CAN ANYONE HELP MAKING DECISION NOT TO HAVE CHEMO

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21

Deb,

I had no choice whether or not to have chemo so I never had to make the actual decision, but what I would advise you to do is think about what element you are most scared of.

I know that sounds quite simplistic, but if you break it down into more bite sized chunks it is easier to deal with. If you read any of the other posts on this site you will read about many of use breaking our treatment plans into bite sized chunks as it is easier to deal with this way. This way we don’t overload our brains all in one go.

For eg, is it the thought of being sick that it most worrying, or the tiredness, or the hair loss. These days there is usually a treatment for every side effect you are worried about, you just have to think about and work out which is “your thing” so to speak.

My think was the sickness - I was SO scared of being sick, so when I mentioned this to my onc she said she would make sure I wasn’t, and she did. I didn’t care either way about losing my hair or the tiredness, so just put these to one side.

Like I say for me I never had to make the decision - I was grade 3 HER2+ and a large tumour of 45mm, but what the chemo was so good at was the difference between being told I had to had a mx and ending up having a WLE with only an overnight stay in hospital, so for that I will be forever grateful. I feel 12 months down the line I got off lightly compared to some people.

But like everyone else has said, only you can make the decision.

Hope this helps you.
Sam

22

As others have said, don’t base your decision on a straw poll, either of friends and family, or people on this forum.

Only you can know what’s right for you and it sounds like at the moment you don’t know. And that probably means you need more information, to enable you to make that decision. Maybe ask for a second opinion? You’re always entitled to ask for that.

At age 50 I had a 3 cm grade 2 ER+ tumour, no lymph node invovelment and was offered chemo, with a theoretical benefit of 3.5%. To me that seemed to be over-treatment so I asked to see another onc, and she said she wouldn’t have even mentioned chemo.

I say this, not to suggest that chemo is or isn’t right for you, just to illustrate that there are differences of opinion even amongst the experts, so it can’t do any harm to ask for more info, and perhaps from another onc.