Hello all
I am currently undergoing neoadjuvant chemo for tn IDC stage 3. Tuesday will be my last cycle of TAC. My tumor has shrinked a whole lot or should I say almost about to disappear, but my question is how does surgery go for breast cancer? I was told by my onc I still might need surgery depending on the breast MRI they will give me on the 28th. Not so much nervous but very curious because I am 21 and this is all new to me of course.
I am willing to accept any advice, comments, or suggestions!
icare xx
HI icare, I can’t help answer your question but others who’ve had neo-adjuvant may well be along soon to help.
By the way, what a beautiful smile you have on your avatar!
BUMP!
hi icare , thats great that chemo has been so effective on your tumour i had mastectomy first then chemo but many ladies had it your way am sure they will come along soon to advise, i am sorry you had to find us but you will get lots of support here love rachel xxx
Hi icare. I’m in a similar position. My lump is reducing through chemo, and i’ll have surgery next. I was told wle and will have 20 rads after.
I wish i’d have asked q’s, but I didn’t and found into chemo that my lump was 5cm x 5.5 cm and was told that other drugs won’t help later on, so i’m triple negative. Feel free to chat.
hi,there seem to be a few young women posting recently. I cannot comment on the tumor shrinking treatment, but if I read you correctly you are wondering about the operation because you might need it.
perhaps you should change the title of your post to surgery after neoadjuvant chemo so that other people having the same treatment will spot it and answer.
I will pm you with what my surgery was like to satisfy your curiousity but fingers crossed for your scan and hopefully they will have got the little blighter and you will not need it.
Hiya
I had 7 chemos, 4 FEC 3 TAX before surgery. My tumour shrunk from approx 3.5cm to 1.5cm so only had to have a WLE and axillary clearance. Im 7 weeks post surgery now and starting rads on tuesday, having 19. It was good to know that whilst suffering with side effects on chemo that it was working. xx Ness xx
Hi - another youngish TN lady. I am 30, and had surgery 3.5 week sago after neoadjuvant chemo. Stage 3 Grade 3 tumour
My tumour shrank to nothing after 4 cycles of chemo - it actually disappeared into my breast tissue before I even had my second cycle of chemo. I had a marker coil in (do you have one of those??) and they just did an ultrasound scan which showed no tumour either.
So I had a wide local excision (‘lumpectomy’) of the marked area. I had a guide wire out into the coil under mammogram guidance before the operation. I also had a full axillary dissection (24 nodes removed). My surgeon also resected some muscle behind where the tumour was in case it had been attached.
I was told that in cases where the tumour vanishes completely (on pathology after operation) there would still have been a 30% recurrence rate without surgery. That is what I had - a complete pathological response with no tumour found.
So now I go to 20 cycles of rads. I had 4 cycles of FEC pre surgery.
Hey all… Thanks for all your comments! I am soooo happy that this coming Tuesday(5th) will be done with my TAC cycles. Time flew by real quick but the process wasn’t that easy! (Just being honest) I don’t believe I have a coil marker. Only thing I have is a port. Now do the breast surgeon remove the port with the surgery or is that considered two different surgeries?
I don’t mean to bother anyone I just like to hear other people stories that went thru the same process as me or should I say been or going thru this thing called BC! I just hope I have a full clearance and don’t need too much done. In the very beginning it was said that I might need a mastectomy so hopefully again that can turn around to a lumpectomy or NOTHING AT ALL!!
Thanks a lot everyone…
icare
Hey icare
I’m just Recovering from my mx and LD recon after having chemo for lobular.
I had an SNB prior to the full op, which found cancer still there in all the 4 nodes taken. I think we all had high hopes that the chemo had mopped up the cancer completely (even the consultant) as it couldn’t be seen or felt in 3 of the 4 places but there was still some remaining.
Lobular tends to show up in more than one place in the breast and so, for me, a lumpectomy would never have been an option. I’m having the results of what they found on the 15th. They explained that chemo can either melt the cancer away so that you just get a smaller lump or the lump is broken up into smaller bits.
I can’t help you on the port front - I didn’t have one and not sure if the info is of any use, just maybe something that will help you understand why different descions are made.
Interestingly, the BCN who saw me after my op said that the latest research from USA suggests that chemo first then mx is a better approach - particularly for younger women ( only in BC is a 42yr old classed as younger - s’pose there has to be 1 positive!). For me it’s been the better way I think - it’s given me time to accept and get my head around the op and also means that I have energy to move about (not straight into being ‘chemotosed’). which should aid my recovery.
Good luck with it all xxxx
You would know if you had a marker as it is a big needle into the breast under local anaesthetic!
I am sure they would remove the port at the same time if you were not having anymore treatment. No point having a second GA for something so simple.
If they suggest nothing make sure you ask about them about the recurrence rates. As I said I understand them to be quite high without surgery and radiotherapy, and honestly, the lumpectomy and axillary dissection I had recently wasn’t all that bad. Worth doing to stop it returning!
Yeah I thank all of you guys for the comments… I am little nervous about the surgery because I don’t know what the heck to expect on how it would all go. I know I would be fine but I’m just curious about the GA and how my breast would look afterwards. If the surgery reduces the recurrence rates I can do that.
Oh how does the radiotherapy go?
Again thanks everyone…
icare
My breast looks FINE. I have only one incision from my breast to under my arm but it is all hidden by a bra and I could wear a vest with spaghetti straps no problem :). I have very slight dimpling but you can see nothing with clothes on.
It depends how much tissue they remove as to how big a dimple you get really.
And if the breast doesn’t look like you want it they will offer cosmetics to fix, even after a lumpectomy. They can do lots of things to make us young ladies look nice after BC.
I haven’t started radio yet - doing that next week.
Xxxx
Hey ladies… I’m so overwhelmed with happiness because I am sitting here about to receive my last cycle of TAC! YAY… I cried soooo much with tears of joy this morning because I am complete with chemo. Now my hair can start growing back and everything. I received great news from my onc stating that she doubt it if I have any tumour left, it feels a lil scar tissue. So instead of me having a mastectomy as originally planned I will probably be having a lumpectomy after all. This is working very well for me!
I must say you ladies helped out a lot in my process because you guys stay so POSITIVE! I love these forums.
gosh another bit of good news, so very pleased for you. do keep popping on here getting advice about your lumpectomy and recovery or just to say hello.
I will most certainly stay on here. I love this place I am not going to anywhere. This is so helpful.
Sounds like you are going to have the same as I did then. Yey!!
Honestly - it was all just fine - and well done on completing the chemo!
Yeah it sounds like the same to me too! I’m at home now chiiling out. My chemo nurses gave me a card and they all signed it. So of course me being me I cried again as I said “thank you and bye”. I am ready to have my life back.
It is lovely being chemo free. I had my last chemo 7 weeks ago, surgery straight after and now i have a little fluffy head and everything.
Chemo is very hard going with young children - I really hope you have had plenty of help - annoying though that is in many ways. Even after surgery when I couldn’t lift mine for 2 weeks I just felt so useless and all I wanted to do was look after my kids ‘all by myself’, and I am getting more and more able to do that now.
Chemo was hard for me because I had to deal the SE it came with and my 3 kids. I didn’t have much help on that part. I have 3 young children by the age of 3,2 and 5mos. so you can just imagine how busy I’ve been with them and tired from chemo. That’s why I’m excited that chemo is finally over for me. I can regain some type of strength now
icare,
That’s great news. I hope you get a date for your surgery soon.