Forum Discussion
Has Anyone Given Up on Chemo?
Hard Question that I am having.
I was diagnosed with IDC stage 2 ER-PR- and HER2+VE. Mastectomy done a week after diagnosis clear surgical margins. Cancer lump was 2.5cm with 1.5cm surrrounding DCIS. No radiation prescribed. 3. lympn nodes taken were clear. CT and PET scans clear.
My chemo cycle one and two went fine. I was on Taxocete and cyclophosphamide and antibody Herceptin. On third cycle I developed a horrible rash on day 8 which was itchy and I almost thought I was going to die. I was also constantly feeling warm when I am sleeping at night even with air con on.
I am contemplating quitting the last chemo. I feel really awful trying to 'destroy' my immune system just because I have been prescribed this protocol for me. I know the chemo is preventative treatment but I feel like I am doing my body such injustice pumping it with toxins and causing it be in an compromised state especially between day 7-12. My oncologist kind of left the choice to me saying the standard is 4.
Other than chemo, I am feeling well and eating very well and I feel that my body can do better with a nutritional diet to help my immune system, than chemo!
Just wondering if anyone out there have been through my stage? And what did you choose to do?
Thanks.
I was diagnosed with IDC stage 2 ER-PR- and HER2+VE. Mastectomy done a week after diagnosis clear surgical margins. Cancer lump was 2.5cm with 1.5cm surrrounding DCIS. No radiation prescribed. 3. lympn nodes taken were clear. CT and PET scans clear.
My chemo cycle one and two went fine. I was on Taxocete and cyclophosphamide and antibody Herceptin. On third cycle I developed a horrible rash on day 8 which was itchy and I almost thought I was going to die. I was also constantly feeling warm when I am sleeping at night even with air con on.
I am contemplating quitting the last chemo. I feel really awful trying to 'destroy' my immune system just because I have been prescribed this protocol for me. I know the chemo is preventative treatment but I feel like I am doing my body such injustice pumping it with toxins and causing it be in an compromised state especially between day 7-12. My oncologist kind of left the choice to me saying the standard is 4.
Other than chemo, I am feeling well and eating very well and I feel that my body can do better with a nutritional diet to help my immune system, than chemo!
Just wondering if anyone out there have been through my stage? And what did you choose to do?
Thanks.
27 Replies
- Just think how much better you will feel in just a few weeks. And it's done. Congratulations.
- Good for you - gardening is wonderful, I am not the world's most successful gardener (purple thumbs!), but putting in plants is an act of faith. And that's what we all need - faith in ourselves, in out medical team and in our ability to rise above. Even when we find it hard to get out of bed at first. Best wishes but I think you're on a good track.
- Hi all, I want to thank you for all your input recently when I posed such a difficult question.
So I finally decided to finish the chemo race by completing the fourth one yesterday. It was such a struggle to decide I drifted from yes to no and no to yes every day last week. Finally last Friday morning, had a really good chat with hubby who was so good to speak some logic into me and helped me decide that I would. Yes i was very scared of the rash that would come back but I would also feel incomplete (as my brother called it) if I quit at no 3.
So here's praying that I do fine this cycle and no rash will find me.
Can't help but feel tired more esp at the third week of cycle three. The tiredness can just set upon me out of the blue at the dining table and it happened again at lunch today. This morning I was good and was able to even get out into the garden to plant some bulbs with my son.
Right after chemo yesterday I had really bad fluid retention (esp with three drugs pumped in). Legs like lead and I think an elephant can run faster than me lol. But it's all gone now with pee marathon overnight. Lots of water intake helped as well.
Thanks lovelies for all your replies here. xxx - Also I just wanted to add you can often read others stories or previous blogs by clicking on their names and going to their wall. So if wondering how somebodies chemo journey has gone its a good way to read about it. Not everybody blogs but just comments though. Just thought you might find this helpful. I know it helped me to read back and see it tough at the beginning but see recovery after. Kath x
- @Afraser I couldnt agree more with how you put it.
