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I can comment on not having Taxol, but my situation was quite different from yours. In Oct 02, I was stage 2b, very close to stage 3A. Because I was over 50 yrs old (52) my onc convinced me I should not have taxol. He showed me documentation in big onc book that said it wasn't that effective for women over 50 years of age.
I received CEF (similar to AC) which made me very ill. I wanted the taxol, but because I had been so sick with chemo, I agreed to stop after the CEF.
Later, after learning more about Her2+ (mostly from this site) I regretted not getting the Taxol. When starting late herceptin, my onc agreed to give me taxol if that was my wish. After much prayer and deliberation, I decided to skip the Taxol. I am ER+ and taking Arimidex, so I also would have had to stop the Arimidex.
I have been able to "let go" now, of the no Taxol issue. There are some people who don't bebefit from taxol, so who knows, maybe it wouldn't have helped........
One more thing. My onc doesn't get that excited about Her2+. He said it increases your chance of recurrance by 15% more than other types of breast cancer, but that's it. Although I do know he treats it aggessively, so maybe he is trying to keep my anxiety level at an even keel.
Good luck on your decision. I've been there......
Barbara
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