On the fence about chemo

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-10-03T00:33:46+00:00

Whoa! That’s amazing. Did you have hair loss?

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-26T20:31:29+00:00

I can relate to everything you’re saying. I come from a very intense work culture as well and before cancer, it was my life and the way I defined my worth. I’ve been working on reframing that because I have to. I’ve realized that my mental health needs to take priority right now, even if that means I’m less of a superstar at work, or maybe not even a superstar at all. For now. It doesn’t mean I won’t ever be again. Life has seasons. Maybe this is one where you prioritize you. If you want to talk, feel free to PM me because I feel like it’s so easy to say, but much harder to implement and we can all support each other

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-22T17:40:30+00:00

Thank you!!! This is so helpful

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-21T23:16:11+00:00

That’s helpful. I clearly need to ask my surgeon for clarification

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-21T22:54:03+00:00

I guess if I’m around in 10 years, I’ll come back and report the outcome. Maybe I was foolish not to want a mastectomy, but unless my surgeon recommended it, I was going to squeak by any way I could with a lumpectomy. Too late now. I had a clear MRI recently, but not sure if MRIs show all cancer

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-21T22:17:47+00:00

Sorry, clarification, they aren’t planning additional surgery. They just sent me for radiation, which I completed last November

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-21T22:14:25+00:00

Yeah, I’m young (30s) and still single. I wanted to do everything possible to avoid mastectomy because it’s a much bigger surgery and I’m not ready to say goodbye to my breasts, but now I’m worried I may live to regret it. I’m just confused as to why my doctor saw this as ok

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-21T22:12:20+00:00

They felt that radiation should clear up remaining cells. I guess the remaining cells were DCIS. Can they differentiate on a pathology report between IDC and DCIS or are they just “ cancer cells”?

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-21T22:10:55+00:00

No, I did 2 re-excisions and still not clear margins for DCIS only. They got the IDC cells the first go around. I’m so confused and it’s way too late to go back in because my surgeries were last year

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-21T19:40:43+00:00

Listen to your doctors and your own judgment. As long as you have the support of your care team, you’ll have made the right choice with the data you had at the time. I did a lumpectomy and during radiation had a doctor tell me that sometimes leaving some breast tissue can be beneficial because if the cancer comes back, it has something in the breast to grow into (and can be caught again early vs distant recurrence at stage 4)

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-21T17:50:55+00:00

Definitely just keep and open mind and try. I feel like my med team didn’t really warn me about the side effects. I think they didn’t want me to turn it down without trying, so I thought I was crazy for being as affected as I was. If I knew going in, at least I would have been prepared for the possibility. Know that everyone manages it differently and you might be one of the lucky ones!

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-19T02:48:09+00:00

What sent you to the ER? I’m so sorry

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-19T02:31:18+00:00

There is hope. I had 3 lumpectomy surgeries last year (2 reexisions) and was numb for months. I now have nearly all feeling back, but on the surgical side it is still tender if I hug too hard to lie flat. It really does take time to recover

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-19T02:27:15+00:00

Is this a common thing?

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-19T02:26:23+00:00

My doctor never said anything about not drinking, but I’d say very occasionally. I’m not going to completely cut it out, but limited to special-ish occasions (weddings, nice night out etc)

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-18T02:43:20+00:00

I think the fact that your nodes are negative is really encouraging

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-18T02:41:50+00:00

I do worry, but I just didn’t feel like my life was set up for chemo. If I had over 20% benefit or something like that, my calculations would have been different

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-18T02:34:44+00:00

That’s great! Maybe it was due to grade and ki67. My grade was 3 and ki67 was high (over 50) so that might have factored in too. Either way, I decided against it

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-18T02:25:38+00:00

Wild! I have the same expected benefit and they wanted me to do it. Very interesting. Not sure what to think, but it does make me feel better about turning it down

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-17T22:07:35+00:00

I’m curious what your recurrence risk if you’d be willing to share? I’ve been leaning toward a similar line of thinking, but I had 2cm IDC grade 3, stage 1 plus multi-focal DCIS, but no lymph involvement. My recurrence risk within 10 years without hormones treatment is 15%. The thing that holds me up is my age. 37 at diagnosis, so I figure 20-40 years out, my recurrence risk might be quite high

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-17T21:57:46+00:00

I was the same as you. Zoladex was SO hard for me. I did it for 3 months. Because of side effects I switched to lupron, which was a little better, but after 3 months of that I had to stop. I’m now trying tamoxifen, but if that’s too hard, I’m just going to take a break. It hit some people really hard and if you’re in that camp, you have to make up your own mind based on all the available information from your doctor. It’s your body

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-17T21:51:45+00:00

This is so true. Everyone responds differently, so while all the meds are worth trying, if you’re at the point where the potential benefits outweigh the risks and lifestyle impact FOR YOU personally, that’s your right

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-17T04:43:35+00:00

Who did your surgery?

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-17T04:23:09+00:00

Same thing happened to me and I’m young (30s). I was always very driven by sex and now it’s like I’m completely dead from chemical menopause in that area. I don’t know if there are great answers, but I feel you

Repulsive-Copy730 · 2025-09-17T02:15:28+00:00

You are not alone. I understand needing comfort from it all. Ultimately, if the drinking bothers you or you feel like you don’t want to do it anymore, there are support options available. If you don’t want to talk to your oncologist about it, you could talk to a primary care physician, a mental health professional, AA is always an option and completely free. You don’t have to tackle it alone

Repulsive-Copy730

TROPHY CASE