18 months of chemo. Normal?

My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, IDC, in mid-March. Initially we were told it was stage 2, one tumor about 2cm (target surgery=lumpectomy). Each time we spoke with the doctor over the next month the diagnosis was worse, even though the cell proliferation index was 15. The 2nd week we were told it was 1 tumor, 3-5cm, stage 2c. Then 2 large tumors and a lymph node. Then stage 3c, 2 large tumors, they ended up doing a full mastectomy, and taking 33 lymph nodes. Now my wife is scheduled for chemo, 3 phases (1 every 3 weeks for 12, 1 every week for 12, and 1 every 3 weeks for for roughly a year), total of about 18 months. Is it normal to have THIS MUCH chemo? I've spoken with a few other IDC survivors, and they all had chemo of 3-6 months. Should we get a second opinion? Based on the types of chemo, the 1st and 3rd phases are the most dangerous. My concern is my wife will end up dying from chemo. She's in the hospital right now, after her first dose, with dangerously low white blood cell counts.Her blood pressure is also up dramatically, and she had a toxic reaction the day after the first chemo.

NOTE: I'm doing the worrying for my wife. She knows chemo is dangerous, but doesn't know that a significant percentage of "cancer deaths" are from chemotherapy/side effects being lumped in with cancer itself since American docs don't necessarily report chemo deaths to a central location for tracking/reporting.

UPDATE: i hit the reply button, but after I typed a response I couldn't find the button to post it so I inserted it here.

Thanks very much to everyone who replied. . The information on chemo deaths came from a Royal Academy of Medicine study done by a doctor in England. One of the things he pointed out was that chemo deaths are not tracked nationwide in America, so chemo death statistics are not accurate. I'll see if I can find the original doc. I found it last month and may have bookmarked it. I'm not as concerned about that, but if it's a problem that I don't have a source, I'll delete the post.

For HER2, my wife was equivocal on 2 tests and positive on the other so they said theyd treat equivocal as positive since it wasn't negative. For lymph nodes, quite a few (23 or 24) were positive. .I do remember there were two tumors, but don't remember the final sizes. The last stage we were told was 3c. The other data is in her "battle book", the book that contains all the paper copies of tests, symptoms, warnings, etc. I'm going to see her again tomorrow in the hospital before I start work, I'll record the answers then.

Targeted treatment is the chemo, as already discussed, followed by radiation, followed by 15 years of hormone therapy. The first regimen was called ACTH, I do remember that. The 2nd one was Pacl-something and Trastu-something, don't remember the exact names. I can get that tomorrow. The third,long cycle, was also the Trastu-something. Again, sorry I dont have that data in front of me.

BTW, did speak with the wife briefly. She said her white cell count is very low, and now when they come in to see her they're wearing hazmat suits for her protection. Oh, also the toxic reaction she was experiencing is gone, and her bp is actually dropping down to almost normal again, so that's an improvement.

UPDATE2: Wife is now in an isolation room, with severe ?neutropenia? Looks like she'll be there for at least another day, maybe 2. I'm not allowed to visit her since I have an infection and an abcess. .

Thanks again for the replies.