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Kim in DC · 12-13-2004, 07:15 AM

If I were you I would have the Chemo. Everything Shelia said is correct. It's a crap shoot. I guess where I have a problem is that your surgeon is putting in his or her 2 cents (even though oncologists only really get paid when you get chemo). I would seek additional opinions from other oncologist. Your surgeon is looking at it from the point of view of how much the cancer physically invaded your body. The oncologist is looking at the biological make up of the tumor. Her2neu makes it more aggressive. You only need 1 microscopic cell floating around in your body to cause a recurrence. Chemo can help kill it before it causes mets. The way it was explained to me is that there is an 80% 5 year survival with node negative bc. Adding chemo would bring it to 90%.

12-13-2004, 07:15 AM	#3
Kim in DC Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 190	If I were you I would have the Chemo. Everything Shelia said is correct. It's a crap shoot. I guess where I have a problem is that your surgeon is putting in his or her 2 cents (even though oncologists only really get paid when you get chemo). I would seek additional opinions from other oncologist. Your surgeon is looking at it from the point of view of how much the cancer physically invaded your body. The oncologist is looking at the biological make up of the tumor. Her2neu makes it more aggressive. You only need 1 microscopic cell floating around in your body to cause a recurrence. Chemo can help kill it before it causes mets. The way it was explained to me is that there is an 80% 5 year survival with node negative bc. Adding chemo would bring it to 90%.