Will I need Chemo?

Treatment plans are very individual and depend on more than just the types, locations and sizes of cancer, which is why it happens that two people here show up with seemingly similar circumstances, and yet, are put on somewhat different paths. The only way to adjudicate is by looking at all the data put together, which is what they do in their MDT meeings. If you have any misgivings or concerns perhaps you might want to consider talking to a Macmillan nurse, who would be able to go into more detail in general, or to your own nurse, who may be able to give you more information about your own case.

So my biopsy taken before any treatment came back as HER2 borderline, then confirmed as negative. Surgery went ahead, with only radiotherapy planned afterwards. Clear margins and no lymph node involvement. The biospy of the tumour was furthered tested and came back HER2 positive. I also had an onco dx score of 24, which was below chemo threshold. Because of the now HER2 finding I was told I would need Herceptin, which is given with chemo. I was prescribed 6 chemo cycles, 3 EC and 3 docetaxel . I am halfway through. The Herceptin injections are 16 cycles, 3 weeks apart and won’t finish until this time next year. I hope this is useful.