Several people have asked me why I need chemotherapy and radiotherapy if there are no signs that the cancer has spread. The main reason is because breast cancer can recur at any time, it can come back as a local recurrence (in the treated breast or near the mastectomy scar) or as a distant recurrence somewhere else in the body. The most common sites of recurrence are the lymph nodes, bones, liver or lungs. There are several indicators that can predict recurrence and it is based on these indicators that the type of treatment after surgery is determined. In my case, although my lymph nodes appear to be clear and the tumour was oestrogen receptor positive (which tend to respond well to hormone therapy), the tumour was big and it was a grade 3 tumour (abnormal and faster growing cells) which indicates a greater the chance of recurrence. So, considering all this, the potential benefits of chemotherapy and radiotherapy outweighs its horrible side effects.
I like to believe that all cancer cells have been removed with surgery, but I want to make sure I live healthy for as long possible and that is why I agreed to have chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy.
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