, HER2 9.0, nothing remarkable one way or the other.

I want to add one thing - my advice is based on your statement that you didn't like drugs.  If your doctors recommend no chemo, than you should listen to them.  I am not up on the meaning of oncotypes since, being HER2, there was no question that I would have chemo.  Not having it was not an option for me.

I just don't want anybody to skip a recommended, life-saving treatment because they prefer to get their remedies from Vitamin World.  

There is a place for herbal treatments and there is a place for aggressive treatments.  Cancer is the place to be aggressive.  But, only if it is medically indicated.

I just had surgery 2 weeks ago lumpact and biopsy sental node.One node came back only suspicious my Dr said.More surgery take out more nodes and have Rads and chemo as there could be some cells floating around even though they got all clear margins for the Lump.I dont even take aspirin if I can get away with it.I dont want to have chemo either but I know I should.the dr said if I was 70 years old she would'nt sugest chemo but because of my age and a 41 % recurence rate she recomends it.