Why I chose conventional treatment

I, too, chose conventional treatment for many of the same reasons you list.  I am fortunate that I have access to some of the best medical options in the area.  I work in a non-medical capacity for a large university health system and have received excellent care for all medical conditions since joining this health system (22yrs).  My treatments for this latest issue (cancer) is no exception.  Each doctor spent more than a hour with me on the initial appointment.  All available options were shared and considered.  I felt like a person, not a number throughout all tx.  My concerns and wishes were always considered and I had the last say on all decisions.

I chose to be very aggressive with my approach.  I watched my mother pass away from BC.  Her reoccurrence was downplayed by her physician and she did not receive tx in time to slow the growth.  I was not willing to 'watch and wait' and my drs supported this approach. 

While not fun, chemo was manageable.  I worked throughout; taking chemo days off (Friday) and resting each weekend.  I worked while doings rads as well.  I did not choose to use cold caps since they seemed like so much work.  I wanted to focus on getting through each tx as relaxed as possible.  My wigs were inexpensive and very nice.  No one outside of my family knew I was actually bald. In fact, I went to a family picnic with my closest relatives and no one knew until one cousin outed me.  I was trying to spare my elderly aunt the pain of knowing I was diagnosed with the same disease that killed her sister (my mom).  Once it was know, off came the wig and life resumed.

Two and a half years later, I am doing well. My hair came back better than before.  No long term side effects from any of the tx.  I am currently on an AI which seems to be working since no cancer has been detected. I hope to stay this way

I do not regret any medical decision made so far!

thank you for posting this topic. Before my dx, I had a vague idea that chemotherapy never worked, and just killed every person that did it. And I naively thought that I would never choose it. People do not understand cancer, I certainly did not until I begin my own research for my condition. I actually had a wonderful caring, natural lifestyle friend ask me, well since everything has shrunk down why do you have to have a mastectomy? I also now know of many people that have cancer that have led virtuously healthy lifestyles - if it did not protect them before, why would it start after dx? Science is my best ally in this fight, but I am doing things to support my immune system too.

I am doing my last round of chemo on Friday, with all tumors shrinking and so far as we know, stage 2. I am on Perjeta, just recently approved for early stage BC, and Herceptin, which I am very grateful to have. It is very difficult to allow the more toxic systemic drugs to be infused into one's own veins, but I have no doubt that it is giving me the best chances of living longer. So I will not lie and say I love chemo, it is worth the SE if it ups my chances.

It is so encouraging to hear about coming out the other side, with no lasting SE. I think the common good thing too is that all posters had a medical team that worked with them, not as if in a fast food drive thru. I am lucky there too, and we cannot forget how powerful a medical provider's words and actions are.

So...I would be thrilled if a juicing diet would have cured me, but I feel in my bones anything less than conventional tx would have been a terrible mistake. this site very much helped me to decide that and I am so glad to have found it.

I come from a different place than many of you. Almost twenty years ago, the DH was diagnosed with a very, very rare metabolic muscular dystrophy. Fewer than 500 people in the world were diagnosed before him. When he was diagnosed, there was neither conventional nor alternative treatment. Twenty years hence, we have tried anything and everything suggested by our team of clinicians and researchers and luckily, and I do mean luckily, he is still alive. What I have learned from his journey is how magnificent the body is and how little we truly know how it works. That point was driven home when I was diagnosed with my rare breast cancer and having the pleasure of meeting an equally brilliant team of young cancer researchers who are devoting their lives to studying rare breast cancers. That said, I find it very naïve for people to think that they can manipulate their body's cells by choosing "alternatives.". From the DH's experience, working with world class genetic clinicians and endocrinologists and dieticians, we have made some accomplishments using " alternatives" because for orphan illnesses, there are NO conventional treatments. But make no mistake, it is very difficult to make cells do what it is you want them to do! So for me, when there is some conventional treatment.....I welcome it and thank the heavens that it exists!

I never liked or trusted conventional medicine before my diagnosis, and always imagined I would try some natural, alternative approach if I ever came down with anything serious.

But then I found my lump, and got my diagnosis, and I realized that I am not smart or informed enough to develop my own treatment plan. I need a team of people who do this for a living and who have studied for years to get there, and who base their care on science, rather than religion, anecdotal evidence, or new age philosophy.

