Worried about making decision......

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MamaM
MamaM Member Posts: 80
edited January 2015 in Stage II Breast Cancer

I have had one oncologist appt & the dr recommends only taking Tamoxifien to start for 2-3 years & then moving onto shots to stop my ovaries & AL. I am 41 years old & my oncotype was a 6. The dr said that my reoccurance rate is 5%. I am SO afraid to not be doing more & really need to hear from anyone else that did Tamoxifien only in the beginning as treatment???? Most women on here seem to all be doing chemo???? I am afraid to just take Tamoxifien?

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited January 2015

    The potential risks of chemo would far outweigh the benefits with a recurrence rate so low

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  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited January 2015

    If you look on threads that deal with low Oncotype scores and look at the signature lines you will see a number of people with low scores that did not do chemo, but moved directly on to hormonal therapy after surgery.  It is also important to understand why you had a low Oncotype - this is a genetic assay test that is looking at the specifics of your tumor - and the low score is telling you that chemo would be likely to be ineffective.  It is possible for you to have chemo and not reduce your already low risk at all, and cause potential immediate and long term harm with no discernible benefit.

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  • Hortense
    Hortense Member Posts: 982
    edited January 2015

    Both the above posters are right. If you do not need chemo, don't do it. Not only is it unpleasant, but it can leave you with permanent side effects. I have what's known as "Chemo Brain" and it's no fun. Not everyone gets it, but I did. I am retired, but if I had had a high pressure job to return to, I would not have been able to do it. I find typing difficult and need to go back and correct constantly. If I am excited about something what I type can end up looking like an Eastern European language instead of English. I forget things a lot, and have real problems doing math. Good thing I wasn't a banker.

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  • txmomof2
    txmomof2 Member Posts: 131
    edited January 2015

    Hi,

    It's been awhile since I've been on here but thought I'd pop in.  I was diagnosed in 2012, had a bilateral mastectomy, oncotype was 5 (the rest of my stats should be in my signature).  I got 3 opinions regarding chemo because of my age (was 35).  They all agreed that chemo really only targets the fast growing cells and that mine was not in that category (ki-67 was 1%).  So, I am on tamoxifen only.  Eventually they'll start giving me Zoladex shots to suppress my ovaries, but so far haven't done it.  I still see my oncologist every 6 months and probably will for a long time. 

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  • Professor50
    Professor50 Member Posts: 220
    edited January 2015

    Here's the thing to keep in mind. The Oncotype score is all about the likelihood of a "distant recurrence" in 10 years. That means distant as in bone, liver, brain. These would not be "curable" cancers in the same sense as cancer occurring in the breast tissue is curable. Your low oncotype score (same as mine) means that you have a very low chance of such recurrence to start with (I think it is between 3 and 7%) while taking tamoxifen. That the recurrence risk is low is very good news. Doing Chemo is not going to budge it any lower.

    Your doctor might have shared a graph that shows the likelihood of a recurrence with tam only vs. with chemo+tam. You will see that at the low end, the two lines overlap. Because chemo is not going to buy you anything. On the other hand, you might also think about what tamoxifen IS doing. It is not "Just" tamoxifen. You are taking a medication that is, happily enough, just the thing for estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. That is awesome!


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