Hi Ladies
I finally got my results today…Clear marins and no node involvement. ER+ 5/8 so radiotherapy and then Tamoxifen for 5 years (possibly 10).
I’ve been told that I am borderline for chemo so I am to have a chat with the chemo nurses in 2 weeks time to weigh up the pros & cons. I know some of you ladies have had to make that decision so I’d love to hear about your experiences on whether you decided to or not. At the moment, I want to do chemo but my OH is airing against so I feel that I may have a fight on my hands. I’ve told him that he needs to come to the chemo appointment so that he can hear all my options.
With regards to the lymphodema in my boob - My onc said that he could feel a pocket of fluid but he said that it can be re-assessed by the chemo nurses and he wasn’t overly concerned with it. Yay, more good news.
I feel like a nice glass of wine will go down a treat tonight. I may even venture into my bed after sleeping on the sofa for the past month lol.
Thank you for reading,
Martha xx
Yay!! Fab news -am really pleased. Hugs x
Whoop! Whooop! That is great news Martha.
Good idea to take OH with you to the appointment. At the end of the day, it is your decision, not his, and I would go with my own instincts on this one. It isn’t him that has to live with the worry and the “what if’s” later down the line.
Good luck with your decision. xxx
Thank you Suffolklady.
Thanks Lola, good advise. Strangely enough I want to go for it, but we will see what they say in a couple of weeks.
Squishy hugs
Martha xx
Hi Martha,
Great news that you have clear margins and no nodes involved.
I agree entirely with Lola. My OH wasn’t keen on me having chemo either, but didn’t stand in my way when I signed up for it. When we found out I had vascular invasion, he admitted he was now rather glad I did it.
I know you will make the right decision for you, good luck.
Poemsgalore xx
Pleased for you. 
go with your gut. It’s your decision.
Caroline x
Fantastic news, Martha!
I was marginal for chemo, REALLY didn’t want to do it, hated every minute of it, but now, 4 weeks after it finished, am glad I did it. Chemo is horrible, but it’s time-limited, and you get out the other end and can move on. As many other people have said on various threads here, it really does help psychologically to know that you’ve thrown everything you can at the cancer.
The low effectiveness of chemo is startling, especially that you have no way of knowing if adjuvant chemo has worked or not unless the cancer comes back, when you know it HASN’T worked , but a 7-8% improval in survival probabilities (which was my personal statistic) was worth having, even if the benefit is uncertain.
Good luck, whatever you choose!
So you had the best possible news in the circumstances, even though you were expecting the worst!
I am really pleased for you Martha!
Hey Martha! I’m soooo pleased to hear this. Great news ! Enjoy your glass of wine you deserve it girl xx
Lots of love & hugs
Sara xx
Good news Martha, I was borderline for chemo too with a small grade 2 tumour, I was like you and really wanted it, i’m so glad that I did x
Hi,
I was 41 when Diagnosed, clear margins, no node involvment and a small tumour which was er and pr positive. I remember asking the onc about chemo and what she told me was that in some cases chemo can be over treatment, that years ago they used to throw everything at it but now evidence has shown different.
i decided to trust what my onc told me, I don’t regret it. I think it’s a good idea to talk it over with them. Depending where you are in this country I believe the advice is always different. I should have mentioned they do take tumour size into account, if mine had been bigger then I would have done chemo.
Great news today and good luck with your decision xx
Hi Martha
Such good news. We are in the same boat- I have chosen to go for the oncotype dx test to help with the decision regarding chemo- am waiting for those results now. Then I’ll have a bit more of a scientific base, either for or against chemo. It’s not cheap if you haven’t got insurance, but I think it will have been worth it for me (I wonder if they will give me commission for advertising it 
Good luck in whatever your decision is.
Jackie
PS why are you sleeping on the sofa?!!!
Excellent news Martha - enjoy that glass of wine!
Hi Martha,
Good news! What a relief for you.
