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Toni
No problem. It's what the site is about and I've had lots of help from others over two years on a steep learning curve.
First the good news. As I sort of hoped, they have indicated a very low risk of recurrence over the next decade. 6%. Not zero, but some people take a bigger risk crossing the freeway every day.
And remember, many of that tiny monority of people who have recurrence are also caught at an early stage and 'cured' for a second time.
But no risk always feels better than some risk, so what to do next?
The Onc's are debating an important question on the typing of the cancer as the best treatment options can be highly specific. Or, if they decide that there may be more than one cell type involved (yep, you do get mixed tumours) they may chose a less common combination of approches.
Yes you can take herceptin by itself, but in its use as an adjuvant 'stray cancer cell mopping up' treatment it is much more effective when combined with modern chemo combinations. You might say that the herceptin holds it down while the chemo beats the hell out of it.
So, if you do one, you have nothing to lose and most to gain by doing the other.
If they decide that the tumour might have been ER positive, then after any chemo/herceptin, they might (and that's a definite might) put her on a one of several drugs that are very, very good at stopping recurrence of ER+. Hopefully the samples or slides were frozen and not discarded by pathology, so they can be retested. Nobody wants to give people powerful drugs, many of which have side effects and health impact in themselves, without knowing they actually need them.
However, sounds like they are definitely going to do something (Good news). Probably Herceptin + chemo. I think most people on this site would show a thumbs up for that option if it is offered.
The real risk reduction might be only a few percent, but peace of mind doesn't come out of mathematics. Take it and relax knowing that even a low risk just got a whole lot lower.
It probably doesn't feel that way right now, but everything you've heard seems to justify popping maybe a small bottle of Champagne and drinking to the fact it could have been a whole lot worse and further help seems to be in the pipeline.
John L
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