In my case, it does not apply as I never took oral contraception. No woman in my family has had BC either. I don’t smoke, don’t drink, nursed both my children for 6 months +, no shock/blow to my breasts. Go figure!!
Just spoke to the onacologist:
Not enough micro invasive cancer to test for HER2. They tested the non-invasive tissue and that was Negative for HER2…so she said a very high chance that the micro inavasive would have been Negative too-but not guaranteed .
Lymph nodes were clean.
ER-Neg & PR-Neg
High Grade camedo type DCIS w/ 2 less than 1 mm micro-invasions. I had a partial masectomy. 7-1- 11 1st surgery. To clean up a margin I had a 2nd surgery on 7-29-11.
Tumor size just under 6 cm.
She said my case is not clear cut.
Dr. said according to the Cancer Medical Bla Bla, (forget the name she said), no chemo treatment recommended. Radiation recommended.
Then she went on to say the short duration chemo was up to me…if I want to feel like I am doing something…but I must weigh the small amount of “possible” benefit against the serious effects of the chemo…SO WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO W/ THIS??
Help I am no expert…I have been tossed into this world of cancer and I am supposed to decide on chemo or not?? Talk about being in a boat w/out a paddle…HELP!
Thank you in advance!
C4
Seems to me that the medical protocol changes frequently. Since I am not up on what the latest trends in treatments are, I will just relate my experience. 16 years ago, the doctors were really pushing the chemo thing, even though when I asked, they said it would only improve my chances of survival by 5%. I opted out - but then again, the drugs were much worse back then from what I hear.
I did get 6 weeks of daily radiation treatment, it was no walk in the park, but not horrible. I did have to fight with the radiologist to use thyroid shields on me, she didn’t see the point, but my surgeon told me to insist on it. I’m glad she did.
Sorry I don’t have all the details on what my findings were, all I recall are two tumors removed, all the lymph nodes, estrogen receptors negative, clean margins.
Continuing to jingle for you.
I recall most of my doctors saying that they honestly don’t know what all the causes are, I think it is complicated with different factors.
Well, in the end I was not really given a choice about chemo, but my oncologist was also kind of vague in the decision-making department; I think it goes with the territory. Mine gave me a choice of two protocols and said to think it over, over the weekend, but gave me no statistics to work with (mine was also a bit of an odd case, neither fish nor fowl in some characteristics).
(just under 6 cm? that’s a bit on the large side, no? not a big issue if it was well contained; did they tell you what stage it was considered to be? some may not use staging, or perhaps that’s one of the things that’s changed since I went through it).
It is certainly reasonable for you to ask to go back and have another discussion of all of the variables and options. I hope someone is going with you to take notes; it’s impossible, just impossible, to absorb all of the info they give you by yourself. I thought I was so calm, so rational, but I found I just could not take in all of the information, nor process it in a useful way.
Sorry not to have anything really constructive to offer, but I know I don’t know enough to really help. I would encourage you to ask for another discussion, or perhaps get a second opinion to help you decide. But you do need knowledgeable people to help you with this. When I was going through it, I called a good friend who is a GP, but she said right away that she simply didn’t know enough about many specialty area, never mind one as complex and variable as oncology, to offer me any more advice than to get more opinions and keep asking questions of knowledgeable people.
That said, I don’t think you can make a wrong choice, either. It sounds like you’re in a situation of making a “best guess” at best. All you can do is gather as much info as possible, balance all of the pluses and minuses and make a decision. For that, I wish you the very best of luck.
You have to be your own advocate, I was surprised at how every step of the way no one told me what I should do or recommended a particular course of action. They just laid out options. Based on my MRI results I told my surgeon I wanted a double mastectomy (I had a 2cm mass with two other masses in my right breast and a mass in the left). At that point I wanted to do anything to increase my chances of survival and limit having to do all this again in a couple of years. Two years post surgery my surgeon reviewed my file and he finally told me he thought I made the right choice.
My oncologist also gave me the choice of having chemo or not, but he laid out the numbers for me. Having chemo increased my odds of no recurrence by 5% and that was worth it for me. The drugs have changed the side effects of chemo weren’t enough to deter me. I’m on year three of Tamoxifen and haven’t had trouble with that either. All of the steps were my choice and I wanted to be able to look back and say I did everything I could to beat this.
It doesn’t sound like your oncologist is very helpful. Is there anyone else you can talk to or get a second opinion?
Yes…almost 6 cm is large. I do see a local onacolgist tomorrow afternoon but she does not specialize in breast, she does all cancers.
I was told it was still stage 0 (had 2 micro invasions less than 1mm each).
Thank you for your responses…it is amazing how choices are laid out instead of this is what you do…crazy…
C4
Well, 12 years ago, I was not given many choices. Since I had opted for a mastectomy (to the relief of my surgeon), he had prepared me for chemo but no radiation. The oncologist (a wonderful down to earth woman that everyone who knows her loves!) gave me the choice of treatment (4 sessions 3 weeks apart and hair loss guaranteed) or 6 months (2 weeks on 2 weeks off). I chose the 4 sessions to be done sooner.
I really did not want, in case of relapse, to be asking myself “What if I had done this instead?” I took Tamoxifen for 5 years as well with no side effect except weight gain (and I finally lost it!!)
Good luck, get second opinions. As many have said, the drugs are not as bad as they were, and I really “sailed” through chemo.
Hi,
My cancer is not estrogen receptive so the Tomoxifen and like drugs will not help me.
I do get the second opinion later today, however, this is from a general onacologist …not a breast cancer onacologist specailist. The specialist onacologist warned me the chemo could cause me bone marrow issues down the road and at best may or may not provide a small benefit…I am so confused. I hope the onacologist this afternoon can help my confusion…
Thank you all, I value all the input!!
C4
This website may be of interest to you; http://www.dslrf.org/breastcancer/
Dr Love also has a book which helped me out a lot. Make sure that you are in charge of your decisions by being really well informed.
Had my 2nd opinion this afternoon and chemo was not even an option w/her.
I am “triple negative” and all they can do for me is radiation and genetic testing.
If the genetic testing is positive then I should consider a double masectomy and ovary removal…wow what a way to spend my birthday
The onacologist did say only 10 to 15% of all breast cancer is the kind I have…
C4
I am so sorry. Jingling for you.
I’m jingling for you too.
Thank you for your support 
C4
Jingles! Will you do the genetic testing then? I don’t remember if someone else in your family also had BC!
Ongoing jingles!
Hoping all will go well for you.
The Dr.s office is checking to see if my insurance will pay for the genetic testing. If it is covered then I will get it.
My Mother had BC in her 70’s…she had the better kind…mine is totally unrelated to hers. I am triple neg…she was ER & PR positive (easier to treat)…she died cancer free.
Thank you every one.
C4
It’s best to get genetic testing. Do not rely on women in the family having BC as your only cue. Men can pass on those genes too and those genes do not cause just breast cancer.
Yours being stage 0 is really excellent news.
Checking in on you after several days away. So, the fact that they don’t recommend chemo, that sounds like a good thing?
sounds like some of the results are pretty good? I was one who did not choose to learn a lot about what I had, just showed up at appt.s
So I don’t know much.
