Chemo

Hi juniepops.

It is so hard to make that decision. I take my hat off to you.i refused chemo in March.  This is my 2nd breast cancer the 1st one 17years ago..I had everything they threw at me then...but I thought nt this time...they got it all out with surgery and the lymph nodes were clear...the only thing I will say...be kind to yourself. Let people help you...your not alone.

Take care

Geordiepaws x

Thankyou,  my tumour was removed in March lymph nodes were clear just like you, then started my chemotherapy, just a nightmare,  10% chance of it not coming back,the statistics is so low I am questioning is it really worth it, I'm 60 yrs old ?

Hi.juniepops.

Me too.i was 60 in July. I think if they caught it early and got all the tumour out and lymph nodes clear...why put yourself into so much turmoil when no body knows when or if its gonna come back..I say live for now.they keep an eye on us for the next few years so live life to the full..

geordiepaws x

Off I go to see the oncologist, I bet I get talked round to having more chemo I know it. Once she starts talking and going into everything in medical terms then I'm just totally confused and just go with it.  Or maybe I'll get offered a lower dose ? 

What percentage does chemo add? I added second generation chemo and then looked at the difference alive with BC (at my age 93 in 10 years) to the number alive without chemo (9 difference so 1/11 chance BC would kill me statistically), second generation chemo (7 difference, so 1/14 chance BC would kill me statistically) and third generation (6 difference, so 1/17 chance BC would kill me statistically). Obviously there are other factors, like they say that numbers aren't great enough to statistically represent as accurately young, BAEM women or women over 70. They also don't include whether LVI is present or not as being present is another risk factor (mine was negative for LVI so those figures are statistically low for me....maybe!) The data is from women treated over 10 years ago and prognosis and treatment are better too.

I did find seeing it as imaginary groups of women standing and me in each of the groups made me feel that 1/14 was better than 1/11, but I still don't know if I'll have the paclitaxel or not yet. Good luck with your decision. You're triple negative aren't you, so the first 5 years are the biggie for you? I'm in for the long haul on the recurrence wagon, and my sister had a stage 4 recurrence after 15 years:(  Let's hope that science nails a real cure in the next few years....

Hi,been to my oncologist today have agreed to go back on the chemo but she's cutting it down to 70%, I start again Monday   They say now that it's 1 in 2 now that get cancer, but yrs ago it was 1 in 3 ? These billions of pounds everyone raises for cancer, where the hell does it all go .

Lifestyle and diet are factors in the change of figures.

Years ago people ate better, with fewer ready meals, McDonalds and the like. Went outside more so were less likely to be deficient in vitamin D (which reduces cancer risk), Women drank less alcohol, people didn't sit in front of computers for hours at a time, but moved more, and generally people were a healthier weight. Most UK women are in the overweight bracket now - average BMI is up from 25.7 BMI  20 years ago to 27.8 BMI now (over 25 BMI is overweight). We're exposed to non-ionising radiation from mobile phones, phone  mast and Wi-Fi, cosmic radiation exposure from flying, and ironically if you have cancer, from essential diagnostic tests like CT and nuclear scans.