Chemo or No Chemo?

Do the chemo...12 out of 12 nodes!!  I did 4 rounds of Taxotere and Cytoxan and never got sick. They give you so many anti nausea meds pre infusion. Talk to your doc about Emend and Aloxi before chemo infusion. I know its scary but the alternative is scarier.

btw I had no node involvment and oncotyps RS of 17. My pathology on my smallest (of 4) tumors showed it was getting more aggressive as it hopped from duct to duct.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.

Hang in there ...it will be a distant memory before you know it.

Diane

well, the chemo is something you can do.  quality of life is important to me too; i did 6 TAC and i am 10 years out,  i believe in treatmentl chemo, rads.,.hormone treatment.  it isn;t easy but as my onc says..."it keeps you around"  your body will heal from the treatment.  that is really important to remember. 

Cathy,

Got curious and looked at the Genomics site and I stand corrected. For post meno, ER+ woman, node positive with no number specified may be candidates for the test. You have a tough decision to make and I wish you the best.

Caryn

I did taxol first and had seiours shrinkin of intermamarry know infected nodes.  From 1+cm to undetectable after 12 weeks.  So taxol (similar to taxotere) works for ER post, i am 95-98% pos depending on the test.  Also I had severe, really severe morning sickness and I am on FAC, and the first round on normal premeds sucked.  week 1 was terrible week 2 was better and week 3 I felt normal.  With round 2 they gave me EMEND, it was AMAZING.  I just felt kinda bad on week one and week 2 was great, just about to start week 3.  If you get IV emend the insurance pays for it, may don't pay fo rthe pills.  They will prolly give you WBC support shots for TAC, and I have read Claritin helps with that pain, so ask the MO about taking claritin for that and then support for the side effects from taxotere... so B vitamins, L glutamin and Acetyl L carinitine.  There is no question that it will be difficult, but its doable.  I have a 20 mo old and there are women who are actively pregnant getting chemo... YOU can do this if you choose to.  Hugs!

I say do the chemo.  I get motion sick too.  Also I am one of those people who seems to get the rare but serious side effects from other drugs.  I was not sick one day while on chemo.  I felt sort of yucky but as long as I took the anti nausea drugs I was good.  In fact, there was not one day that I could not get up, take a shower and function somewhat normally. I joke with my husband that the year I had chemo was my healthiest year-never had a cold or virus like most years.  Even when my entire family was sick I stayed healthy.

I remember not wanting to do chemo too.  No one really wants to have chemo.  It is overwhelming to think about it but for me it was not nearly as bad as I had thought.  You are only 62-that's not that old. 

My guess is that death from breast cancer is more miserable than months of chemo. If I progress to stage IV, I want to know I did everything I could to prevent it.

I'm with the others on this- do the chemo. I'm thinking QOL is not going to be any better if you are stage IV.... During my treatment, I was afraid of almost everything that I had to go through and every single treatment (surgery, chemo, rads, AIs) was more tolerable than I feared. When my onc asked if I got motion sickness easily, I told him I get nauseous just LOOKING at a boat... He let me have the Emend right from the start. I only threw up once and the nausea I experienced wasn't any worse than I have had on boats- not fun but doable. 

I also think that when we have a bunch of positive nodes, it shows that our cancer knows how to travel and that giving it a one-two systemic punch  (with AIs and chemo) is the way to go. You just don't which one  will work best for you.

Good luck on your decision!

I would do the chemo. I am the bigest whimp on earth and have needle phobia, doctor phobia, IV phobia, get car sick etc.



I managed eight chemo TXs and never puked, never had a serious problem of any kind. I did have all kinds of annoying SEs, I did freak a few times and certainly it was not the funnest thing I ever did, but it was also nowehere near as bad as I had feared it would be.

I'm about to have my last of 6 infusions of ACT (or TAC) chemo on Wed. I'm having my chemo before surgery so we can see how it's working. I had a Mammaprint test before my chemo which said that my tumor is low risk - because of that it wasn't supposed to respond that well. But guess what? my 3+ cm tumor has shrunk to almost nothingness and my palpable node is no longer palpable. I've had a great response to chemo with a low risk, ER+, grade 2 cancer so it can happen. 

 Chemo really isn't so bad. I'm very sensitive to medications and allergic to most antibiotics, but I haven't had much trouble. Days 3, 4 & 5 I feel a bit tired, my taste buds are knocked out for about a week, and I have to watch my diet to prevent constipation, but by the second week, I'm pretty much back to normal.

 I'm doing everything possible to fight this crap - chemo, mastectomy, radiation - because if, heaven forbid, it does come back, I want to be able to say that I tried everything I could. As my oncologist said, you only get one shot at this, so make sure it's your best. 

So many things don't make sense about this, but I totally trust the Oncotype test. 

Hi,  I just wanted to chime in and say that Chemo was very doable. I was never sick once. I wish you the best in what you decide to do. SharonH

I tried to get my onc to do the Oncotype. He said there's no point because Oncotype and node involvement are different, separate and independent prognosticators. According to him a low Oncotype score doesn't mean much if the cancer is already in the nodes.

Chemo is not like it used to be. You don't feel too well but it is doable. I spent most of the time on the couch but it was okay. Did not get sick once with the good antinausea meds. With grade 2 BC you have a good chance of it killing any stray cancer cells. (On average it's most effective on grade 3, least effective on grade 1.)

I understand what you are asking.  Not if you should buf if anyone else has not done chemo at stage 111   I would say (based on the responses) most of us stage IIIers here have done the chemo... but if you repost this in the alternatives forums, there might be others there who have forgone chemo.  Some people hop forums and some stick to one area... it might be worth a try!  Or perhaps editing your title to say something like:  Any stage 3 survivors without chemo?  Donno, just trying to help. 

Hi, Kathy.

My diagnosis was dissimilar to yours in that I was Stage II with no nodes, but mine was Triple Negative which is very aggressive.  I did AC + T dose dense.  I'm responding to your remark that you have a very sensitive system and are afraid that chemo will be intolerable.

I can definitely relate to your concerns.  In general I'm extremely sensitive to medications of any sort and always end up taking the lowest therapeutic dosage because my body reacts so intensely, if I can take it at all.

This most recent bout with BC was my 2nd and on the first go-round with a less toxic chemo in 2002 (CMF), I had bad side effects so was very nervous about going through it again with more aggressive treatment.  My oncologist describes my system as being almost allergic to chemo because of how negatively I am affected by SE.  On the sheet of "possible" side effects they give you at the oncologist's office, I ended up with about 90% of them!   However, while most side effects are temporary, advancing to Stage IV is permanent.

I finished chemo last August and am feeling really well now.  The side effects are a thing of the past and I can take comfort in knowing that I did everything possible to treat my cancer.  Despite a 4-day hospital stay after my 1st chemo treatment and a reduction in the dose I was receiving for the duration, rashes that threatened to stop the treatments with Taxol altogether, 4 emergency room visits, constant nausea and a resulting loss of 30+ lbs. (not altogether a bad thing in my case) despite the best anti-nausea meds on the market, I got through everything and even continued to work throughout (except for that hospitalization and the days I had my chemo infusions).  I'm not trying to scare you with this list of chemo woes.  I just want to let you know that another woman with a very delicate system was able to successfully complete chemo.

Honestly, if I were you I'd have the chemo.  It wasn't pretty but it was only 4 months out of my life and I hope to live a very long one.  Good luck making your decision.  I know it's not easy.