Micro Metastic tumor

Hi Canderson,

Welcome!

Beachbum has given you some great advice so far, you may also find the links below enlightening regarding whether or not chemotherapy is the right choice for you.

This one explains the oncotype testing and how it can be useful in determining your risk of recurrance as well as how likely you are to benifit from chemotherapy http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/types/oncotype_dx

This is a brief outline of common treatment options for IDC patients. http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/types/idc/treatment

Sending you hugs and warm wishes

The mods.

The recommendation for chemotherapy comes from 1) your relatively young age; and 2) the positive lymph node. As my surgeon explained to me, if the average woman in North American now lives to the age of 84 years, at 43, you have 41 years to get through disease-free. Chemotherapy (radiation + hormone treatment) will increase the odds of being able to do that in your favour. Unfortunately, once you have invasive breast cancer with positive nodes, you will always be at risk to develop it again. So, it is possible that you can go through all three treatments and, somewhere down the line, it may still come back. But, then again, it may not.

Many, many women struggle with the necessity of undergoing chemotherapy and, for some, the benefits may not outweigh the risks. Our first instinct is to avoid it if we can. But the truth is, that - under certain circumstances - it can make a difference for long-term survival. The hard part is deciding whether- or not you think that difference is worth the short-term side effects.

I - like you - had a lumpectomy for a Stage 2, hormone-positive breast cancer with one positive lymph node. I had a left-sided lumpectomy, followed by dose-dense AC+T (every two weeks) for four months, 6 weeks of radiation, and am, now, into my third year of tamoxifen. During chemotherapy, I followed the MO's instructions about the anti-nauseants meticulously and did not suffer any nausea or vomiting, although I did - towards the end - get very, very tired. Radiation passed uneventfully and I have had very few side effects taking tamoxifen. Because I was 50 years old at the time of treatment, chemotherapy threw me headlong into menopause and I had an uncomfortable two weeks, then, poof! Gone! I've not had any further issues.

Absolutely, get another opinion if you are not sure about what you are being told, but - if you are basing your decision as to whether- or not to have chemo on the certainty of never getting breast cancer again - I would suggest, instead, that you look at it more along the lines of what will increase your odds of long-term, disease-free survival instead.

Good luck.

Canderson -

So sorry you have to go through this - but glad you found BCO.

I'll address this portion of your question. Yes - you will almost assuredly be doing triathlons again! Although each person's response to his/her individual chemotherapy is specific to him/her - there are lots of us who do just fine all through chemo.

I had the same dense dose AC 4xs over 8 weeks and then 12 weekly Taxols. I ran once I was cleared by my BS & reconstruction surgeon following a unilateral mastectomy (with DIEP reconstruction) at the 6 week mark.

I ran throughout my chemo months ....ran throughout my radiation treatments ...& even did a Firefly Run in Chicago the day after my rads ended.

There are threads on BCO for runners ... I happened to be involved with a thread for Chemo February 2012 & we had another runner (a male pediatrician & grandpa) in our group. He and I encouraged each other along.

He actually flew to Boston to do the marathon in 2012 - it was the one where the heat sidetracked everyone. The better course of valor was for him to wait until 2013. And so he did. He was about a mile - mile & a half from the finish line (if memory serves correctly) when the bomb went off. He wrote up his story & it is on the running thread that year.

Forgive my getting sidetracked.

I just want to encourage you - if you do end up having the chemo - it doesn't take everything ;-)

Feel free to private message me if you have any questions. Or ask right here.

Diana

I'll try to post a link to the 2015 running thread. If it doesn't work for you - put "2015 Running Thread" in the search bar. You will find links to the thread which is in the "Fitness & Getting Back into Shape " category.

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/58/topic/827338?page=5#post_4327388

My IDC was smaller than yours, 9mm, but like you I also had one lymph node with a 1.5mm micromet. My MO ordered the Oncotype type test which came back low, so she did not recommend chemo for me. She explained that before the Oncotype test was developed, I would have automatically been given chemo based on my relatively young age (41 at diagnosis). There are no guarantees against recurrence, but I will have done the standard of care for my situation, and I'm comfortable with that.

Muska - Oncotype is for node negative and for those with 1-3 positive nodes.