hi all , i wonder if anyone has any advice as i am worrying about this all the time.
i had breast cancer 4 years ago small lump 12mm no lympth involvement, had lumpectomy, 6 months of fec and 30 rads. this year i had a reoccurence on my scar line , so they ct ed my whole body and a bone scan and i have lung mets. no one kknows whether the lung mets ( 5 tiny spces)were from the original tumour 4 years ago or this one.
my oncologist said that they needed to get to control it first before any surgery. if the lung met situation did well and the tumour not so well then they would look to remove it. i was very upset by this and wanted it removed straight away. they said they wanted chemo first.
i am half way through taxol and avastin 10 sessions done and 8 more to go, lung mets have shrunk and tumour in breast activity has decreased becuase of the shape of it , they cany give me and decreased measurements but say it is usual to scan it at the end.
when they discovered my original tumour 4 years ago it was er + when they removed it ( biopsy showed - )) i undestand when they remove a tumour they have more dells to get a result some sometimes it can change. this new reoccurrence is showing as er - with a biopsy , i argued that how could they know this definately until tumour removed. i also said that we donyt actually know whether lung mets are + or minus , he said we can try and treat it hormally but that is not my recommendation yet chemo first then possibly hormone treatment.
is it usual to have chemo first ??, why couldnt i just have this tumour removed and lympth glands under arm pit, i feel so upset that this tumour is still in my breast , i want it out like yestetrday.
thanks
louise
xx
Louise I know exactly how you feel.I was dx in 2009 with local occurence in the axilla and lung mets,along with bone mets.I had chemo to deal with the lung mets and the lymph nodes.The lung met was no longer there following chemo but the chemo did nothing for the lymph nodes.I wanted the lymph nodes out like yesterday.I did however have rads and then go on hormonr therapy and the lymph nodes were kept under control.I had them removed in April this yea, 3 years later, and feel better for it. I am sure they have a plan in place for dealing with dx and the waiting for everything to happen is the worse feeling but it seems things are going in the right way so hopefully this will continue.
If you are really unhappy about your treatment you can always ask for a second opinion.
Good luck and I hope things keep improving for you.Take care.
L xx
Hi Louise,
I was dx with both primary large lump, lymph nodes and lung mets on both lungs in March 2011 from the start with both. Initially they started with FEC chemo then found the secondaries on the lungs and changed it to taxotere I did x5 sessions they did this to shrink everything down and the chemo worked really well the primary lump went from 6cm to 2mil, I was given to understand that this then meant that when I had my mastectomy they would be able to get clear margins my surgeon assured me that he got all the bad stuff out and took 13 lymph nodes with only 1 showing any cancer in it and we knew that I had it in my lymph nodes in the beginning because they were swollen, the stuff on my lungs described as multiple lung mets has not changed at all since the start of all of this my last ct scan was may 2012 and again showed clear everywhere else and that the lungs mets had stayed the same tiny and unchanged, the doctor that saw me with the results of the latest ct scan said and I quote “we are not even sure that it is cancer on your lungs it could just be scar tissue from a previous chest infection or flu etc” obviously I was blown away by this news as I thought I had it on my lungs for over a year!!! they can’t biopsy the stuff on the lungs because its too tiny so there is no other way of knowing whether or not it is cancerous or just scar tissue, my path is ER+ PR- HER2+ so I am on herceptin permanently or untill it stops working and tamoxifen for at least 5 years.
So I believe they are treating you the same as me and that they want to give you neo-adjuvant chemo (chemo first) shirnk it all down then perform surgery with possibly more rads after that.
Hope this helps you if you want to chat just send me a private message anytime.
Sending you lots of hugs
love and light
sarahlouisexx