u/vipeachy

Hi there!
A couple weeks back I had a very weird interaction with my oncologist and the radiation doctor

Quick info about my situation- 32F, diagnosed Jan 2026 with TNBC IDC stage 3c, tumor was 8.2cm.
Quickly started keynote 522, tumor shrunk immediately. Last chemo was July 9. Had a double mastectomy on September 2nd, 4 lymph nodes taken. Achieved PCR!! (Today is October 5th 2026 incase you’re reading this in the future)

Here’s where things got weird:
The week after my DMX, I see my oncologist. Same guy I’ve been seeing since diagnosis. He’s excited for me. He’s so happy to see that I achieved PCR and really took some time to get it through to me that this is real and that I don’t have cancer anymore. He said that I should use the word “cured” when talking about my cancer.
He said he has NEVER SEEN SOMEONE GET A PCR AND THEN GO ON TO HAVE A RECURRENCE. EVER. He really hyped me up and made me start to actually feel good about all of this. He asked me if I had made an appointment to talk to the radiation doctor and I said yes it’s today but I don’t want to do radiation and he SAID TO ME so causally that he really doesn’t see any reason why that would be an issue and feels good about my choice not to do radiation

I go from his office directly to the radiation doctor who is in the same space down the hall or whatever. Immediately the vibe is weird and cold. I fill out the same forms I’ve filled out a million times, answer the same questions I’ve answered over and over again. When the doctor finally came in he didn’t even sit down, he immediately and I mean IMMEDIATELY started a monologue about how that study everyone is talking about doesn’t apply to me because of NEW INFORMATION TO ME lymph nodes near my sternum that showed as suspicious on my FIRST SCANS BACK IN JANUARY but never showed again after

radiation, what it is, all the different types, all of the risks, how your ribs can break but “it’s really not a big deal” ???? HUH WHAT
Without even stopping to take a breath so I’m just sitting there like, jaw dropped processing this insane amount of info

Then I start to ask questions. Like,

“you’re saying I have lymph node involvement in my sternum that showed up back in January yet not a single other doctor has mentioned this to me? So you’re telling me my AWARD WINNING CANCER SURGEON didn’t see this?”

And he dead ass said “her area of expertise is the breast and that’s outside the area.”

Me: “you’re telling me that she saw suspicious lymph nodes and just DECIDED to not tell me? You don’t think she would have, idk? Referred me to someone who handles that? But instead ignored it? AND all of the scans I’ve had sense have never shown anything? ANDDDD IVE ASKED HER A MILLION TIMES ABOUT POSSIBLE OTHER CANCER THINGS BC IM NERVOUS???” (I promise I was being polite)

He was starting to get mad at me but I kept asking questions. He said I need radiation because my tumor was 8.2cm at diagnosis and that’s protocol. Oh really? Then why wasn’t radiation part of my original plan? Why is it that every time I discussed radiation with my cancer surgeon she said ITS NOT DETERMINED UNTIL AFTER PATHOLOGY FROM MY DMX HAPPENS?? My tumor had shrunk to literally nothing. It was literally gone before my DMX.

My partner and I were trying to ask him risk percentages and he robotically kept repeating some nonsense about a study from the 1940s!!!! DUDE WHAT THE FUCK???

He then says “your oncologist is worried about a recurrence and that’s why he wants you to finish taking Keytruda”

“No actually I LITERALLY just talked to him 10 minutes ago and he said he ISNT worried about a recurrence at all and said he has NEVER seen anyone get a PCR and then have a recurrence-

“WELL I HAVE.” Radiation doctor raised his voice and interrupted me -totally fine I’m not mad about it but he def showed annoyance that I wasn’t going to be medically gas lit without asking some damn questions. He clearly didn’t know that my oncologist just told me that he hasn’t spoken a single word to the radiation doctor about me or my case so he wasn’t expecting me to KNOW HE WAS LYING about what my oncologist thought

We leave, I’m upset bc of the emotional roller coaster, I was finally feeling hopeful and then that happened. My partner and I both were very much like “wtf was that?? No rads def not worth the risk”

-WE GET HOME AND GUESS WHAT-
My ONCOLOGIST calls me. He has never called me before. He immediately says. “I think you should do it. I talked to (radiation doctor) in the hallway and Blah BLAH BLAH” he kept saying some SHIT about “you handled chemo so well, this will be easy” DUDE THATS NOT A GOOD REASON TO ME???

