Bilateral breast cancer anybody???

Hmmm interesting, I had a recurrence inspite of Lumpectomy, clear margins, radiation and 4yrs of tamoxifen. I was told I had chemo as my only option as was grade 3 tumor though stage 2 and because I had a recurrence this was the only recommendation of treatment for me. Uuuugh sucks! But I guess I felt in the end this was the only thing I could do. Anyway, all over and done with.

Chemo when you have a tumour is very different from having it in the hope of preventing recurrence. The 10% figure applies, roughly, to the women who to the best of everyone's knowledge have no tumour activity after their primary treatment. 

If you haven't already asked your oncologist what difference chemo will make to your chances of avoiding recurrence, you should do so if you are interested and find out what applies to your individual circumstances.

To be honest, it had never occurred to me that people wouldn't ask. My apologies, I really think that you need to find out what applies to you personally before assuming you sit in the middle band of a pretty broad data set.

Hi, 10%..shhht.. i had 6 months of chemo to get the 10? ??
Although, i can say that the chemo has reduced the size of my tumour and instead of having a mastectomy, it will now be lumpectomy + lymphs removed (not sure how many )  So I am hoping that I have been the lucky one!!! My dr tells me that he has another patient similar.
I have also been taking Letrozole  from the beginning,  radiotherapy to follow after op.
Thats life....:)

Open wounds that don't heal are are nightmare on chemo. I believe your oncologist is looking at you as an individual. ..as he should. You have renal disease already...its very hard on kidneys. ..you have wound issues...6 months of chemo would guarantee it won't heal in that time and becoming septic from the woubd is a very real risk on chemo.  Tamoxifen is given to post menopause women who need an alternative to aramatose inhibutors and it was all there was given a number of years back and was effective for many women . I think your oncologist is very sensible. Yes you could have a second opinion if you wished. ..but he is planning on very close monitoring to ensure all is good. Are you having radiotherapy to your node area?

It varies, @LMK74. In my case, for example, the best available stats suggest that surgery, rads and hormone therapy give me the best chance of survival and chemo increases my chances of survival by 7% over 10 years

This stuff is all incredibly vague, the figures come predominantly from a weirdish study in England, there is no ethical way of conducting double blind research on the effectiveness of chemo.... Phhffft. Oncologists use the Predict web tool which would get laughed out of the lab in any other scientific environment. You can log on and put your own info into it if you are interested. Better still, ask your oncologist to show you and explain.

Chemo certainly works for many people who have active tumours, what it does as an adjuvant therapy is not so easy to establish. It is, as they say, the best thing we have at the moment.

Zoffiel,  10% that's all. Why aren't we told this. Why even go through chemo for that. Shit, had I been told I really don't think I would have done this. 

I think it sounds reasonable, @bevvzy. But I'm not an oncologist.
What most people don't process is that chemo for the majority of early (non-metastatic) breast cancers only increases survival rates by less than 10%. Yep. 10%.  It's not a cure all and many of us who've had recurrences have already had chemo. You'll see a few threads here about women really struggling to reconcile those figures against the damage it can do.

In your case, if they look at a 10% chance of changing your cancer outcome against an extremely high risk of you having potentially fatal side effects, it's likely they are going to recommend the option which is likely to cause less harm.

You are in a shit of a situation where it's all going to be a balancing act. You can always ask for a second opinion and if this is going to to do your head in perhaps that's the next step. If there is more than one company offering oncology services, even if it means you have to go private for one consult, I'd suggest you go that way so you are comfortable you are getting unbiased advice. Marg.

Hey Bevvzy, hmmm well I was Stage 2, Grade 3, node negative, my Oncologist said the Grade is what determined chemo for me. Im also ER+ only, BRCA negative. I know my bones have deteriorated drastically from Chemo and now I have Osteoporosis. So could be valid of not going onto anti hormone meds. I guess he was meaning due to high risk of infection, that the Chemo would cause would compromise your life...more than the Breast Cancer would. I understand what he is saying, makes sense. Not sure I can offer any clarity as I said, being a Grade 3 I had to have Chemo so Im not sure as you had node involvement too didnt you? hmmm hopefully someone else can jump in maybe some others can jump in and help!! Hugs Melinda xo

I have just had right mastectomy 6 weeks ago with axillary dissection. Hormone pos. Said i was T2, stage 2. Grade moderate borderline high eg 2/3 . 2/3 but 3/3 for tubules. One pathologist said high grade so now not sure and i guess not that critical. Total was 7/9. I was sure i would have chemo followed by anti hormone, given size and grade. So i was really shocked and suprised and also worried that i wasnt going to have chemo. I thought it was a given. My onc said chemo would kill me before cancer ! I have a problem with chronic kidney infections and a chronic open wound (pressure /bed sore)  although youngish i live in a nursing home with paraplegia.  I was previously told the large communal living environment had a high risk of cross infections ie nurses.  He said serious infection was almost a certainty. So he just put me on tamoxifen and said would have 6 weekly checks for 3 years then 3 monthly.  Does this sound reasonable? Im concerned as the tamoxifen wont actually kill lingering cancer cells.  I was also worried as heard that tamoxifen wasnt as effective as arimidex if post menopause. But as i have brittle bones he said that id go from a paraplegic to a quadraplgic if on arimidex as would worsen my bones. I just worry that the plan is so different from what i have been reading

Hi Ann , because I have several types of tumours I am being treated for each one individually so... I am currently still on herceptum which is  1 treatment every three weeks for a year. I am also on latrazole for next to 5-10 years.  Radiation completed after 6 weeks two months ago and chemo was weekly for 3 months. Feel free to ask me about anything further

joy