Hi
I am 31 years old was diagnosed on the 19th December with a 4cm tumour in my left breast and told on the 28th December that it was Grade 3 Invasive Ductal BC in stage 2. I was also told that I was to have chemo first, 6 lots of.
Having read a lot of the posts on here I am now worrying why they arent operating on it first as this seems like the normal procedure. Is it too big?? what if the chemo doesnt shrink it, will it still be able to grow??
I have had a heart scan and am going for a bone scan on wed 4th, Is this normal with diagnosis or do they think it might be on my bones??
Any knowledge or advice much appreciated
Nicola xx
Hi nicz,
sorry you have to join us bet you will find lots of support on here. some people have chemo first to shrink the lump so operating is easier, a lumpectomy rather than mascetomy.
they will give you scans before just to make sure that there isnt any anywhere else, this is very common procedure so dont be to alarmed, many ladies go through this.
Wish you well throughout your treatment xxxx
Nicola - the scans seem to be routine procedure so don’t panic (easy to say I know). Scary time but at least they will get the full picture and be able to treat accordingly.
I had chemo first as my tumour was almost double the size of yours so too big to remove at that stage. Had 8 lots of chemo and it worked, shrinking the tumour by more than half and making it removable with surgery. That was over 4 yrs ago so take heart and good luck with the chemo.
Liz
Hi Nicz,
I had chemo first too. Both my surgeon and onc prefer to do it that was to gauge whether the chemo’s working and as it could lead to a smaller lumpectomy at the end. My surgeon said that they never used to understand why some people did so well after chemo and others so badly, but until they started treating ladies with chemo first they had no way to monitor the success of the chemo. Your oncologist will be keeping a close eye on you to make sure that the tumour is being attacked and is shrinking. If it did appear that it was not reacting to the chemo then they’ll put you on a different regimin.
It also gave me time to research different surgeons and recon options. The original plan was to hope that the chemo shrank it enough for a lumpectomy - which it did - but I’d done lots of research and decided that I wanted a bilateral mastectomy with DIEP recon as i am 33 and want to minimise my risks of going through this again. The op would have been completely different had I just been rushed in immediately.
Better to have the scans than not! That way you’ll feel like you’ve had a full MOT. There are lots of women who feel panicked as they want the scans but aren’t allowed them so they remain worried.
X
Hi Nicz
I’m also having chemo before surgery and was initially scared that it meant it was too big to operate and just wanted to get rid of the cancer immediately, but this seems to be a very commmon treatment plan. I’m now glad I’m doing the chemo first as it gives me more time to get round the idea of having the surgery. I’m halfway through 8 cycles of chemo and it’s been surprising how quickly it has gone.
Having chemo first, you can also notice the improvements yourself and know that it’s doing the job it’s supposed to, so try not to worry about this. If you have the Mx first, it’s a bit of a leap of faith. I’m expecting to get chemo, surgery then rads, but my onc says they would do rads before surgery if chemo doesn’t shrink it enough. She says it doesn’t matter what order you do them in as long as you do them.
Hi Nicz
I’d agree with what everyone else says - try not to worry! I’m having chemo first too, and althought the largest tumour is not really big, I’ve got a few areas of DCIS too. Also they were ages re-biopsing etc to get a real handle on the diagnosis so by the time I’d had all the results back and a SLNB, it was 6 weeks between my initial consultation and starting chemo, so I think partly they just wanted to get on with it quickly!
The great thing is that they can see if the tumour is shrinking, and they will re-assess after the first 3 treatments (usually) to see if there is any change in size, appearance etc. I had 3 cycles of TAC and they have changed me to FEC for the last 3 as I had a bad reaction, but I have to say the tumour has shrunk substantially, and psychologically that helps. Also it is giving me time to “get my head round” the idea of losing a breast (I will still need complete Mx on that side due to the multilple sites) and think about what I want to do in terms of reconstruction etc.
Some units so a heart scan first, ours doesn’t but many other ladies on here have had them, and I too had a CT scan and bone scan before treatment started. This helps the onc decide on the best chemo drugs to use.
Good luck, Nicola - once you know when you’re starting you can join the January thread on here and get support from loads of other ladies going through the same things as you - it has certainly been a massive source of support for me.
Teresa x
Thanks ladies for your replies. I think the waiting for treatment to start is getting to me. Its good to know that I am not alone in getting chemo first. Hopefully I will know on friday after my hospital appointment when my chemo will start.
sending hugs
Nicola xx
Hi Nicola, I had chemo first then surgery, I was diagnosed in Nov 2010, I had 7 cycles of chemo, 4 fec and 3 tax, was due to have another tax but had terrible peripheral neuropathy so they went ahead with surgery. I had a 4.5 cm agressive tumour, after the chemo it had shrunk by half so I had a WLE rather than a mx and axillary clearance. Then I had rads now Im on tamoxifen. Its a lot to take in at first I know but once you have dates etc it will be a little easier. This forum has been an enormous help with friendly people giving you advice and support who are going through the same thing. Big hugs to you, Ness xxxx