I use complementary therapies, too: acupuncture helps me so much with pain, sleep problems, mood and energy. I've changed my diet, got black-out curtains for my room, added some vitamins and minerals, cut back on coffee and alcohol, added more exercise, and I've been reading about psychic healing. I will most likely keep looking for things to help my conventional treatment. And I will question the conventional tx offered to me, and make my own decisions about them (when the doc referred me to a surgeon to remove my ovaries, I read up on the statistics, which gave no advantage to surgery over chemical castration - and I said no to the surgery. For now.)

I have more confidence in my oncologist than I did in my GP. I think it has to do with the level of professionalism in the cancer center where I am treated.

"Best wishes to y'all (wink)."

Nice touch.

I chose the conventional route but I too am puzzled by this thread. To me it seems like someone going on Fox news to blare a headline that Obama is evil. When I was a newbie and logged into BCO I recognized it as a conventional site with the majority of posts being about conventional medicine. I can't imagine a newbie not picking up on that.

I agree exbrnxgrl. My point was that BCO is a conventional medicine website (which is apparent on first logging in as a newbie) so I was puzzled by the need for the thread. BUT I absolutely anyone can say anything they choose. ^5 for freedom of speech. :-)

lily,

I have never been on chemo, so this is only what I learned in chemo class. While good sound nutritional practices were encouraged, due to taste changes and stomach upsets people often eat whatever they can tolerate. That'sbetter than eating nothing.

I think a lot depends on which country you are in, USA medical treatment is about the most expensive so I guess you get more resources, in Europe its very hit and mis

I chose mostly conventional treatment even though I have always firmly believed in natural healing for just about everything except cancer. But after talking to some alternative cancer tx proponents, I came to the conclusion that the docs @ UCLA had a far better understanding of what breast cancer was all about, especially its unique individualities. The anti-conventional proponents, OTOH, kind of lumped my bc in with all cancers in general, believing it's all a dis-ease of the body that would resolve with their recommended tx -- far too simplistic for me. Plus, since I'd always done things naturally, I decided more of the same was not what I needed -- that my body probably needed some "shaking up" with something totally unlike anything it was use to. It helped that UCLA has a huge integrative department, so I knew my holistic questions and bend wouldn't be poo-poo'd by them. And I still believe in treating most other illnesses and conditions holistically; just not cancer.

When it came to an A/I, I had a bad experience with Femara and aborted my half dose of it after a couple of weeks in favor of I3C. I try not to second guess that decision, but the fact that I was re-dx'd with bone mets this year has certainly made me think twice about the way it was presented to me, as well as recommending my choice to others. I do wonder now if I should have tried a different A/I, although I don't dwell on it. OTOH, I feel as if my holistic lifestyle, including going to a 95% vegan diet 5 months ago, has greatly benefited me now, as my tumor markers have dropped beyond what I think my oncs ever expected. So I clearly think there is room for both conventional and complimentary medicine in treating metastatic bc -- or at least a generous dose of sensible integrative medicine. But as limited and rough as surgery, chemo and RT can be, I would never encourage anyone to skip them for early stage bc.

I also think you have to realize that not all docs are equal in knowledge and experience, and the danger is that they don't know what they don't know. So simply choosing conventional medicine may not be enough, especially if docs are not associated with a research hospital where they not only specialize in bc, but absolutely have to keep up on the latest research.

I try never to steal the hope from someone who strongly believes in alternatives by posting negatively on an alternative thread -- unless it's just such total bs that I can't contain myself! So I hope finding one thread like this with our collective insight is a great idea and will be very helpful to some. Thank you for starting it, Racy. Deanna

April485 - don't forget the exact same thing could have happened to her even if she had gone down the conventional path...

I went the conventional route too. Not willing to play Russian roulette with BC. Steve Jobs is a perfect example why not to do alternatives. When he realized it wasn't working it was too late. His family begged him to go conventional. He thought his way was better. Cost him his life.

Diane

Absolutely! None of us were privy to what happened with Mr. Jobs.

steve Jobs didn't have breast cancer...........cancer is NOT one disease........we ourselves are the cancer cells, they grew from each individual person with differing routes even though the cancer cells themselves have distinct identities for ir each type of cancer diagnosed.

Standard cancer treatment is fir common standardised symptoms and prediction patterns, although this is normally at least FIVE years out of date by default (survival is measured in five year chunks), and this is why stage 1 or DCIS can progress to Stage 4 before a Stage 3 person, as real people are not it standard. Its the cancer that is treated not the person, and uts interesting that research is moving tiwards individualised treatment.