Hi all, im hoping to hear other peoples experiences with this and hopefully get the info im hoping for.
I had my ultrasound scan today after 4 rounds of EC and gladly there has been a very good response, the nurse said the words “almost complete response” which is brilliant. I may be sent for a MRI scan to get a better picture of how the chemo has worked and the cancer has responded.
Anyway, as happy as I am about this I am now hoping that I can speed up this process slightly. I’m still expecting to have 12 rounds of taxol followed by surgery, radio therapy, hormone therapy etc…
Has anyone had this news and they didn’t have to have all the planned chemotherapy and had surgery and radiotherapy brought forward?
My oncologist explained when we had our first meeting that our aim is to shrink the tumours enough away from my chest wall so we can do a successful full mastectomy. If this happens early in the treatment then can that change the plan?
I know it’s a bit daft to be asking this as the chemo is working and my cancer is responding well but chemo SUCKS! I am in no way refusing chemo or anything they recommend, I’m just hopeful that we can speed up the “cancer free” diagnosis.
I plan to have this conversation with my team when we speak next but I would also like to hear your experiences
Hi @kingsbreasts,
That’s great news on your recent scan. To know the chemo is doing it’s job makes it more worthwhile!
When i was mid-way through chemo I also had good results. Not as good as your results but it had reduced and then after finishing chemo mine had a complete response to the chemo. They didn’t speak to me at any point about speeding things up and to be honest I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on the full chemo. While surgery and radio will locally target the area the chemo is going all through your body and targeting everywhere else. I know it’s not a nice part of the journey but its a really important part.
Sorry I couldn’t share something you wanted to hear but take comfort in the fact you are having such a positive response to chemo and it’s doing it’s job. You’re at the mid-way point so not long to go now to that part is over x
@clay83 thank you for sharing your experience with me 
obviously knowing the chemo is doing its job is a great thing and I’m going to carry on as I’m told to by my doctors I was really just clinging on to that little bit of false hope, more like delusion actually, that I’ll be able to stop chemo and all these horrible side effects cause it’s worked so well and move onto the next part of the process. I guess I’m just impatient and a little part of me wants to enjoy the summer vomit free 
I was told that I’d get scans at halfway and regardless of results being good it wouldn’t change anything …. Just means it is doing its job well. I think a good way to think about it is that chemo is like insurance for the future …. Obviously not guaranteed but doing the originally planned chemo (and the EC and Docetaxel/Paclitaxel go hand in hand) means that you’ll reduce your risk in the future. Basically blasting it for belts and braces! Short term inconvenience but the potential benefits greatly outweigh the idea of not having done all the original plan then dealing with it coming back when more could’ve been done originally to improve your chances☺️
Oh yes i completely agree there’s no way im refusing any part of my plan or changing it unless medically necessary.
I was just hoping that they would be able to move surgery sooner seen as the tumour has reduced a lot and my little pre chemo mind was also hoping they would say no more chemo but i know that’s not gonna happen