Having got my start date for chemo last night am now feeling anxious about what lies ahead. Start date is 21st May with pre chemo session with nurse and then appt with Oncologist on 19th. I know I’m having 6 cycles of FEC but they mentioned reduced strength (60/70%). It appears the main reason for having chemo at all is to get the Herceptin. Feeling really stressed over side effects associated with FEC, have read on here lots of people have had awful sickness and infections. I suffer with a lot of nausea and chronic IBS and am worried this will make things worse. I struggle day to day as it is 
Also have a lung and heart condition and wonder how thus will impact in these. Had hoped to have pre chemo session sooner so I could talk through issues and see if there is an alternative but feel it’s all been sorted without me having any say. Still not convinced I want to put my body through chemo and wonder how effective it will really be in preventing a recurrence. For those that don’t know I had mastectomy and snr and a 17mm invasive grade 3 lump was removed with a 18mm spread of non invasive. Calcification too but most was non invasive and no lymph node involvement. HR+ and HER2 + with Herceptin and Tamoxifen advised. Surgeon said I didn’t need chemo but can’t have Herceptin without having chemo! Sorry for rambling on but any thoughts/advice would be muchly appreciated! X X
Hi Jules, have they given you statistics between having chemo or not? I’ve been talking to another lady who was told due to the nature of her tumour they advised chemo although she had no node spread either but when she spoke to her oncologist it only gave her about an extra 5% chance against recurrence so she declined it, admittedly she is HER negative but ER + so has chosen the rads and tablets route, it does seem crazy to put you through it just to get the Herceptin, I dont blame you for feeling anxious and I would ring your BCN and see if they can get you in sooner to go through it all before being shoved headlong in to chemo, its an awful decision to have to make but to be told you don’t really need it and it’s just to get the treatment that follows seems plain crazy to me, I have read about women being given just one or two lots of chemo to qualify so maybe ask for a second option, good luck to you love Xxx
Hi Jules,
I was told by my surgeon i was borderline chemo i had lumpdectomy first lymth node suspicious others clear but had all removed clear margains,and HER2 neg , but when i saw oncologist he said he couldnt see any point and it would only give me barely 5% more chance of it not returning, and he felt tamoxifen and rads woukd be enough, He felt although i am very fit for my age and dont have any other medical issues, but i am very petite and slightly built, and he felt chemo could affect me badly as id have to have a high dose to make any diffwrence at all. Been on tamoxifen for couple months now with few side effects and started rads today, My oncologist said chemo isn t always the answer and he feels if its going to affect your quality of life with barely any result, just no point in it. Was so pleased id dreaded it in fact id made my mind up not to have it,as borderline but he reassured me. I think maybe you need a second opinion have you asked for that, Possibly have chat to the helpline on here., They can often put you in touch with people who have faced same situation, i was going to do that but once i saw oncologist and he reassured me i didnt. June
Hi there. I was told I was borderline for chemo and the oncologist was surprised that predict tool indicated I would benefit by 7%. I started having doubts, expressed them to nurse (during this conversation I actually promised I would go head with chemo!). I just wasn’t convinced by this statistic. I didn’t know online tests they do and researched this myself. At the next appointment (day before chemo meant to start) onc said she’d done another test with similar result. I said we’re only talking 7% so what’s similar. She said 6 or 7 %. I am due to have second opinion on 15th. She also told me window of benefit for chemo for would reduce after 60 days after surgery. Second opinion is 70 days after surgery- it has taken a month so this is also now a factor. I can’t see me going ahead with it. I don’t want radiotherapy but will probably bite the bullet there and tamoxifen. I’ve adopted a non-dairy vegetarian diet and for me looking at other factors for the future such as nutrition are important.
I should also say I had a 2.5 tumour in breast and it had spread to one node(I had 12 removed). There were calcifications in my right breast but they were benign (fibroadenomas disease) nothing to worry about apparently
Thank you all for your comments. I only saw the Oncolonist briefly last time and dealt mainly with one of her team. When I asked for stats she said they did use a tool to predict stats but didn’t have it to hand. I pushed and she gave a vague around 5% benefit for chemo and Herceptin. Have decided to insist I see Oncologist on 19th and get some proper answers. Am very worried about not only the short term side effects but also long term impact on my health especially given the existing conditions. That said obviously don’t want to risk it returning in the future, one roller coaster ride is enough for me!! (But as Dr said even with all the treatments they can’t guarantee that not happening). Will let you know how it goes and what I decide to do. Xxx