How nice..chemo probably didn't help my type of bc

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WendyK
WendyK Member Posts: 151
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer
How nice..chemo probably didn't help my type of bc
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  • WendyK
    WendyK Member Posts: 151
    edited October 2007

    Any reaction to the new study that found that chemotherapy was not particularly helpful to young woman with ER + BC.  I had to suffer six cycles of FAC for nothing?  I was diagnosed at 37.  I spent four weeks in the hospital because I puked so badly on chemo.  This is really depressing!

    Wendy

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  • Mizsissy
    Mizsissy Member Posts: 371
    edited October 2007

    It is very sad that we went through what we did, but it is great that they are making strides in research and women won't have to go through what we did in the future. 

    Somehow I think a lot of us have the "NO PAIN NO GAIN" idea when it comes to treatment...I'm glad it doesn't have to be...

    Mizzy 

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited October 2007

    There was another recent thread about this and the consensus was that at least some women do benefit who are er+. They know they are benefitting because they have neoadjuvant chemo and can track the tumor as it shrinks. I am skeptical about these studies and glad I had the full load of chemo, even though I am highly er/pr+ and had some long term side effects. I wanted to do everything.

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  • Pharmmom
    Pharmmom Member Posts: 300
    edited October 2007

    I heard that if you were Her2 positive and er positive that it did benefit you.  I don't know its all so confusing.  We did what we were told was the right thing with the best information they had available at the time.  I did the AC plus Taxotere.  I hated chemo, hated the side affects.  But I thought about it and felt I did the most thorough thing and I'm still glad i did.  I would have been second guessing it had I not.  I was 38 years old and have 3 kids.  I would have done anything. 

    Barb

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  • BethNY
    BethNY Member Posts: 2,710
    edited March 2008

    I thought the studies pointed to women in their 40's with ER+ tumors.  I know being her2+ was a big part of the reason I got chemo, but being 26, was why it was dose dense, and the maximum they could give me.

    Did the study list ages?  Who published it?  How many people did they study, and for how long?  And did they factor in her2?

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  • Fitztwins
    Fitztwins Member Posts: 7,969
    edited October 2007

    I know once I freaked about chemo. Look, the way I see it, I threw everything that I could in my power at this beast to beat it. No what ifs. Maybe, just maybe it helped.

    There are no do-overs in life. Just focus on going forward.

    Janis

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  • WendyK
    WendyK Member Posts: 151
    edited October 2007

    Beth..I read the study as you log into breastcancer.org.  It's on the homepage.  I know there are no do-overs and I did what I thought best at the time.  It's just sort of criminal if in fact it didn't get me an extra little edge.  Chemo was truly the hardest thing I've been through so far.

    Wendy

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  • NoH8
    NoH8 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited October 2007

    Wen, still it's probably better than the alternative of missing something that could have helped you at the time. I agree with Mizzy about making strides and research. I'm thankful to the women who came before me who participated in clinical trials so that I got the best chemo I could based on what they knew at the time, just as some in the will be thankful for those who participated in the trials for this new knowledge.

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  • wallan
    wallan Member Posts: 1,275
    edited October 2007

    I brought this up with my oncologist at my follow-up yesterday.

    I had AC-T too and am a little dismayed that it may have been pointless.

    My onc said those studies are very contentious in the medical world and that they simply really do not know if AC-T is beneficial or not.

    She said now they give dense dose AC-T because this seems to work better.

    So, I don't know what to think now. I think if it didn't help my breast cancer,  maybe by some weird fluke I had another type of cancer starting to sprout in me somewhere and AC-T took care of that.

    Wendy A

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited October 2007

    Ya know, ladies, we have to hang on the the word H-O-P-E.  I sure hope it helped! Wink

    Shirley

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  • JoanofArdmore
    JoanofArdmore Member Posts: 1,012
    edited October 2007

    Me too.And I actually can't believe it didnt.

    My onc is a believer in hitting this devil the absolute hardest the first time.Best chance at it.Why not throw everything we have at it?

    I'm ignoring this studyy.It is new.There will be rebuttal studies.

    Plus-if my onc had simply treated me w/AI after surgery--I'd have been miserable daily for over 4 years!At least with A/C+T I had over 14 good days each cycle!

    Sign me Grateful for Hard Chemo!

    Beth--BECAUSE you were 26, Honey! You were too appallingly young not to have EVERYTHING in your onc's arsenol thrown at it.Now you KNOW everything!, everything that could possibly be done , was.

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  • sam52
    sam52 Member Posts: 950
    edited October 2007

    ......and did they factor in tumor grade? Chemo apparently works better on high grade tumors, whether ER+ or not.

    Lots of  ER+ people did neo-adj chemo and saw results - tumor shrinkage, and even total response.

    I think this one study may well be flawed.

    Sam

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  • Sive
    Sive Member Posts: 1
    edited October 2007

    I had neoadjuvant chemo last year, 4 FEC and 4 Taxotere. My tumour was Er+ , Pr+ and Her - . It shrank from 6cm to nothing, so I think chemo does work!

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  • Diana_B
    Diana_B Member Posts: 287
    edited October 2007

    I was highly ER+, and taxotere shrunk my tumours (multifocal) also.



    There was a thread on this about a month ago, and other people wrote in saying it had worked for them too.



    Just our small sampling here challenges the study. I'm pretty skeptical about it.

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