Hormonal breast cancer and the benefit of chemotherapy
I was diagnosed with breast cancer ,oestrogen positive -stage 1 in September.I had an operation in December and now the doctors are telling me that they found a smal amount of cancer cells into one of the sentinel nodes and question is to have a chemotherapy or to continue only with radiotherapy and Letrozole.One of the Oncologist told me that with my type of cancer the chemotherapy will bring only a small benefit on the top .I think that this probably mean that if i have this chemotherapy i will have more negatives than positives in long term.
i am not sure what to do - to cancel the chemotherapy and to proceed as it was the initial treatment plan?
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Get a second opinion.
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Welcome to our community, @marina._. We're so sorry you find yourself here, but we hope this place can be a source of support for you.
We know it can be a difficult decision, particularly when you've already discussed and decided on a treatment plan based on the information you had before the full pathology report was done. But we second @lillyishere about getting a second opinion - it can be incredible helpful to get another perspective when considering different treatment options.
If you'd like to read through some experiences from other members who have had/are currently undergoing chemo to get a better idea of what factors were important for others when deciding whether or not to do chemo and what you may expect should you move forward with the treatment, THIS forum is a good place to start.
The Mods
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I am in a similar situation. I hope it's okay if I tag along.
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I completely agree with getting a second opinion. It helps make these decisions easier when more have input on it.
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Get a second opinion. Absolutely.
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@marina._ Did your doctors do an Oncotype DX test? This test helps determine the benefit of chemotherapy for you based on characteristics of the cancer. You can read more about it here:
In addition, you can learn about Getting a Second Opinion here:
We hope this helps!
—The Mods
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Marina. I was in the same boat in 2009.
I didn't go for a second opinion but I did change medical systems and oncologists so I could get radiation closer to home.
I have a neighbor doctor that told me to do my research about chemo with no tips how. I researched and found that I would benefit little from chemo. I told the new onc I didn't want chemo and why. He said. "I think you're a very smart lady".
Long story short, it came back 8 years later. No regrets. That was 7 years ago and still with no more progression. My Onco-dx score was low and now they don't recommend chemo for low scores.
I learned you must pay attention to what your body is telling you. Non stop pain means something.
Best of luck
Gail
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