Happy Happy Day!!

Glad things are going well!
Glad things are going well! :>)

OH YEAH!
Heather I can so relate to your post as my mom and I did a stint of cancer treatment together as well. I am super happy your mom will not have to do the chemo and will have a more manageable radiation. It's no fan to hear those nasty "you have cancer" words but it certainly sounds like her's was caught in a very early stage which is wonderful. Now on to you, how GREAT that you treated yourself to such a lovely scarf wear it with pride my dear you certainly deserved it. Thank you for updating us on your mom it is always nice to hear good news!

(¯`v´¯)
.`•.¸.•´
¸.•´¸.•´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.•..•¨*RE

cahjah75 said:

Heather unlike you
I had no brothers but I have 3 younger sisters. I watch my mom and know that she feels helpless re breast cancer. Her mother died of it, her oldest sister is still going strong at age 90 after mastectomy at 68, but 3 of her 4 daughters have breast cancer. That's a lot to deal with! But, we're close and help each other out. I'm glad despite dealing with your own problems that you can help your mom out too. That's what love is all about and I'm sure she appreciates you :-)
{{hugs}} Char

Oncotype test
Hi Heather:

All good news about Mom. If all goes well with clear margins, no lymph node involvement, please ask about an oncotype dx test if her tumor is Stage 1, small, estrogen positive, HER-2 negative.

I was told from the get go that I probably would not need chemo - just lumpectomy and radiation. Everything went swimmingly. My tumor was .6 mm, ER+, HER-2 negative, lymph node negative, no evidence of vascular involvment. All good stuff if one has to have breast cancer. At my post op check, the surgeon said the medical oncologist would likely "offer me chemo" because without an oncotype test, the jury is really out on whether chemo is needed or effective in this group of early stage 1 cancers. So he suggested we do the test. Turned out my "score" was in the high risk rate for recurrence at a distant site within 10 years. For my score (31, the lowest number in the high risk category doggone it) there is a 21% recurrence rate. The higher the number, the higher the percentage of recurrence (for the study they did) and the more beneficial chemo can be. I could have declined chemo but my medical oncologist said I "needed it" and by then I'd decided I wanted to give it all I could anyway. Chemo reduces the rate of recurrence by 30-40%, and I will know I've done everything I could to keep this sucker from coming back.

With a low score (under 17 I think)there is no evidence that chemo is even effective and the rate of recurrence is really really low so the benefit even if it does help, would not make that much pf a percentage difference. 85% of breast cancers fall in this area (I think I read that somewhere).

I know Mom has other health issues, so even if her score is high, the risks might be greater than the benefits and she may decline chemo (nobody can make us do anything), and if it's low, she will be more assured. For me having this information was really important, even if it wasn't what I was expecting.

Just some food for thought. Wishing both of you the very best.

Suzanne

Heatherbelle said:

Thank you Suzanne - we were
Thank you Suzanne - we were told that the no chemo was "tentative" - depending on lymph node involvement. From her path report we know that shes ER and PR neg.
We've also discussed the benefits of chemo vs the side effects for her. Hopefully path reports will come back all good!
thanks for your input & concern
*hugs*
heather

Sounds good
Heather

I think the oncotype test is only for estrogen positive, node negative, Stage 1 cancer, so it probably doesn't apply to your mom. Here's hoping those nodes are negative! As you and I both know, chemo ain't that much fun (but it's doable).

Suzanne