I had a partial mastectomy, history of family with breast cancer, will I need chemo?

Hi,

The short answer is "It depends." The appropriate treatment for breast cancer depends on a whole host of factors. The size and agressiveness of your tumour, the kind of cancer (whether or not your cancer is hormone receptive or if you overexpress a protein called her2, for example), and the degree to which the cancer may have spread are among the things that will affect whether or not your oncologist recommends chemotherapy.

It seems your answer is a bit truncated here. Have you asked your doctor what she or he thinks?

Good luck - and if you do need chemo please know that there are many options available to help cope with side effects (probably more than there were for others in your family who have been diagnosed in the past).

Take good care and do stay in touch-

Laurie

Hi - Laurie's right, there are lots of factors at play here. With a partial mastectomy (lumpectomy?), I assume you'rll have radiation. Chemo will depend a lot on whether the cancer was found in your lymph nodes. Ask if you're a good candidate for the Oncotype-DX test, which in certain cases assesses whether or not chemo will be a valuable treatment for you.The bone density and vitamin D tests aren't really anything to do with the cancer - they want to track yourbone density re: possible osteoporosis, which leads me to believe they might be considering a hormone drug for you. Anyway, these are all areas your doctor will cover, I'm sure. best of luck - PJH

It's been my experience that if you ask whether you need chemo or not, your doctor will recommend it regardless.  The things Laurie mentioned are a big factor when it comes to chemo, but the oncotype test is really the one that determines whether chemo would be beneficial to you or not. Chemo is a systematic drug used to kill off rouge cells - radiation is a localized treatment that kills off any cells remaining at the site.

The tests you mentioned above are focusing on whether or not you carry what's called the breast cancer gene and if you are at risk of osteoporosis - not if chemo would be beneficial to you or not.

Your best bet is to talk with your doctor - see what he advises and why (if he is recommending chemo there might be a very good reason for it) - find out about your pathology, ask for an oncotype test, and go from there.

Good luck!

Angi