Her2+ Chemo whirlwind

Diagnosed with breast cancer Recently diagnosed with breast cancer
1

I have a triple + 1.2 cm tumor plus DCIS. Nodes look clear on ultrasounds etc. but who knows for sure. 

They started 3 weeks ago with a recommendation of a mastectomy, but just changed to 6 rounds of a 4 drug chemo cocktail first. Has anyone had this for stage 1 cancer? The rationale given was so they can be sure the chemo cocktail worked because once the tumor is removed they can’t see if chemo was effective. I can understand that and the Perjeta and Herceptin make sense since they target HER2+ but the Taxotere (Docetaxel) and Carboplatin (Paraplatin) seem like overkill.

Has anyone had this Chemo cocktail presurgery? 

What are the side effects? How bad is this cocktail? 

I just turned 60 and am in average health, slightly overweight and have a moderate activity level.

I’m really questioning if adding those 2 drugs are worth negating only a small possible risk that cancer has spread? If this was stage 3 or 4 cancer I’d get it, but 4 powerful chemo drugs for stage 1? Just seems like overkill and is very scary. Has anyone else had this treatment for a stage one HER2+ tumor?

2

Hi

my cancer was a different one, but it is just a couple of thoughts- can you have a surgery (either lumpectomy- your tumour is small or mastectomy) first, so you will know for sure if the lymph nodes are clear or not? you can always have chemo after the surgery too!

whats your chemo benefit on predict tool assuming nodes are clear:

breast.predict.nhs.uk/

is there a strong family history  of breast cancer or  you have  BRCA gene?(hence such a serious protocol)

if not is there a possibility to have a second  opinion re chemo?

please look after yourself!

x