Not all the people tolerate such a huge amount of medicines that are given during chemo and many react really bad, I mean they have rashes and coloured spots all over the skin, a permanent burning sensation on the skin, nausea and many others. Not to mention the unpleasant fact that you lose your hair so, besides losing one breast or even two - which are considered to be the symbols of your feminity, you can lose all your hair now and be bald and you will feel sick and ugly and just miserable. So a lot of women ask their oncologist doctors: "Can you survive breast cancer without chemo treatment?".
Well, apparently you can, if you belong to the right category of people. Now medicine has made huge progresses and doctors have succeeded to develop a way of finding out what kind of treatment is the best for every breast cancer patient. They have to run some tests called "the triple test" that is supposed to find out if the tumour present in the breast is sensitive to a certain hormone - estrogen, testosteron.
This is done in the lab where the doctor examines the tumour sample that was removed during surgery (either a lumpectomy or a mastectomy) and if they can find some hromone receptors at the margin of the tumour, then these patients will not have to follow chemotherapy, but hormone therapy. So they will have to take only one pill that will inhibit the body from producing that hormone and this is a lot better than having to take all the pills or have the huge IV line in your arm for so long.
Of course, I also found another answer to this question when surfing the internet pages, but I highly doubt its beneficial effects. I am talking about the natural remedies advertised so much on the internet and also in different newspapers. I do not deny the fact that herbs and plants have a certain medical value and that they can influence us for the better, but here is only limited action they can take. They can make your immune system stronger and also your whole body. But I can't see how just some herbs will be able to remove cancer tumours without using a scalpel or any other similar tool.
Any way, whatever you may choose, make sure your oncologist knows everything about it in order not to interfere with your medical treatment. So, as you can see, even if progesses are made really slowly, because of all the tests and clinical trials doctors have to make, I can see real advances in this field and I am very confident in the success of the attempt doctors do to find a cure for cancer.