Olaparib treatment
Hello everyone,
last year I fought breast cancer (28w, got the diagnosis with 26) and I just finished my last immunotherapy (Pembrolizumab) in April. Now my oncologist called me, saying that I should do a maintenance therapy with Olaparib for a year. I'm seriously struggling with this, because no one ever told me and the side effects of Olaparib are not as easy to think of for a year. I'd like to gather some experiences of people that took Olaparib or that denied it, to make up my mind about that therapy.
To judge my situation I should tell you the whole story: I felt the tumor last year in January and got an appointment in February for a biopsy. Turns out, it's TNBC, no metastases though. I started a treatment for cryoconservation of ovary cells, since I knot that I want to have kids since I was a child myself.
Chemotherapy started end of March with 4 EC and 12 cyclin-something (can't remember), at that point my tumor had a sice of approx. 7 cm and it could never be identified whether lymph nodes we're contaminated as well. Throughout all that time I also got the immunotherapy. Chemotherapy fucked me up quite a bit, but I fought through it, still went to university to finish my master's degree and here I am starting a PhD this month.
Anyways, in October I got both my breasts removed, since I got to know about my BRCA1 mutation and I couldn't stand the thought of waking up every morning, feeling a nod and being afraid that it's cancer again and not just some tight tissue because of hormones and stuff. Also six lymph nodes were removed, just to make sure, since we never knew about their status.
Three weeks after my operation I got 20 radiation treatments of the sick breast and the corresponding armpit. The pathology stated, that all the removed tissue and also the removed lymph nodes were clear of cancer cells.
I continued immunotherapy until beginning of April this year.
Like I said, now my oncologist called me about the Olaparib and of course I read about the side effects and the rather harsh treatment. I don't know if I should do the treatment or not, since it's not going to get the risk of relapse down to 0, it's only going to reduce it further. But somehow I feel like I have done more than enough (getting both breasts removed, e.g.) to reduce my risk already and I'm thinking how big is the chance, that cancer cells survived this whole journey?! I was so happy to end immunotherapy and as I thought all my treatments, then this came in... I'm barely gaining back life quality, just doing what I want to do, gaining strength and trust in my body again. I feel like I can't handle another year of treatment, I don't know, at the same time I don't want to have cancer ever again. But in the other side I'll have to deal with it anyway due to my risk for ovary cancer.
To sum it up, I don't know what to do. I'm hoping for people that took it and people that denied the treatment to tell me of their way of decision making, how you felt, what your doctor said. Just some input to get an idea what to do.
Thanks guys!