her2

hello-my mom had a tumor on her right breast in october and went to doctor-had mammograms -biopsy -all the normal procedures regarding a lump on your breast...biopsy came b..ack no cancer just mammary duct eclaisia..but doctor and mom decided to remove the lump.. mom had a lumpectomy and the lump was 2.4cm and cancerous..er-pr neg. and her2 pos..mom then had lymph nodes removed and 2 of 20 had some cancer cells..the first 2 from the lump area,the other 18 were clear-neg..so oncologist recomended chemo-therapy..naturally mom fears this as she is feeling great andhas heard what chemo does to you..surgeon who removed the tumor told my mom to take some chemo too that he removed all the cancer plus a little extra and all margins were clear..but the chemo is for her benefit...oncologist said in his opinon with chemo moms chances were 65-75 percent that the cancer would not return..without chemo 70-80 per cent chance it would..i asked the oncologist what are the per centages for women with bc that had chemo and the cancer never returned..he said only around 4-8 per cent..he wants to start my mom on 4 treatments of epirubicin and cytoxan followed by 4 treatments of taxatore...i asked why not herceptin and taxol for her2 as what ive read is working well with her2 bc..he said this is the protocol for metastic cancer...i said it makes no sense to wait for the bc to spread before using something that is working well...and no one knows that chemo will be of benefit..i asked him what he would use if he could use any drug for her2 bc patients...he said herceptin and taxol would be it..but for now this is not the standard treatment..i said if mom did no chemo and the cancer spread to liver-bone-would herceptin be used then ..he said yes-definitely..i told him i can not see why a woman with her2 bc be put through chemo only to have the cancer spread and then be given something that may be of more benefit to her...its a shame...mom said she thinks she will try the chemo...any one have any suggestions on how to handle side effects of epirubicin-cytoxan-taxatore....mom is feelin great --so we are hoping for good results...she is 66 years young....we just hate to see the chemo wear down her immune system and make her ill when she is feelin good... but we want her around for many more years so we want whats best for her...i told the oncologist i will be keeping up on everything ...thanks....may God bless you all...MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL YOU BRAVE LADIES...JAMES