Should I consider Chemotherapy?

My miracle is that the lump (a 1.4 cm lump) that prompted me to start this whole 'train ride' was negative! A smaller (1.2 cm) lump underneath, and totally invisible on mammography (though the sonogram showed suspicion - a sonogram I wouldn't have taken but not for the bigger, non-malignant lum) was positive. Doc said that without that bigger lump, the mammo would have been negative...scarey!

I'm in the Detroit area, so have some good places...Karmanos, U of Mich, etc. The more I read about chemo in early stage (stage I) the more I think this is a decision I might make or encourage if it's not offered to me immediately...I wanna make sure any hitchhikers on the original tumor don't wander and set up housekeeping and have families 10 years down the road...want to evict all of 'em NOW! The tumor is 1.2 cm, Nuclear Class II, Bloom-richardson Grade I (3-5)Mitotic 10. I'm not totally sure what all that means - mitosis, if memory serves is cell division (geesh, long time from A&P in college, let alone biology)! But, have no idea 10 out of what? It says 0-11, and mine is 10...isn't that a 'high' normal? Interestingly enough, the CEA and C15-3 blood tests were normal, C27.29 hasn't come back yet.

Should chemo be something I should at least embrace if offered, and suggest if not? My oncologist is with the UMICH, and I"m getting a 2nd opinion at Karmanos this coming week.

Thanks!

[CCF-RN,MSN-JS]

Dear Grannymac,  Stage 1 disease is a tumor that is 2cm or less in size, without any evidence of spread to nearby lymph nodes or distant sites.  For many years it was not customary to treat Stage I breast cancer with chemotherapy or hormone therapy.  Recent trials suggest that Stage I patients will benefit from adjuvant therapy. (Adjuvant treatment is treatment given after surgery to try to prevent or minimize the growth of microscopic deposits of tumor cells that might grow into a recurrent tumor).

Two large trials by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Project (NSABP) showed significant reduction in recurrences in the opposite breast at four-year follow-up for estrogen-receptor-negative patients given chemotherapy and for estrogen-receptor-positive patients treated with tamoxifen.  

Adjuvant therapy usually begins within four to six weeks of surgery.  There are many effective programs, with other drug combinations and hormonal therapies under clinical evaluation.