I also had clear margins and no node involvement, and was grade 2. However, I was advised to have chemo because of the size of the lump, (4cm) and my age, (43). These seemed to be important factors. Chemo is certainly no fun at all, but now, 10 months on from finishing, it seems like a distant bad dream. Whatever decision you make must be the right one for you, once you have been given all the relevant information.
Good luck x
Excellent news Martha.
What a relief, love hearing the good news x
Great news Martha. Enjoy your well deserved glass of wine. I would echo what others have said and do what is right for you. I am amazed at how much our bodies communicate with us in subtle ways and our instinct tends to be right.
Thank you for all the support you provide to all of us on here and let us know what you decide.
Take care,
Jan x
Hi Martha. great news about your clear margins and nodes.
I was borderline for chemo. My onc showed me the adjuvant online prediction tool which showed that statistically chemo could improve my survival, after 10 years, from 80% to 85%, but this was AFTER she’d spent several minutes explaining that chemo frequently has permanent side effects and that we need to think carefully before subjecting the body to it unnecessarily. Had I been younger, or my tumor HER+ or ER -ve, I’d have been TOLD I was having chemo. If it had been just a little bit smaller, they wouldn’t even have mentioned chemo, as I had clear margins and nodes.
I declined chemo as I was 51 at dx, the age at which Mum died of a heart condition. Dad also died relatively young (73) - same cause! I couldn’t see me taking another 18+ weeks out of the year, delaying my recovery and return to ‘normal’ for so little potential benefit (especially as I could go through all that and STILL have a recurrance/secondaries) when I could be dead in a few years of something else entirely. When I told onc, my decision she said it would have been ‘overkill’ in my case anyway!
I have never regretted that decision. However, you have to be happy with whatever decision you make. You are the one that has to live with it. Point that out to your OH and remind him that HE’S the one that has to live with YOU - and that if you’re unhappy about your decision, his life won’t be a bed of roses either!?! He needs to hear all the facts so he understands your decision. Obviously he’s frightened about it and seeing you go through it. Ask your onc/BCN to talk you both through the statistics.
Thanks PG - I think once my OH here’s what the chemo nurse has to say, he may well change his mind. It will be a bit of a juggling act with his work & the kids, but I’m sure we can work round it. In all honesty, I’d feel safer having the chemo
Thanks Caroline - It was a little bit of pressure off, now I can concentrate on my RAD’s next.
Cyble - Because I had a Grade 3 Invasive, I am strongly swinging towards chemo and that’s even before I speak to the nurses. I want to fight this every step of the way and if it mean a little pain for long term gain then count me in
Morwenna - I was expecting the worst news. I even gave a little cry of relief when my onc gave me the news. I kind of knew the results when I walked into his office because my BCN wasn’t there at the start, she only came in when he examined me. She’s been there the rest of the time when the news has been bad lol. I had a little smile on my face when I saw she wasn’t there, I told her that and she said she didn’t take it personally hahaha.
Thanks Smiley and Chascat - It’s been the best news ever
Jackie - It was comfy sleeping on the sofa. We have 2 x 3 seaters so OH had one and I had the other. It just meant we could be together but if I was having a restless night, then I wouldn’t distrub him lol
I am actually just off the phone with my BCN and she gave me an appointment for 22nd to see the Chemo nurse and discuss my options. I will also get my RAD schedule around that date too. I was given more information about my tumor.
Size: 25mm (originally told 3 cm), so a little smaller.
Grade: 3
Stage: 2 (but my hospital doesn’t really use staging anymore)
HER2 -
ER + 5/8
No lympho-vascular invasion
Roll on the 22nd
Thank you so very much to everyone for the congrats - This forum has been invaluable to me and I really don’t know what state I would have been in without all you guys.
Thank you
Martha xxxx
JCJ - After my conversation with my BCN earlier tonight, she was really positive about my results, especially as the tumor was smaller than origianlly thought and because it was her2- with no nodes and no other spread.
She said that she will give me all the stats when I see her next to discuss chemo.
OH said that if it’s what I really want then he will back me all the way
Take care
Martha xx