[AlaskaAngel]

Maryann,

Your straightforward post is so important. Thank you for expressing it no matter how difficult it is. Your choices were not easy or simple.

I would like to say something in regard to those with early stage bc who are not triple negative or not HR-negative. The best choice truly may be significantly different now than it was when I was diagnosed. I wish that I would have been more willing to challenge the treatment options recommended to me, and lead others to better treatment. There was no proven Herceptin then. Arimidex was new and was the only AI available and didn’t have much history.

If I, as a stage I considered originally to have a “very good prognosis”, have already had at just 5 years out:

2 bone scans (each considered to have 10-20 times as much rads as a mammogram)
3 CTs (again, each considered to have 10-20 times as much rads as a mammogram)
Plus a few dozen mammograms and chest x-rays
IMRT radiation for 5 weeks plus boost
Cytoxan (with higher risk for development of leukemia with added radiation)
Adriamycin (with higher risk for development of leukemia down the road)
5-FU
Tamoxifen

then I have taken on a lot of added risk.

The one thing I would like others with early stage diagnosis to consider is that chemo and rads are cumulative, and that certain early stage patients in particular may actually "last longer" and benefit more in the long run by limiting as much of these diagnostics and therapies as possible. Newer techniques and therapies are likely to be developed before most early stage would ever develop recurrence, but you can never decrease the amount of chemo or rads you have had.

Again, please consider all the ways in which recommended therapy have changed just in the 5 years since I was diagnosed.

AlaskaAngel

http://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=28989