Deat all
why do some women have surgery or neoadjuvant first ?
Kind regards
westie ruth
Hi
That’s something that’s intrigued me as, until I joined these forums, I didn’t realise some people had chemo first. As soon as I was diagnosed, I wanted that boob and those nodes gone!
My understanding is that, particularly with larger tumours, the treatments will shrink the tumour so the breast surgeon can ensure safer margins when doing whatever s/he has to do. It does seem a bit tipsy-turvy to me but makes some sense. I’m glad I wasn’t offered the option. For a start, my surgery ended up changing my diagnosis for a 4th time.
Hopefully someone will offer us a better explanation - or maybe post under Ask The Nurses?
Hi again @WestieRuth
Initially I was due to have surgery first followed by radiotherapy and then tamoxifen for 5 years. However it all depended on hormone receptors and if one was Her2+ then it would be chemo first (which is standard practice I understand for this type of breast cancer). On6 Jan they confirmed that my right tumor was ER+/PR+/Her2- and left was ER+/PR- but this biopsy had to go for further testing for the Her2 status.
If I hadn’t had covid at Xmas (but I’m totally fine now!) then I would have had my surgery on 13 Jan…so as this was cancelled was going to be rescheduled for mid-February.
However in this interim period I had my final Her2 status confirmed as being positive - then it all changed to chemo first (TCHP which apparently is a bit of a tough one!), plus herceptin (3 weekly jabs after chemo) with everything else afterwards.
I’ve been learning so much about BC since my diagnosis and, like many, didn’t know how many variations there can be and all the possible treatment options. It’s an absolute minefield - so if you are doing any researching, stick to the UK sites like CRUK and MacMillan (or ask here or on other dedicated groups).
Take care xx
Sam
Sam