My history…
Er+ grade 1, stage 1 BC in right in 2006 and had WLE & SNB 0/2, rads x 25 and tamoxifen. After finding a lump
TNBC grade 3, stage 1 in left in 2009 and had WLE & SNB 0/2, E-CMF chemo and rads x 25. On annual mammo
TNBC grade 3, stage 3 in left chest LNs in 2011. had WLE & ANC 2/7, CarboTax and rads x 20. On annual MRI
On annual MRI in 2013 2.3cm lung tumour and mediastinal LNs confirmed as cancer on CT. had bronchoscopy to confirm type and receptor status… Currently awaiting results.
As this new lesions was picked up on routine mri i was not aware of any symptoms… No pain, no cough, no shortness of breath… So basically im fit and well.
All the evidence that currently exists on detecting mets early shows that it doesnt improve the outcome and that is why they do not screen women following primary BC and rely on people being diagnosed based on symptoms.
Now i am due to get results from my onc on fri and we are gonna decide on a treatment plan based on the type of BC it is. But iv been thinking over the last couple of weeks whether i should actually have treatment as im asymptomatic and if i hadnt had the stupid MRI (which was looking for primary BC due to being a BRCA2 carrier and having a high risk of a new primary) then i would actually be none the wiser and living my life in blissful ignorance.
So does anybody know of any new evidence which might support early treatment of mets? My BCN said she understands the dilemma and wouldnt know what to do in my situation. I will obviously discuss it with my onc on friday but any info would be gratefully recieved.
Mmmm… The outcome isn’t going to change; yes, sooner or later we’re all going to die of our mets. But the time we get and our quality of life can be greatly improved by the treatments we do. If not, the NHS wouldn’t be wasting their precious resources on funding any treatments for mets.
If you find a treatment that works well for you, you may remain asymptomatic for a long while and could even get to spend some time with NED. If you delay starting treatment, you give the little buggers chance to really take hold and spread even further, which makes it harder to get things back under control. Of course, there are no guarantees and we might never find a treatment which works for us, but if we don’t even give it a go, we’ll never know how well the treatments might have worked… That’s my take on it! Hope it gives you some food for thought, Lulu…
I have no special experience to draw upon and am only responding as I care about you and you have helped me and so many other women on the forums. I don’t have mets. (as far as I know) and so its only possible for me to imagine the dilemmas and feelings you are facing.
I just wanted to share that like you and having had breast cancer twice, I think you start to understand the limitations of treatment. I knew when I had my second lot of chemo there was no guarantee that the treatment would help. On the other hand, I took that treatment as I needed to believe it would help and as Angelfalls says, I hoped it would give me more time.
I know you enough about the science to ask the right questions, but from an emotional point of view, I think it is also about risk/benefit - the risks of watching and waiting, the benefit of starting treatment soon and your overall quality of life.
I really wish I could offer some information and hopefully someone will post who does?