… for those who had shrinking chemo pre-op…
Just wondering how long it was before you received any feedback re whether it was shrinking or not.
I’ve got my second (fortnightly) chemo this week and I was thinking it was probably too early to tell because of the unscientific way they seem to do it (with F shaped caliper thingies) but then I think maybe I can tell a difference already… (with my V shaped caliper fingies…)
Also, has anyone else found that their acne clears up for a few days after each chemo then they break out again the second week? I’m wondering if that was because of the steroids…
Cheers
mousy
I had chemo pre surgery and I could feel a difference immediately which onc confirmed with caliper thingies. I also had an ultrasound scan after 4 chemos which showed that it had reduced significantly. I think sometimes it does work that quickly which is really encouraging. Sorry can’t help with acne query, I found my skin was better whilst on chemo, everyone kept saying how well I looked which was very annoying when I felt awful.Hope the treatment continues well.
Love Lisa x
I could feel mine shrinking within a few days of each chemo but I could feel it growing again by the time I was due to have the next dose again. However, by the end of the 6 x FEC, it had definately shrunk which was confirmed by callipers, mammogram and ultrasound!!!
Kate
Hi mousy,
I had chemo pre-surgery and my tumour was 6cm. Even on the 10-day check after first chemo the oncologist wanted to check the lump. He seemed very surprised to find that it appeared to have shrunk to half the size. In fact his first word was ‘miraculous’. I can’t tell you how good that was to hear. By the end of the chemo it wasnt palapable, nor did it show up on a subsequent mammogram.
Dawn
Hi Mousy
My tumour was 5cm when I started chemo. After 15 days, it had shrunk on manual examination by my onc. She asked me what I thought. I knew it hadn’t grown it has gone from no perception to 5cm in 6 weeks) but I hardly hoped that it would have shrunk. But it had, significantly
2 weeks after my second FEC, she reckoned it was less than 3cm and soft rather than hard. I have an ultrasound next week that will give me the full SP. But I know the chemo is working. I was told that aggressive cancers like mine may just melt away (like the playground bully) which is why I had a wire marker put in before chemo so they know what tissue to remove.
Good luck
Sharon x
Sounds good. Maybe I’ll get some kind of feedback this week after all then.
They put a marker in me too when I had the extra biopsy done for the trial. They said it makes life easier for them when sometimes the lumps disappear completely (and obviously we’re all hoping for that).
mousy
PS I have/had two lumps 5cm and 3cm. They originally felt like they might be one peanut shaped lump, but I wasn’t surprised to find out on the mammogram that they were seperate. Now thw larger one feels like it might be 4cm and I’m finding it hard to isolate where the smaller one is (mind you that ones deeper).
mousy
Mine was described like the H from the front of a Honda car. 2 oval tumours connected in the middle
I’m not gonna bore you all with my sordid story, but my lump shrank dramatically after every FEC, until when scanned & repeat mammo’d after the 4th FEC they could find no trace of the lump!!! I thought this was brilliant, but it was not as they could no longer undertake WLE & I had to have a Mastectomy.
I’m glad you have had a marker put in Mousy!
Lynn
I was due to have 6 pre surgery fecs, but they operated after 4 as the 3cm tumour had shrunk so much. Thankfully they did put in a marker. However I had to have second wide incision as there were some rogue cancer cells left in the area from which the tumour had shrunk.My surgeon was happy with the margins after the second op.
Hollyhock
They only marked the bigger one but they swore they could find the site of the second from having the marker of the first as a point of reference. Hope they weren’t telling porkies…
mousy
Now I’ve got a wee lump about halfway up my forearm at the back (the side they did the chemo last time). Feels bruise-like but no mark on the skin. It’s been a bit tender along about 6 inches of vein since the chemo but the lump is new today.
Eeeek… I guess they’ll definitely be doing the other side this time now… and I’ll be struggling to get my food wrappers open/pull up my trou with my left hand.
mousy
I had a lumpectomy to remove a 5cm tumour but within two weeks I had two new 5 cm lumps so am having TAC chemo before a Masectomy after one dose they had shrunk and after two had disappeared completely. They did not mark them but I knew where they were by the scar.
Val
I forgot to menton to the doc about the lump, but mentioned it to the nurses when I got through to treatment room. They said it was plebitis or something like that and didn’t like the look of it, so they did end up doing the right arm instead. That sort of limited what I could do to pass the time so it was a very slow session today. Only got home 7:15.
For the plebitis thing they recommended Ibuprofen but I can’t because of my NSAIDs allergy. Guess we’ll have to hope it goes down by itself.
The good news is the lumps have softened a little and got a little smaller (about 0.5cm smaller each direction)
mousy