My mother was diagnosed with grade 2 cancer in mid May, and 4 lymph nodes are affected. She is due to have a masectomy in a couple of weeks and has started taking hormone tablets (don’t know which) as the consultant is confident the cancer will respond to hormones. The results to say for definite will be back this week. However, she has not been offered chemo or anything else apart from the hormones. I know radiotherapy is more for a lumpectomy so I understand that, but considering the lymph nodes are affected I’m kind of suprised she hasn’t been offered chemo. I don’t really like to ask her about this in detail as she’s pleased that the hormone treatment is all she seems to need but I’m a bit concerned. I know the consultant must know what he is doing but in reading all of the posts here it seems that most people are offered chemo as well, or am I wrong?
Hi,
As you say chemo is usually advised if lymph nodes are affected but it may depend on other factors…what age is your mum? My mum has a malignant lump but as she was late 70’s when diagnosed has just had hormone treatment (arimidex) and monitored regularly. The cancer is generally slower growing the older you are. It may be worth discussing your concerns with a gp or breast care nurse if she has one. Hope you get your questions answered.
Love Janey x
Many thanks for your response Janey. It might be an age thing then as my mum is in her early 70s. I just felt quite concerned as I’ve been reading up on treatments and the general consensus is that if the lymph nodes are affected chemo is almost always offered. I don’t live in my mum’s area and while I know the hospital she is attending I don’t have any specifics on the nurse she is seeing, and I don’t like to press my mum for details on why she isn’t having chemo in case she gets upset. It sounds like the consultant is confident the hormones will work so maybe with her age and all he’s decided to leave it at that for now. It may be that we know more after the masectomy I guess.
The side effects of chemo in that age age bracket outweigh the potential benefits, there is some information on the cancer research website, also the general response to chemo is not as good. Hopefully, your mum will do really well! Good luck.
My Mum was 76 when diagnosed, but it had already spread to her bones. They didn’t even remove the lump. She was on hormone therapy alone, plus some rads to bone hotspots when needed.
Ann x
It depends on the type of cancer…if it is just estrogen positive then they feel that the estrogen blockers work well…mine was estrogen positive and Her2 positive so I did chemo, radiation and herceptin for a year plus the estrogen blocker Arimidex. Claryce
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Same here except I’ve not needed rads, I was 56 when diagnosed. Hormone treatment kept my disease stable for almost 3 years, then I needed some chemo, currently on a different hormone treatment. A former work colleague’s mother was treated with Arimidex (there was no bc spread) and eventually the primary tumour became undetectable on scans.
Thamks everyone for all your help with this. It does make sense that for older people chemo is not so beneficial. If the cancer seems to be treatable with hormones then that is good news. I’ll keep positive.