Chemo yes or no

That is a tough decision! I had chemo and glad I did, even though it is quite tough. I had ER+/PR+ BC with no lymph node or LVI but my lump was on my chest wall so they wanted to shrink it first.

I would have taken everything they offered me to give myself the best long-term chance of non-recurrence and survival but there are other considerations.

I could work from home the entire time, and still do. I don't live in a city and so I can go outside for a walk or run without meeting anyone and if I do, it is from a very safe distance. Covid cases are shooting up and you will have to be extremely careful as your immune system will be severely compromised.

I was able to isolate and had a husband that did click and collect at the shops. We didn't see anyone throughout chemo and don't have kids. My local GP is very quiet so I never saw anyone else when going for bloods. My oncology department was near the entrance to the hospital so I didn't need to go far before feeling safe again in oncology.

You probably need to think about your personal circumstances and level of every day risk you have if chemo is your choice. Even with 2 vaccinations, you are going to be very compromised for the duration and beyond. I was put on the 'extremely vulnerable' list and I am still on it (I finished chemo in January) as they don't know how long it takes for your whole immune response to get back to normal after chemo. It is likely a year, from what I have read.

My lifestyle means everything I want to do is at home, I don't go to pubs or restaurants, I have hobbies that I enjoy at my home and in the surrounding countryside so i don't feel like my life has been overly curtailed.

Chemo wasn't a choice for me, they recommended it so I could get a better cosmetic outcome and clear margins but if it were a choice, then I think you have to consider how it fits into your life.

Hi. Thanks for the reply. I too live in the sticks and I don’t work and all my hobbies are at home so I too could isolate at home. The worry for me is the damage it does to your body with a 10% chance of side effects but for a 1% gain. I really can’t make the decision. I have decided to have a second opinion to try and help me.  

I'm in my mid-40s and was fit and heathy going into chemo, ate healthily throughout and got back to running as soon as I could following chemo. I feel like I was able to handle it well because of that. It was still tough! I had EC then docetaxel and the docetaxel knocked me over! But they reduced my dose after that which was much better - and I still got really good shrinkage on the lump.

I worked throughout all treatment which probably didn't help my energy levels.

I feel pretty good now, 6 months on. I still get a bit tired if I overdo it, but I am pretty much back to my old life.

Good luck with your decision

My partner has decided against chemo. She was ER+ PR+ and one lympnode but with no extracapsular spread. Her CT was scan clear. She is juicing loads of veg and berries, with ginger, lemon, carrots and beetroot and she's cut out carbs and sugar.  She gets lots of sunshine as she can and excercise and she always has a positive outlook.  She doesn't eat processed food and is doing the COC off-label drugs of Metoformin, Atorvastatin, Doxycycline and Menbendazole and supplements, like Vitamin D, E and B-Complex etc.  

Her oncologist wasn't very pleased when she said she would not be having chemo and radiation. He said she ''was denying herself'', which both she and I found outragesous.  

She agreed to have hormone treatment only and was prescribed a Aromatase Inhibitor and then the oncologist had to prescribe another drug call a Bisphosphonate, as a peventative because Aromatase inhibitors induce boneless particually in postmenopausal women.  She said she felt like she was on a conveyor belt and there didn't seem any real tailored treatments.  She told her onoclogist that she personally felt chemo was barbaric and a sledge hammer to crack a nut and it should be more tailored, which she didn't feel it was. The oncologist kept looking at me as if to say 'you tell her'.  I was diagnosed with bladder cancer  myself i January  2017 and my partner accepted it was my choice to decide what treatment I wanted.  It was suggested to me that bladder removal was best but I didn't want this. I agreed to have immuniology treatment and I am still cancer free. 

So I do understand your concerns.  At the end of the day only the patient can decide their treatment. It's interesting your oncologist saying she wouldn't have chemo if it were her.  Best of luck whatever you decide.

Extracapsular spread is when it starts to break out of a lymph node.  LVI is where it connects to blood vessels from the primary tumour and spreads through the blood,  not lymphatic system.  Women can have stage 4 with clear nodes and no extracapsular spread,  as one women having treatment with me had. 

Hi. Thank you for your reply. Yes I was told what LVI was re blood etc which was my concern but they keep saying because the type of cancer it is the hormone treatment should keep it at bay. I do not want to torcher my body unnecessarily but I’m going private to see another oncologists view of it all. If chemo is needed then I will. Xx 

It’s great to hear of people’s own treatments and change of lifestyle it’s got to be worth a go. Good luck to both of you and thanks for replying x

Hi. Thanks for the reply. What type of cancer did you have? 

Hi, I had ER+/PR+/HER- ductal. My tumour went from around 40mm to around 15mm with chemo - a good thing about neo-adjuvant chemo is that getting the MRI scans and seeing it shrinking is a real boost!

Hi. I'm interested to know why you were told you would not  benefit from chemo? It is a very personal choice but it really isnt as bad as what some people think. It's very doable. Its interesting to read other peoples lifestyle about self isolating and being highly vulnerable. I have never been told once about self isolating and even before I started chemo (March this year) was told by my BCN if I wanted to go away for a weekend or something and couldnt make it just to ring and rearrange! Try and live life normal as much as possible I was told! To be fair I dont come into contact with a lot of people but you cannot go through life being locked away either. Let us know what you decide. Take care and good luck. X