Hi Maple
I have never had breast cancer. My own cancer was a rare one called myxoid liposarcoma. However, my mom did have breaast cancer and my Pop passed away from lung cancer. Mom and Pop were diagnosed within a week of each other 12 years ago. I was diagnosed 11 years ago myself.
Okay, I shared that only because cancer my life has been filled in many ways with cancer and I have learned some about the treatments as both a caretaker and a patient. And I just wanted to share somethings I learned along the way.
Long before my mom's breast cancer treatment, it was routine for patients with breast cancer to have 12 rounds of chemo. Along the way, some patients just could not habdle all the treatments and stopped at ten. When research showed that these patients had a good survival rate, ten rounds of chemo became the standard. This kind of pattern repeated itself and by the time my mom was treated, the recommended number of rounds of chemo was down to 6. I don't know where it stands today. It takes a lot of interaction between doctors and patients to come to decisions when in treatment and ultimately a patient makes the decision as to how much treatment is bearable. From these decisions, data is collected, researched, studied and routines change.
At the time of my own rare cancer, there were no studies of what effect if any, chemo had in helping patients like myself. I was prescribed 6 rounds and it was a very powerful protocol called MAID. After two rounds, I knew in my gut that the chemo was gouing to destroy me, physically and mentally. I told my doctor I would go for a total of four rounds and no more. I was willing to take a chance for quality of life and hope and pray for quantity also. So I only had four rounds. I was part of a follow up study as the clinic where I received treatment at Mass General Hospital has a Sarcoma clinic and were beginning to study sarcopmas more thorughly and routinely. I don't know where the routine is at this point for those diagnosed with the particular cancer I had, but would not be surprised to find that fewer rounds of MAID are now used or that the MAID protocol iteslf is now outdtaed after research data has been studied.
So, it does not surprise me to read about your friend. If she has any comcerns, I would suggest she just outright ask the doctor to share the research with her and find out the success rate with this particular routine and method. She has every right as a patient to understand and question why a particular treatment pattern is being used. It is so vital that we are totally proactive in our treatment plans and that we have understanding of everythingbeing done and the whys of each thing. I wasn't happy about being a 'guinea pig' of sorts, but we deal from where we are in life at the moment. When I talked to my own doctor about my concerns, he was very willing to listen and shared openly and honestly with me.
Best,best wishes to your friend. And to you... you are a wonderful friend to care about another human so dearly.
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