Chemo decision

isaiah4031
isaiah4031 Member Posts: 240
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I saw my oncologist today. She said I am a borderline candidate for chemo since my tumor was 1.5 cm. She would support it because of my age, emotional status, and tumor size. She said I would have 4 treatments of Adriamycin and Cytoxan. She went over all the possible side effects, including the heart damage and leukemia stuff. She said after the chemo she would give me Tamoxifen and Lupran for 2 years. The Lupran is some kind of injection that I would have every 3 months for 2 years. I am very inclined to having the chemo after our discussion because she said that if my tumor was less than 1 cm, she would not recommend chemo; and if it were 2 cm, she would. She said my tumor was right in the middle. She said it would increase survival percentages by 3-5%. I want to work and she said I need to stay away from infections during the chemo. I am a middle school teacher, so I figure that may be the most difficult thing. Are 4 treatments the norm? Any other comments would be appreciated. I am kind of in limbo again. I thought that discussing this would be easy. But it's not.
Jayne

Comments

  • reni
    reni Member Posts: 24
    #2
    Jayne
    I am also having 4 treatments of Adriamycin and Cytoxan. It is yet undecided whether I'll go on to have 4 cycles of Taxol. My tumour was bigger than yours though - 2.5cm
  • akpatterson
    akpatterson Member Posts: 11
    #3
    Jayne, I just finished my 4th and last AC treatment 2 weeks ago!!! My tumor was 2.5 cm, so I was encouraged to take the treatments. I was very fortunate because my lymph nodes were clear. The only side effects that I experienced were hair loss and fatigue. I did not get sick with the chemo. It is very normal for your blood count (white blood cells) to be very low 2 weeks after each chemo. I was told to stay away from crowds of people, children, fresh fruit, raw vegetables and yogurt, due to the increased risk of infection from bacteria, for a week. You may want to ask her if she is recommending that you stay out of work the entire time, or only that week when your blood count is low. Even though my lymph nodes were clear, I'm about to start radiation. The margins were "close". There was no indication of cancer in the margins, but the turmor was so close to the edge of my breast, the margins were defined as "close". I decided that I wanted to do everything available to me to fight breast cancer. These are such tough decisions we are faced with. I wish you a lot of luck with your decision and hope everything goes well for you.
    Angie
  • tcbangels
    tcbangels Member Posts: 111
    #4
    jayne
    heh girl this is cheryl from tcb sometimes decisions are so hard to make you just dont know what right whats wrong so all i can say is go w/ your feeling what your body is saying, i had a 2 cm w/ 1 lymph node was cancer so i definitly had the chemeo but i have so much cancer in our family i took the chemeo w/ 5yrs tamoxifen a lot talk about tamoxifen well my only problemn was i gain instead of lose haha chemeo i never threw up which was a very good thing chemeos bad i'm not saying that you have to take that yuke stuff so you can get better lots of luck w/ lots of prayers.I'm starting a thing on internet trying to thats at every morning at 9:00am & every evening at 6:00pm to have chain prayer for all the people thats on internet thats suffering w/ some kind of disease dont have to be breast cancer any kind of disease.Also the way i'm trying to do it is when its 9:00 am at your house you say a prayer at that time that way with all thats praying there will be praaying every hr for all those on internet whatever your time slot is thats when you pray because therrs going to be some thats at your time i hopre you understand howe i',m saying this a lot get confuse so what i trying to say is pray at 9:00am in morning & 6:00 pm in evening if you cant at that time when you can ok pass the word i will be posting it on discussion room.
  • melm
    melm Member Posts: 104
    #5
    Jayne -
    My thoughts and prayers are with you as you make your decision.
    Love,
    Mel
  • 24242
    24242 Member Posts: 1,398 Member
    #6
    Hello Jayne,
    My best advice is take some time to think about it. There isn't any urgency. You have to be comfortable with what you choose for yourself. None of it is anything to look forward to, so be sure to make the choice that suits you.
    24242Tara

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