Chemo or no?!

Hi SunMey 

I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in April 2022 and 1 of 2 sentinel lymph nodes removed was found to have micro deposits of cancer cells. The lumpectomy was successful with clear margins.

When I saw my oncologist he said that, like you, I was borderline for chemotherapy. He told me that some oncologists would count the micro deposit as 'clear' so not offer chemotherapy, but he was happy to approve chemotherapy if I wanted to have it.

I decided to go ahead as I didn't want to wonder if I was to ever get a recurrence, would I have not got the recurrence if I'd had chemotherapy.

All the best with whatever you decide to do

Thank you for your reply.

This is exactly where I am right now.  Not seen the oncologist yet but feel I want to be as aggressive as I can with treatment now.  That way, if I do get recurrence in the future, I’ll at least know I did all I could to prevent it while fit and well in my 40s.  

Seems quite daunting for it to be a choice… I’m hopeful my oncologist will guide me through when we meet next week.  Tho feel they’ll need to be pretty convincing to satisfy me that i don’t need it! 
I expect everyone’s situation is different but would be interested to know how long your chemotherapy was for? if you feel happy to share. 

many thanks,

Hi SunMey 

I had two different types of chemotherapy. The first was epirubicin and cyclophospamide, or EC for short, which I had every three weeks for 3 cycles. Fortunately, I got off fairly lightly with main side effects being hair loss and a sore vein. For the first 10 days I felt just a bit under the weather and slightly tired but for the rest of the 3 weeks I felt completely fine. So that was over 9 weeks.

Then I had 12 cycles of paclitaxel, which was given weekly. This was kinder than the previous chemo and I just felt a bit tired for the first evening.

So in total my chemo lasted 21 weeks.

If you have any other questions I'm happy to answer them.

Anne