Did you have surgery w/o doing chemo?

[Vickilapp]

Thank you to those sharing their stories. It is interesting that even though some people did do chemo/surgery/radiation, they still had recurrence.

My PET scan report came back yesterday: no evidence of metastases. <sigh of relief>

My oncologist suggested that since I have already been on Kadcyla (9 months) and Herceptin (18 months), that if my tumor is still the same (HER2+/ER-/PR-) that he recommends getting a mastectomy and continuing on Herceptin, without further chemo. Others have recommended chemo.

I have a biopsy scheduled for June 19. If the receptor status has changed, I'll probably opt for chemo. If it is still HER2+, ER- PR-, then I don't know yet. Waiting is hard, as I've begun having sharp pains in the breast. After using a heating pad and Infrared light therapy, the pains subsided, but still happening a little.

vickyjohn: I appreciate your perspective about keeping the tumour burden as low as possible. My hesitation about chemo is that it compromises the immune system, making it too difficult for my own body to fight the disease. My immune system seem to get more compromised the longer I was on Kadcyla, as evidenced from getting one cold sore after another. My thinking is that because of that lowered immunity, I was bound to have a recurrence when I went off of it.

One thing about this forum, is that most people reading it are probably still trying to manage the disease. If someone cured their cancer and have moved on, they probably are not reading this forum any more. It would be good to hear their stories. Still, I appreciate hearing everyone's experiences.