Trying for Another Baby - Putting Breast Cancer Treatment on Pause

Traci Mulder Been Through It Registered Nurse, Mother Send Message Subscribe: Traci Mulder

Wednesday, August 15, 2007
View All of Traci Mulder's Posts

I was pregnant with my second child when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer. Unfortunately, I lost my unborn child, but not hope in having another baby. I knew that following my chemotherapy and radiation treatment, my doctor planned to put me on the drug tamoxifen for five years. I was alrea...

Hide Comments | Add comment

Breast Cancer and Pregnancy
Kevin Knopf, MD
Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 12:17 PM
After a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy and/or hormone therapy) is given to prevent a recurrence at a site distant from the breast - a metastatic site. Each woman has a chance of having small (or micrometastases) at diagnosis. Tamoxifen works by competing for estrogen on any potential micrometastatic breast cancer cells.

Pregnancy is "tricky" after breast cancer because of a concern that the high levels of estrogen produced during pregnancy would stimulate cancer cells to grow - pregnancy is a time of the highest estrogen a woman naturally produces - very important for pregnancy, but potentially bad for breast cancer.

I've had similar patients in this situation - one patient had a fairly low risk of recurrence and we stopped tamoxifen after 2 years so she could get pregnant because there was a risk tradeoff she was willing to take and I supported.

re: Breast Cancer and Pregnancy
Traci Mulder
Monday, August 20, 2007 at 08:18 PM

Thank you for clarifying this for everyone. Being that I was pregnant when I was diagnosed we believed that pregnancy actually saved my life by causing the breast cancer to "kick into high gear" so to speak. We believe this is why I found it when I did. That is one of the reasons we weren't comfortably with me getting pregnant again.

Thank you for supporting your patient with her choice! I know how important it was for me to get the go ahead from my Dr when we were making this decision and can only believe it was important for her also. I have known many Dr's who wouldn't have given their blessing no matter how low risk the situation was.

Cancer Support Project
Anonymous
Friday, September 21, 2007 at 08:05 PM

I'd like to contact you about a new initiative that I am launching called the Cancer Support Project as part of Experience Project - it is a hub for emotional support for cancer patients, survivors, and loved ones. Please drop me a line at Julio at ExperienceProject dot com so that I can tell you more about it and how we can spread the word.

Untitled Comment
kaitlynn s.
Monday, May 12, 2008 at 12:04 PM

How does having breast cancer affect the unborn child? Do you still have it, or have you gone through therepy?

Untitled Comment
kaitlynn s.
Monday, May 12, 2008 at 12:05 PM

How does having breast cancer affect the unborn child? Do you still have it, or have you gone through therepy?

re: Untitled Comment
Traci Mulder
Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 12:18 PM

Sorry, I responded once and it didn't come through

It isn't the diagnosis of breast cancer that we were concerned about affecting the baby but the treatment for it. There are some chemotherapies that they won't use when you are pregnant becasue of the toxicity. They won't even start chemo until you are out of the first trimester and even then I am unsure what the risks are of the chemo on the baby. Since they don't like you using hardly any medications when you are pregnant I can't imagine chemo is without risk.

As for "still having it"? I am almost 8 years out from my diagnosis and consider myself cancer free I went through 6 months of chemotherapy, 6 weeks of radiation treatments and then a period of time on Tamoxifen. I am now on Lupron to continue to stop my cycles.