They can’t give me direct answers beyond “radiation is like insurance” FOR WHO?? Several doctors have said that bullshit to me and every time I say “but it’s not tho? Cancer can still come back” and EVERY time they just stare at me
Maybe insurance for them. But exposing myself to radiation that can cause a whole other type of cancer PLUS all of the other LIFE LONG RISKS it’s just not worth it to me. I’m going to be terrified everyday for the rest of my life no matter what I do.

What do yall make of this? I talked to my old lady chemo friend after this happened and she said she thinks he just wants the business. Others I talk to say it sounds like my oncologist got in trouble for telling me what he honestly thought instead of the corporate thing.
My partner and I both feel very strongly that it’s more than okay not to do radiation. But I want to know what yall think about all of this

Thank you for reading sorry if it’s kinda all over the place

(Not saying it would necessarily be a bad thing if this were true, it’s just something I’ve observed and was thinking about, also I’m tired and sound insane but come onnnn)

Clearly these companies are watering down the adderall and making it slowly worse or we wouldn’t all be here.
I recently asked my doctor about trying a GLP1 to help with weight gain that happened during chemotherapy and I wanted to make sure I could still take adderall at the same time.
She said yes but at a lower dose. I got curious today and did some research. Apparently GLP1s are being studied for their ability to treat ADHD! Very cool news! But isn’t it strange how heavily marketed ozempic and wegovy are? What if they start prescribing it instead of adderall?

My doctor also said they’ve pretty much stopped prescribing phentermine completely in favor of GLP1, which seems to be better in a ton of ways, but it makes me wonder

Are they slowing trying to eliminate amphetamines from pharmacies for us peasant folk? You know the super rich have the real adderall or no one would be able to function

Personally I don’t care as long as I’m able to control my adhd, I just don’t like being lied to

Yall

I’ve done 12 weeks of carbo taxol (I think?) and just had my second round of AC out of 4. I’ve gained 20 full pounds.

Eating has thankfully not been an issue for me but I wish I hadn’t taken the doctors advice so literally to eat whatever I wanted going into this. My body already clings to sugar and I feel like I’m still carrying around the cookies I ate in the first month of chemo

I know I can always lose weight later and I’m grateful to have a later. But for now, I’m gonna try my best not to add even more weight. Tbh I’m not sure if there’s much I can do, I feel like I’m ballooning

I’m entering the bone aching phase and will likely not be moving around much, time to try to fast I guess

I just hope all the good habits I had built up before this started come back. I was walking everyday and had a good hold on my diet and body. Now I’m fat and bald lol!!

One day at a time

TLDR; after my first Red Devil AC chemo I’m actually feeling FINE??

Hi there! I lurk here mostly but wanted to share this. I’m also very aware my situation seems to be a lot easier than most, this is in no way meant to take away from anyone’s experience I just felt led to share my own incase it helps someone not feel so terrified

This past Thursday (week 13 of chemo) I had my first AC/ red devil whatever you wanna call it. I also had immunotherapy Keytruda and other fluids etc. I was very nervous, cried a lot the week leading up to it, and was convinced I’d be completely comatose for the next 3 months.

Today is Tuesday, and I’m happy to report that yes I’ve been tired, BUT I do not have any of the mental depression stuff I had on the previous chemo! My body is sleepy but my mind belongs to me. And that is HUGE for me. I’ve been sleeping normal amounts for the most part, and clinging to Minecraft for the first time as an attempted distraction. My daughter has been loving that!
The worst symptom I’ve had is acid reflux and I consider that a huge win. I’m aware this might not be my experience for the entire rest of my treatment but today we celebrate!

For context, in January I was diagnosed with stage 3 TNBC IDC. I am 32 F. I started chemotherapy soon after and am on the Keynote Keytruda plan.

I had a huge baseball sized tumor in my right breast, extremely painful and was on morphine and hydrocodone daily until about the second week of chemo where my tumor shrank so much that I’m happy to report I’m not in any pain anymore!

The first 3 months of chemo were weekly, Taxol and I think carbo? I received chemo Thursdays, was exhausted through Sunday then mostly fine until next treatment. The hardest part for me was how the chemo changed my brain chemistry slightly and made me more depressed. Still wasn’t EXTREME but it was hard.

I have not been very active but I keep reminding myself that my job is to heal. I’m resting and healing and that is plenty.

Also I believe my adhd meds are helping me aswell, they don’t make me feel as good as they used to but they help me wake up a bit. I hear you can get adderall prescribed for chemo brain too! Just thought I’d mention since it’s been so helpful for me HOWEVER these meds are NOT the only reason why my brain is working, they just help ;)

Good luck to all of you out there!! Here’s to hoping my good luck with this chemo continues, these nausea meds are miracle workers!! Yay science!! Yay to a future without cancer!!