Hi
I was diagnosed in March, had a mastectomy in April and have had five cycles of FEC chemo. I don’t need radiotherapy as the cancer cells were only in 1 lymph node. I start Tamoxifen straight after chemo.
My prognosis, I have been told is good, however my consultant couldn’t give me a convincing reason as to why I have to have 6 cycles. He also couldn’t tell me if they know the chemo has worked, which surprised me. I asked if they were planning to run any tests after chemo and apparently they’re not. I thought there was a blood test they could do to see if there were any cancer markers? Am I right about this?
My argument is why give chemo if they are not going to test that it’s worked? Therefore I really don’t want the 6th session. I am really fed up with feeling rubbish, I have suffered really badly with ‘chemo brain’ and the hearing in my left ear is impaired. I can’t sleep and the fatigue is really getting me down. For those reasons and because noone can give me a really good reason I am seriously thinking about stopping now.
Has anyone else done this and if so do you think the risk of recurrence is higher? I’d love to hear your views, which will help me finally make my mind up.
Thanks
Dibdob
Hi I’m in a dif position to u but i am stopping my chemo due to se but my onc did say she didn’t think I wld benefit from last one as I’ve a small amount of cancer in me also they can’t say there is any real benefit between 5 or 6 so it as stands it’s down to each of us to decide why don’t u try to talk to your onc see what they say I had fec with my prim bc and hated the se so can fully understand what y saying hope u make the right choice Laura
Hi Laura
thanks for that. Hearing from people going through the same thing really helps. Sometimes I don’t feel in control of my treatment and go along with the experts, as we should. However, I also feel like I am on a conveyor belt, there are so many of us with bc. I would like to take back some control and armed with the facts and other stories from bc sufferers gives me confidence.
So your response is very much appreciated.
Dibdob
Hi
I had my last fec 9 days ago it was number 5,I have had alot of problems with my veins and have blood clots my onc said it was ok for me to stop if 5 gave me same problems which it did.Had been beating myself up about not having the last one but spoke to my bcn and she told me they used to only give 4 but changed to 6 so I felt a bit better,its now peoples reaction thats bugging me as if I am mad for not having the last one,but to be honest don’t think I could have done it I am totally wiped out and fec5 was the worst ever,now waiting for my review on 31st then getting my central line out 1st sept cant wait,then it will be rads.And I’m watching my little hair grow.
Rhona.x
My chemo was stopped after 4 cycles of FEC. But I had it before surgery - and my Onc sent me for early surgery after my lump vanished - said he would decide what additional chemo I needed after surgery.
But I had a pathological complete response to what I had already - so no cancer found at operation at all - so he knew the chemo had worked and therefore stopped it.
We had LONG chats about this though, and he said it is harder after surgery as you have no idea how effective the chemo is as everything has already gone. They know 6 is better than 4 for most women, but they also know that tumours get more resistant to chemo after 4 ish cycles which is why they often switch to a taxane after 3 cycles of FEC. Just to keep the tumour on its toes as it were.
Since chemo aims to treat stray cells in the body (from lymph or blood based movement) there is no way of testing to see if it got all cells. Single cells don’t show on any scan, and tumour markers need tumour bulk to show up as well. Plus none are that reliable for breast anyway.
They use research papers that show what works best for most people to decide what to do - but have no way of knowing whether it worked or not as an individual.
Hope that makes sense and doesn’t just confuse further.
Oh - I should add that I am a TN lady - Er -ve - and chemo often works differently in these types of tumours.
I had to stop after four. I had a blood clot after the third caused by the PICC line. And after the 4th I had severe neutropenia and an infection. So it was suggested that I should stop. It had to be my decision which was hard as I would have preferred to finish the 6. I then had 6 weeks radiotherapy and a year of Herceptin, followed by Arimidex, now changed to Aromasin. This is all 4 years ago now and I am fine so I hope I took the right decision.
Good luck
Anne
