Oncotype help & questions- need opinions!

Your oncotype score seems to indicate chemo would be of little or no benefit, which is why they are not recommending it.

My oncotype was 11 and even with one positive node, chemo was not recommended to me either. If there is no or little benefit to be had (as low oncotype scores indicate) from chemo, if you did have chemo you'd be opening yourself up to lots of bad side effects (like the possibility of perm heart damage) with little or no possible benefit.

The Oncotype test is like a risk analysis. Chemo is not perfectly safe, chemo is poison to both good and cancerous cells. You can't have it and not put yourself at risk. For some people the possible benefits of having chemo clearly outweigh the risks (those with high oncotype scores). For others, with very low oncotype scores, the risks of chemo clearly outweigh the benefits. Some people's scores are in the middle and I don't know how they decide but with a onco score of 6, I wouldn't even think of chemo.

My SIL was diagnosed with BC within a week of my diagnosis. She has triple negative BC, a tumor of 5+ cm and chemo was absolutely needed, Her chemo has caused her to go blind and she has nueropathy (lack of feeling) in both her hands. That is the kind of stuff you don't want to take the chance of having happen to you unless you really, really need chemo. It has some major risk factors of its own.

I am post meno and had onco of 21. I chose to do chemo. My MO also suggested a mammaprint test, which I did not take. I am not sure if you would be eligible for that since you are not in an intermediate onco score range. The mammaprint is supposed to look at more genes than the onco test. It's a hard decision either way. Chemo was not too hard on me, but everyone is different. If you decided to do chemo and your SE's were hard on you, I would think your MO would be okay with stopping, with your low onco score. I reduced my last dose of Taxotere by 20% bc of a slight allergic reaction. You are in the drivers' seat. Do what is best for you and what you can live with, without regrets. Good luck:)

You have thrown the book at it. We are told that chemo is a necessary treatment for cancer; but for ER/PR cancer it is not.
Just because we don't experience cancer like the women on television, who are bald and experience horrible side effects, we are still being treated appropriately.

You don't want to overtreat == I have had colleagues in support groups who died from chemo side effects. You don't want to do that

About ovarian suppression -- it might lessen your chance of recurrence by perhaps 1%, and give you a 1-3% chance of dying early of a heart attack or osteoporosis.

For me, it was very hard. I was all revved up to throw everything possible at this evil cancer, and I had no chemo, short-cycle rads, and tamoxifen. I felt like a cheater
But that's ok, I got a terrible series of seroma infections, and got shingles the week I finished rads.
I paid a high enough price to get to live

Hi Mammadarrling

My onco score was 18

But even before ordering the test my MO recommended these 2 options and said that they had the SAME reoccurrence rates.

chemo + tamox      or    Zoladex  ( OS) + tamox

and my Oncologist told me that both gave the same results for my type of cancer . If you read about the ZEBRA trial it will confirm this .    http://www.dslrf.org/breastcancer/content.asp?CATID=0&L2=4&L3=5&L4=0&PID=&sid=130&cid=421

Not sure if the link will work but the title of the article  is Two New Studies May Change Treatment Options For Premenopausal Women by Susan Love .
you can maybe type ZEBRA into the search field.( its a great article by Susan Love )........you can also google ZEBRA trial .

Also see results of SOFT trial that were made available this past Dec 2014....ladies under 46 benefited from the addition of ovarian suppression .

 HUGZZZZZ