I also had a lumpectomy 3 weeks ago and they removed all the cancer and been offered chemo. I’ve an appointment to see the oncologist on Thursday not sure how I feel about it to be honest , with the cancer gone I don’t see why I need it , im in the same position not sure what the oncologist is going to say . 

Hi it is all very hard to take in, they said that mine had spread to my lymph nodes and they took them out as well,

So I'm not sure as to why I need the chemo, i now feel that if I don't have it and it comes back then I would only have myself to blame, but also know it's could come back with the chemo,

Good luck with your appointment,

Lyn

My lymph nodes were all clear . I know that’s exactly how I feel . I don’t want to be going threw all this again to be honest looks like chemo is the only way . 

Good luck with making a decision. 

If the cancer has spread to lymph nodes typically they will recommend chemo. Mine had gone to 2 nodes and although my cancer is generally speaking low risk of recurrence or spread, the oncologist said he would be deeply uncomfortable if I didn’t do chemo.

Although they can remove the visible lumps by surgery there remains the risk that some cells have broken off and travelled elsewhere in the body and could result in a distant spread in the future. This is what the chemo is trying to prevent. Similarly radiotherapy targets any stray cells left behind locally.

I went through similar feelings as I really didn’t want to do chemo, but equally I couldn’t face the idea of not doing everything I could if the cancer came back and having that conversation with my kids.

As you say there are no guarantees though even with chemo, so ultimately it boils down to personal choice. Nobody can say you’re wrong if you decide not to do chemo. 

Hi there, we went through the same scenario.  My husband wanted to give the chemo a try but unfortunately after 2 sessions and 2 stays in hospital (the second one being sepsis) it was the Oncology team that decided enough was enough.  

Of course everyone is different and he just couldn't carry on.  We are just hoping that the 2 sessions he had did some good.

Good luck with whatever decision you make.

Hi Lyn and Christine,

This is always a difficult decision to make and, unfortunately, nobody can decide for you. This is something you've got to grapple with yourselves until you reach the right decisions for you.

I do hope that you both make the right choices for yourselves.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hello 

I had a Stage 2 bowel cancer without spread to lymph nodes and been offered adjuvant chemo to kill cell which could be in my blood. I was offered this chemo because cancer was pretty large - the thing is that cancer also have vein connection and that`s how they grow so ther is possibility that some of the cancer cell could get to the system - normally our immune system could fight it if there is not many of them. 

I have decided to take chemo and just completed my 4 cycles and would do anything different if I could get back in time my decision would be the same but this is decision you have to make. 

Whatever you will decide I wish you all the best :D

Mal

Hi Lyn,

As others have said it's very much a personal decision, and it's one that's almost impossible to make.  You might have chemo and find that you have very few or just very slight reactions to it and it's not that bad.  Or you might react badly.  You may have a 3rd option... that being to start it and see how you go, stopping it if you just feel it's too much.

It also depends what stage your cancer was at.  Due to a relatively recent study some hospitals have stopped suggesting chemo for stage 1 breast cancer as chemo has now been around long enough to show that it was only altering 10-year survival rates by well less than 1%  Those hospitals decided that the miniscule increase chemo gave in terms of survival rates wasn't enough to justify what chemo puts so many people through.  So if your cancer is at stage 1 it may be that chemo doesn't really improve your 10-year survival chances in which case you might decide it isn't worth going through it.

If you are stage 1 I would suggest trying to find the study online (if needs be ask me and I'll see if I can locate it again) or asking your oncologist about it.

Have you been tested for mutations to tumour-suppressing genes?  Because that's another thing to take into account.  Obviously you cannot know what your actual risk of recurrence is without knowing if you have mutated genes.  So if you have family history to warrant genetic testing then that might be something you want to consider too.

Hope some of that helps somehow, but obviously it's your decision at the end of the day.  My first lot of chemo was incredibly easy (lost my hair but wasn't fussed about that) but my second lot was very difficult.  We're all different so you can't know til you try it.

Good luck with the decision.

LJx

Hi 

Thank you for your reply it has helped, they have said that I have stage 2 boarder line stage 3 cancer they have removed it plus 32 lymph nodes of which only 2 was infected, 

my mother had a mystectomy 18 months ago and I lost my dad 3yrs ago to pancreatic cancer,

This makes me think maybe I should go ahead with the chemo but am sitting on the fence at the moment,

lyn 

Does sound like a tough call if they've already removed your lymph nodes and only 2 were infected.  It was quite easy for me as I had no choice, the lump was so big and they reckoned a fair few lymph nodes were already affected so the risk of metastases was high.  As such it was immediate chemo with my surgery only taking place once that was over.  Just waiting now to find out how many lymph nodes were affected and if the mastectomy cleared the cancer from the breast or if it was already in surrounding tissue.

I'm taking it they haven't mentioned radiotherapy to you at all?

Do you know what type of chemo they are thinking of using?

Anyway, going to bed just now, but when considering chemo just remember you can take one dose and stop, you don't have to continue with it.  Obviously that one dose may have some moderate-term effect but generally the effects of chemo are accumulative.

Good luck deciding.

LJx