Hello, worried about upcoming Oncolgy appointment re possibilty of having preventative/adjuvant chemotherapy for small piece of grade 2 invasive ductal cancer within DCIS and 1 posotive lymph node.
I'm 49 and married married with 2 chiidren. Iwas diagnosed with DCIS in my left breast in September last year. I had a lumpectomy in October and pathology showed a 28mm intermediate and high grade DCIS which was removed with clear margins. Also within my tissue removed was a 1.3mm grade 2 ductal invasive cancer.
I then had a sentinel lymph node biopsy in early December, 1 of the 2 nodes have "low volume disease". My invasive cancer is hormone receptor positive and HER2 negative. I was due to start radiotherapy and hormone treatment but after an inconclusive contrast mammogram Oncology would like to discuss with me the pros and cons of having preventative/adjuvant chemotherapy.
This new blip has completely thrown me! I was all set and had my head around radiotherapy being the next step. I am so anxious about meeting the Oncologist on Wednesday. Have you had any experience of this?
The fact that I would need chemo was the part of my diagnosis I found hardest. In my case it was because i was grade 3 HER2+
I imagine the fact that they discovered that you actually had IDC rather than just DCIS and the fact there are traces in a lymph node will cause them to reassess what the proposed treatment is
If you do have chemo, you have it before you have the radiotherapy, which is why I’m guessing there’s a pause.
Try and put your faith in the team. They will only suggest chemo if they believe it’s in your best long term interests.
However horrible the idea of chemo is at the time - it’s amazing how quickly you get through it. For me, it was nowhere near as horrible as i had feared. I had Paclitaxel every week for 12 weeks. And now that’s almost a year ago!
Just think of your treatment as an investment in the life you will have once you’ve finished your treatment
