Hi i have had six months of neo-adjuvant chemo (chemo before surgery). It finished 13th june. I was told i would have an op to remove the tumour (lumpectomy) within 4 weeks, it has now been delayed by another 2 weeks. So it will be 6 weeks after my last chemo.
Can i ask did anyone find that their tumour grew in the time before they had surgery, if they had neo-adjuvant surgery? I am worried that the six months chemo was for nothing, if the tumour starts to grow back, and they end up giving me a mastectomy. (The tumour has shrunk and now cannot be seen)
Hi
I had chemo before surgery with the aim of reducing the lump enough to avoid a mastectomy. Unfortunately, my tumour fragmented rather than shrunk in one place so I had to have a mastectomy anyway. However, I had my last chemo on 31st March and the op on 28th April - I was under the impression that it was unusual to get an operation date so quickly and had expected at least 6 weeks wait after finishing chemo. I can’t reassure you that the tumour will not grow again slightly in that time but I had 28 nodes removed and all were clear because I’d had chemo first.
I think there are advantages and disadvantages either way really, but what I’m really trying to say through my ramblings (sorry I’m a bit spaced out today after radiotherapy and herceptin!) is that it’s not been a waste of time having chemo because it has done what it needed to do by reducing the tumour. You also need some time for your body to recover from the last lot of chemo before they can operate.
I hope this helps in some way.
Sharon