Hiya. Just wanted to ask a query re my mums cancer as it’s something that has really been bothering me lately.
My mum age 76, ok general health was diagnosed with grade 3 cancer lumps in both breasts last November. Was prescribed Femara and remarkably these lumps shrunk away to practically nothing, infact the doctor cant feel them on examination now but they are still visible on the most recent ultrasound test she had done.
Now at her last check up which was last month I asked the doctor if they were going to remove the lumps. He said no as the Femara is doing such a great job.
I would have thought they would have removed them to stop/prevent the cancer spreading. They did a MRI when she was first diagnosed and said the cancer hadnt spread then. I assume MRI can test the lymph nodes too? Not sure about that one.
Anyone heard of a case like this before.
It cant be her age/health that is stopping them, as I’ve met many women in their 70’s whilst attending radiotherapy who have had lumpectomys/radiotherapy etc.
when i was in hosp there was a lady who was on femara to shrink her tumour and although it shrunk it quite a bit she still needed surgery it was behind her nipple but had shrunk away from her nipple so it was saved which she was raving about and was going to continue on femara.
i think the further treatment depends on how your mum is responding to treatment and where her consultant thinks she would cope with something stronger or not… the side effects from chemo can be quite bad for some people especially if they are older and the cancer doesnt always respond so well as you are older.
and even the rads can be quite draining so if your mum is doing well on the femara then her team are maybe happy for her to continue on it and monitor with investigations to make sure its continuing to improve… it often depends not only on the grade and stage of your tumour but the type of cancer and the size of the tumour and obviously the how its responding to the treatment… and also how your mum would tolerate other more aggressive treatments.
Yes I get the impression that because the lumps have shrunk so quickly that they want to just carry on with the femara instead of stronger treatment. Im just worried that all the time the lumps are there, that the cancer can spread but the doctor said the Femara will stop that!
As for keeping an eye on her, her next appointment isnt for another year. Was surprised at that.
Gocat - I think quite often with older ladies, they tend to just manage the bc. In my Mum’s case, they did not remove the lump, which I was surprised about.