Treatment Question

Everyone who gets a dx has their own decision process. I'm a numbers person. When my RO told me that radiation would cut my probability of recurrence in half, it was a no-brainer. I pushed back on chemo too--I'm triple positive and asked about doing Herceptin without Taxol. I did a lot of research, as did my MO. It was a tough day when I made the decision to go ahead with it. Tools like this one can be helpful:

https://breast.predict.nhs.uk/tool

In my case (as my BS had suggested), hormone therapy is more important than rads or chemo. It's helped me stay motivated to keep taking it.

(Just adding that if you're ER+/PR+/HER2-, there's a good chance chemo won't be recommended. You'll likely get an Oncotype test to determine whether or not chemo would be beneficial.)

I had 6 rounds of TCHP. The T and C were the chemotherapies, taxotere and carboplatin, and it was really nothing to be afraid of. I had very little nausea and if I had any, it was mild and only a few days of the first week. The thing that bothered me the most were the taste changes. I also got pretty runned down due to the anemia but considering it was literally killing the cancer and I have been sicker from run of the mill things, I think the chemotherapy was a pretty good deal. I had chemotherapy before surgery and had a complete pathologic response, meaning they found no remaining invasive cancer at the time of surgery.

I do know of people who have gone to one of those alternative clinics in Mexico and elsewhere and the treatment was ineffective. One of the women has died. She started out with Stage IIA IDC and died within 2 years. Stage IIA IDC has something like a 95% or greater 5 year survival rate when treated conventionally. In her case she had declined even surgery but that the cancer progressed as it did demonstrated no positive impact of the alternative treatments.

Chiming in to agree with Ingerp. My first reaction was NO - no rads, no chemo, no nothing! But the scientific research was compelling, radiation was fairly easy once the shock wore off, and an Oncotype test showed no chemo was necessary. So my advice is to get copies of all of your test results, ask your doctors as many questions as you like, and take it one day at a time.

Wilfight - you are thinking way too far down the line. You don't know stage, grade, whether your ER/PR+ whether you're HER2 positive. Whether it's DCIS or IDC or ILC. Talk to your doc a get a copy of the diagnosis first. There are so many other tests that might be done based on all those numbers. All of this is in your records NOW before the surgery - or should be.

Remember - surgeons cut. That's what they're trained to do & that what they do. If you do a lumpectomy, you'll likely have rads. I recommend you talk to a medical oncologist. Get your reports in order and request a second opinion. An MO can better answer questions about various treatments depending on your data.

It is my opinion along with others that the docs in the US have the latest & best treatments available.

Where are you in Canada? Healthcare is provincial, and each province has their own guidelines. That said, the basic process is the same everywhere and whether in Canada or the U.S.. From my years on this site, I'd that by far, more of the differences we see in diagnostic and treatment protocols tend to be related to the quirks of the individual doctor or the screening facility or hospital.

Do you have a copy of your screening and diagnostic imaging (any mammograms or ultrasounds or MRIs you've had) and a copy of the pathology report from your biopsy? The imaging reports should provide an estimate of the size of the area of cancer, and the pathology report should state the type of breast cancer (DCIS, IDC, ILC...) and possibly will have hormone status and/or grade. Wherever you live, you have a right to these reports, and you should get them and keep them for your records.

As for deciding on the treatment plan, as the others have said, knowing so little about your diagnosis, it's premature to be making these decisions. Until you understand the type of cancer, the pathology and aggressiveness (or lack of same) of the cancer, and the metastatic risk from the cancer, and until you know which treatments are recommended and how much they will reduce this risk, it's all speculation. If your pathology is favorable and your risk is low, it might be an easy decision to opt out of a recommended treatment. But if your pathology is unfavorable and your risk is high, you might decide that you want the most aggressive treatment. Or you might decide at that point to look for alternatives. Find out what you are facing before coming to any conclusions or making any decisions.

Willfight - I agree with those above. I truly do understand the mind spinning and getting ahead of yourself. I am the same way. I definitely think that as soon as you can have your lumpectomy and get more complete pathology results, you will feel better. At least at that point, you can evaluate the plan that is given to you, and you can then determine if you need more opinions or if you want to consider alternative therapies.

Do you know when your lumpectomy will be yet?

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