Lymph node involvement and Oncotype dx, Chemo

Hope,

So sorry you find yourself here but the boards are great for support and to learn what others have done. There is, however, no better advice then that of your doctors. If it is possible to get a 2nd opinion in Germany, I would highly recommend getting one. I had a small tumor, normal axillary sonogram and MRI and no anticipated nodes too. But I ended up with 2 positive nodes. In both the cancer had spread outside the capsule of the node. They didn't do a proliferation score on my tumor but my oncotype was a low 12.

I had dose dense AC and Taxol which is similar to what your MO is recommended. I followed that with radiation and an oophorectomy so that I could take an AI rather then Tamoxifen since it has been shown superior in ILC in a small clinical trial.

http://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.1200/jco.2015.60.8133

There have been studies that show that ILC is not as responsive to chemotherapy as IDC. But there are many women who have been treated with chemo prior to surgery and had a positive response. If you research and read enough, you will find studies that support almost every choice. What's most important is that you a comfortable with your treatment plan and that you are able to move forward without looking back. We each make the best decisions we can with the information available at the time and the decision time is the hardest time!

I wish you peace with your decisions.

Hope - I tolerated chemo pretty well. The first round was the hardest for me and that was because I had pretty bad bone pain after the Neulasta injection. After that I took Claritin before I got it and the pain was never as bad. I'm not sure if it was the Claritin or my body responding differently but I never got Neulasta without the Claritin again!

I do have some permanent neuropathy in my big toes. It's something that I've gotten used to but after I developed it while getting Taxol, I read that if you take Vitamin B6 100mg twice daily during chemo it can decrease the risk of neuropathy. I think that recently there have been some herbal remedies recommended. Speak to your oncologist to see if he recommends any complementary medications to try to limit risk of neuropathy.

With regard to help during chemo, my son was 14 when I was diagnosed. I mostly needed help getting him where he needed to be on chemo and Neulasta days. I always appreciated it when a friend dropped off dinner on those days too. Otherwise, I was really able to do most things most of the time. I think that exercising regularly really helped my energy level while I was getting chemo. My son was starting high school and my daughter left for college 8 days after I started chemo. Those were two big transitions for him so, I tried really hard to keep everything else as normal as possible.

I was at my healthiest for the first 4 years after I completed treatment. I kept off the weight I had lost and exercised regularly, which is something that I started to do during chemo! Sadly, I've fallen off the wagon and working more and exercising less. I really need to get back to it!

Hi,

I have an hypoechoic node in my neck after going through chemo and radiation. Anyone else going through the same diagnosis? It maybe or another type of cancer but my thyroid looks fine.