Forum Discussion
Melc503
8 years agoMember
Why chemo ?
Hi ladies well I am now 3 weeks post second surgery full auxiliary clearance and further breast clearance surgery. I have got news that all margins are now clear and only had 4 nodes involved. I ...
Afraser
8 years agoMember
It's perfectly reasonable, definitely not crazy, to ask why. It's also an option not to do it, but I suggest you get a clear answer to the Why? question before deciding. Unfortunately tests are not so precise that your specialists can tell if there are some stray cancer cells still in your body. You did have some nodes involved. There may not be. Even if there are, they may not develop. No-one really wants to do chemo or radiation, but those who have mainly did so because our teams gave us some pretty sound reasons why they thought our chances of not having cancer again (what we all want!) were better if we did. So you might want to ask:
- how much greater protection are these treatments likely to give you?
- what chemo is being suggested and what are the side effects (get it in writing so you can read it in your own time)
- how much radiation?