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chemotherapy worked for me
Hi Susan,
I just wanted to share a little of what happened to me in case it might help you in your decision-making process. I had a very large lymph node under my arm that I could feel at diagnosis plus a few more than were visible on PET scan. Because of the large lymph node, I had neoadjuvant chemotherapy (chemotherapy before surgery if the term isn't familiar). I had six months of chemotherapy total. The first three months were Adriamycin and Cytoxan. Before the start of the next phase of chemotherapy (Taxotere and Herceptin) the PET scan was repeated. It showed no clinical evidence of cancer. A large lymph node that was several centimeters completely disappeared clinically(PET scan can only see tumors 1 cm or larger). There may have been cancer cells left but the vast majority of the tumor had disappeared before I even started Herceptin. So the Adriamycin and Cytoxan worked wonders for me. After I finished all six months of therapy and had surgery, they found no cancer cells at all. The side effects of chemotherapy were far and away worth the results for me. I wish you peace as you make your decision.
Kathy
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