My ONC said anything over 1.5CM should have chemo. You are young, but your tumor is small. I did a lot of reading because even though my tumor was 1.8 CM, I wanted to ensure that chemo really improved my out come enough to warrant its use. This was a year ago and I know they now have tests that can really determine if adjuvant therapy (chemo) is appropriate for you. Chemo does not help the near term reoccurrence as was proven in my sister who was stage 1C node negative ER/PR+ like me and reoccurrence in the first year and died in 2 ½ years. Chemo helps longer term survivability. I read that chemo doubles the survivability rate in 10 years and triples in 15. Well I am 48 and you are 42, we want to be around for 15 more, so talk to your doctor about the new testing to see if you are really a good candidate for chemo. Family history is also a consideration. One other thing, being ER/PR/HER2 ++ is a good thing, they know how to treat this diagnosis.
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One other thing, I was node negative so I joined a clinic trail designed for node negative women to see if AC or Taxol as a stand alone drug was as effective as the standard treatment of 4 rounds of AC flowed by 4 rounds of Taxol. I had 6 rounds of dose dense Taxol every two weeks. I am not sure if that trial is still open.
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DX 11/14/05, Stage 1C, Her2+ 3.4, ER+, PR+, K167 23%, Node Negative, MX0, Grade 3, 1.8CM, Lumpectomy 12/7/05; 6 rounds dense dose Taxol bi-weekly, 35 radiation, 1 year Herceptin, & Tamoxifen ongoing.
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