@au0rei how you feel is so incredibly normal. I had fights with my Oncologist, I was adamant I didnt want Chemo as I was healthy it just didnt make sense to me. It absolutely has been a hard road back but I have to agree, Chemo isnt going to help everyone, as it depends on their diagnosis and particularly how early it is caught. Ive lost people regardless. But it is all we have at hand that does save lives, until there is something better I was never going to gamble as my Oncologist said by not doing it. As I said Im hugely Spiritual and into lots of things, but this does not replace the medical profession in any form, its needed and its imperative. Eating well and exercising are fantastic too as long as you enjoy it and feel good, but it doesnt discriminate no matter what you do. So feel good, be true to you. Hugs Melinda xo Hi @auOrei
Chemo is very daunting for lots of people, so only a super confident person or someone rather silly doesn't have doubts and worries. However, it's easily (and often) said that chemo has made people worse. There is no doubt that many people with cancer (like me) felt perfectly well and felt a lot worse while having chemo - that's to be expected, it is very tough medicine indeed and no-one pretends it isn't. I nearly packed in my last Taxol doses because of damage to nerves. What stopped me was finding another lump! It was OK, not cancer related. But it clarified my thinking wonderfully.
We've all heard terrible reports about chemo, websites are full of them, but proof of these claims is a bit thinner on the ground. Chemo can't help everyone, irrespective of the type or extent of their cancer, but your oncologist thinks it will help you. Many people here are absolute proof of years of continued productive life that may never have happened without chemo. Surgery is pretty tough on the body too, but not removing the cancer is a lot worse. Healing is sometimes not as gentle as the word sounds. If you are certain of what you want to do, follow your feelings. But if you have doubts, perhaps listen to your oncologist. Best wishes.
- Thanks Melinda, I really appreciate your input. It was hard for me to even come to the forum with all these questions. I struggled with even starting chemo. It's so hard to believe that chemo is the way to go when I hurt my body with toxic stuff. I struggled with going for each chemo, even though I felt well for three of them, although hospitalized in first cycle due to a low grade fever cos of sore throat, and rash break out in cycle 3. I know it has saved patients but it has also wrecked patients and made them worse, so it is so so hard. I decided to do chemo cos my family think my chances are good, and my oncologist presented all the statistics if I do not do. I do not know if I AM JUST BEING A COWARD NOT WANTING TO GO!
I havent done any alternative therapies but I definitely have changed my lifestyle - reduce stress, lots rest, diet all these which I feel are the factors which caused the cancer. Taking a closer look at my body's needs. Was a crazy year in 2016. I know there is no guarantee to anything at all but I make sure I do my best to my knowledge.
My oncologist left to me to decide, but he sounds like he is preferring me to do the last one, as he says if it's palliative direction, he would be less stringent on the rounds. He says it's curative for me.
Maybe i should just stop being a whim!melclarity said:@au0rei I think youve done really well, I know its playing on your mind that 1 infusion, will it make any difference if you do it or not?? this is where your Oncologist can only give his professional opinion but gee they wont tell you what to do as they can't. Makes it so hard!! Only you know what really sits with you.
I wanted to say too, not sure if you were thinking out loud of alternative things. I love Alternative Therapies, Im actually a Reiki Master of 17yrs and successful/gifted. I cannot STRESS enough to anyone all therapies are fantastic to help alleviate symptoms, work through issues BUT they are USED IN CONJUNCTION with MEDICINE. Ive done this journey 6yrs and a recurrence, I was so against having to do Chemo and I cant even tell you the way it which it destroyed me...BUT I know I had to do it, this is the only treatment available. I have no regrets. Cannot stress enough, do what is right for you, what really sits good with you. None of us know the outcome of any of it right or wrong, we only can trust we make the absolute best decisions for ourselves in any given moment. Thats peace. Hugs Melinda xo - @au0rei I think youve done really well, I know its playing on your mind that 1 infusion, will it make any difference if you do it or not?? this is where your Oncologist can only give his professional opinion but gee they wont tell you what to do as they can't. Makes it so hard!! Only you know what really sits with you.
I wanted to say too, not sure if you were thinking out loud of alternative things. I love Alternative Therapies, Im actually a Reiki Master of 17yrs and successful/gifted. I cannot STRESS enough to anyone all therapies are fantastic to help alleviate symptoms, work through issues BUT they are USED IN CONJUNCTION with MEDICINE. Ive done this journey 6yrs and a recurrence, I was so against having to do Chemo and I cant even tell you the way it which it destroyed me...BUT I know I had to do it, this is the only treatment available. I have no regrets. Cannot stress enough, do what is right for you, what really sits good with you. None of us know the outcome of any of it right or wrong, we only can trust we make the absolute best decisions for ourselves in any given moment. Thats peace. Hugs Melinda xo
Thanks hun. All the best wishes for you. xxTracey B said:My cancer was level 2B, and I was advised by my oncologist that my risk was too high for recurrence to stop, with 5 lymph nodes positive. That was my alternative, so all I could do was keep going and just live with the rashes and peeling.
