IDC ER+ PR+ Her-2 neg Oncotype 20

I am a little similar....grade 2 though and my oncotype at 17.  My tumor had angiolymphatic invasion which freaked me out.  I did the chemo.  My son was only 4 when I was dx.  I used cold caps to keep my hair.  I had 4 rounds of TC and was done in 9 weeks.  I can look back with no regret knowing I did everything I could to fight this crap.  I know how hard it is to make a decision.  The main thing is to make a decision that YOU can live with.  Best of luck!

I had an onco score of 28, higher than yours but still in the intermediate zone.  MO gave me the choice of chemo or not.  Had bilat MX and then chemo.  I felt I had to do everything to prevent recurrance.  Better now than later.  Am on an AI as well.  Chemo was tolerable.  Am glad I made that choice. 

I am struggling with this as well. My oncotype score just came back today at 19. My MO does not recommend chemo. Says he thinks for my stage 1, grade 1, no positive nodes the SE of chemo outweigh the benefit chemo could give me. He says take the Tami for 10 yrs instead. I thought I would be thrilled with the words "no chemo" but instead my mind is racing what if it comes back? Did I do everything I could to prevent a reoccurence? I guess this is normal to feel this way and none of us will ever know for sure the cancer won't come back.



Jen

At 26 chemo seems like a reasonable choice.

Listen chemo or no, some of us will get mets.

That's a hard thing to let sink in.

As a 22, without chemo my chance is 14%...with chemo it would have 10 to 12.

So personally, for me, if I get mets, I don't think I will believe chemo would have prevented them.

The chance of my potential mets having been preventable is between 1 in 7 and 1 in 3.something.

When I realized that chemo not preventing mets was much more likely than the other outcome it helped me decide.

Look at the charts, think throught all the scenarios, see where your heart lies.

In general I think docs minimize se's and complications, but some may not.

It is a hard decision, and I changed my mind several times. At the end of the day I could live with the fear of mets more easily than I could live with the fear of serious SE's.

Susansgarden-- I'm in the same situation as you. I have an Oncotype score 8, but my surgery pathology said my ki-67 was 25%, in the high category (as opposed to my biopsy report of 1-3%). The doctors are bringing this up for a second discussion of my case at this week's tumor board meeting. I face the same issues that have been raised here, it's truly damned if you do and damned if you don't with chemo. ACK.

SusansGarden-- yes it totally does! I think you've captured the situation perfectly.



Havefaith20-- I think you've gotten a bunch of great responses. Bottom line is that it will be different for each person and IMO such a crapshoot. We each have to go with our own gut feelings based off the information doctors give us and make the decision to move on and hopefully never have regrets with our choices. Best of luck in your decision!

Hi all,

I just posted on another thread about doing chemo. My oncotype dx score was 19, and i had one node positive. Because being so intermediate, my doctor recommended chemo. If he had his way i'd be doing ACT cause it's the gold standard for my area. I did a LOT of research and read about an older regieme called CMF. (It's below in my name). It's a lot less toxic to the body (both my parents have heart issues - which the ACT terrified me ...I already have to worry didn't want to add to it). But it's still chemo and still fighting the cancer. BUT a lot less harsh, I did not lose my hair. Some people refer to it as "chemo-lite". It IS lighter and much more tolerable from what I read about the ACT. But it's not fun. It is chemo, I have good days and bad days. I have fatigue,  I had a port put in. I get 8 treatments every other week for sixteen weeks. I've got 5 down and 3 to go. BUT...it's doable, and I can feel I did fight my cancer without putting myself at risks for further issues. I had a heart to heart with my oncologist and he was very comfortable with me doing this regime. You can look it up and obviously make the best decision for you. I hope this helps. For me, the power of knowledge has helped me through this along with my family and friends. Best of luck to you.

Robin

When we were still on the "chemo fence" , I asked my doc about CMF.  He would have been totally fine with it.  His only negative about doing CMF was that it's was going to be a longer treatment.  Though I would have gladly trading taking chemo longer if it meant it was "less harsh" and I most likely wouldn't lose my hair.

Not worrying about what other people think is the hardest and most freeing thing to do, isn't it?  .... Losing hair is a huge issue for many women, and men! There is nothing wrong with having it become part of your decision making when you are in a position that has options.  Also.. in case somebody is reading this and isn't aware of the "cold cap" option.  Many women have been successful with using cold caps to keep their hair during treatment with the "harsher" chemos.  

Laurreg, I also had a genomic score of 18 prog/estro positive with brca and her negative. My KI60 score was at 65% with score of 8/9. Three oncologist have said no chemo but one oncologist recommends chemo. He says it will lower my chances by 5%. Were your tests similar to mine? my tumor was 2.4 cm with .8cm clear margin lymph negative. Hope to hear from you