Chemo or not to chemo

Hi Amanda79.  Have you had a sentinel node biopsy and were any lymph nodes affected?  I am asking as lobular breast cancer has a higher rate of reoccurrence than DCIS.  You have a hard choice to make.  I had lobular breast cancer aged 47 and one lymph node affected I had chemo, radiotherapy etc was not given a choice.  I wish you well in your choice.  I am here if you wish to chat.

Lee x  

Hi, thanks so much for your reply

sll nodes were clear at sentinel node they tested 5.

how did you find chemo? 

Hi Amanda79 I found the chemo tough.  I hated losing my hair, it was very long before cancer.  It has grown back now though.  Chemo is hard but it is doable.  Cancer is so very unpredictable you never know what it is going to do or if it will come back.  My Mom had breast cancer and said it is like living with a time bomb and I sort of know what she meant now.  I really do wish you well in your very difficult decision.

Lee x

Hi

I'm currently having chemotherapy for breast cancer, I have a different type of breast cancer to you and I decided that because it can reduce my personal risk of my cancer coming back by 70% - 80% i should do it, as statistically it's a no brainer.

However, I personally would not put myself through chemotherapy for a 5% gain, knowing how bad chemotherapy is.

Speak to your consultant to find out all your options, there could be other alternatives to explore for you.

Hope this helps

Hi Amanda

I've got similar to you, my percentage was 5.6% and there was no choice whether to chemo or not chemo. I'm staring mine next week, all the preparation in place now. 

It's a horrible horrible thing to go through, but you have to think of future. You are still young and that's why they would recommend you do it, because you will tolerate the chemo better than someone older, let's say. 

By offering chemo to you, they are trying to make sure all cancer is killed off and less likely to come back and then you have to go through it all again.

The scans can only detect cancer over 6mm big, anything smaller than that, scans will not pick up. They could be anywhere in your body. If they found any cancer in your lymph nodes then it would definitely be worth the the pain to go through it. Chemo will make sure all these micro cells are killed off . 

Did they tell you how long course if chemo you would be taking? Maybe it will be a short course and it'll be over in a jiffy. I originally thought I'll be getting radiotherapy and hormone therapy but the reoccurrence % then decided I need chemo too. Mine is 20 weeks, and not looking forward to it at all!!!! But im thinking of my kids and the future. 

Hope this helps to make your mind up and wish you good luck! ️

Thanks so much

Thank you is really does… they mentioned hormone therapy as another option

Hey, I hope all goes well with your chemo, they haven’t told me I need it but that they think I will benefit….. my nodes were all clear and it was stage 1 but ai think they are looking at how quick the cells were changing.