Hey everybody. Simply needed to get some information about individuals having chemical treatment as their first treatment before medical procedure please? How long did you do this for and how immediately did you begin it? Did you have oncotype dx testing first? Sorry for every one of the inquiries! My psyche is so loaded with such countless things that I’d never known about half a month prior and I’m attempting to figure everything out in my cerebrum!
Much obliged to you
Hi zane
This is a horrible time to have to get through. I actually had 5 different diagnoses within the first 4 weeks, culminating in a mastectomy and full axillary clearance. I didn’t even know that people could have chemo before surgery - and in fact it was the surgery that revealed the 5th diagnosis. I only discovered it when I joined this forum and thought it was a minority but that’s not the case. It seems to be common for oncologists to embark on chemotherapy to reduce the tumour size and enable them to rescue as much breast tissue and breast muscle as possible.
That presupposes the patient wants to rescue the breast. Me, I wanted it gone asap! So my experience is of no value to you. The reason I’m responding is that you are saying your head is filled with countless things you’d never known. My advice is to be very careful about what research you do. Certainly don’t use Google, It’s full of out of date, esoteric reports, data totally irrelevant to your unique cancer and downright terrifying prognoses. Stick to links from respected sites such as the key cancer charities and current medical journals. But also ask yourself how much you need to know because once read is never forgotten in cancerworld. Some people want to know and process all the data, analyse their scan pictures and reports, all to have a sense of control. But we are NOT in control of this and many people regret reading something they can no longer ignore. Some people just aim to get through it, asking and therefore knowing only the minimum . (It didn’t register till my secondary diagnosis that one of my primary tumours had been triple negative - despite being there in the data at the top of every letter the oncologist sent my GP. It wasn’t playing ostrich completely, but it was skimming because I didn’t feel I needed to know. I was in good hands).
If you have a good team, one that inspires trust, you don’t need to figure this out unless you need the control and are pretty certain you can handle the emotions unpleasant facts may bring. People often overlook the emotional element of this diagnosis - and certainly the treatment. It can be gruelling at times, it can be lonely and you need to build up your resilience now, before you need it on a daily basis. Focus on that maybe - meditation, mindfulness, hypnosis, running - whatever enables you to deal with emotions better because they are going to be all over the place at times, you’ll even discover emotions you didn’t know you had, and you need to believe you can get through the day sometimes as well as acknowledge that what you are doing in treatment is no small feat. Praise, where praise is due!
I’m assuming you are the patient. I may be wrong. If you are researching for someone else’s condition, please try to remember that it’s their illness and your knowledge and wishes may not be theirs. So follow their lead and please don’t tell them stuff they may not want to hear, My husband was given a book to read. It turned him from the positive person I needed to hold my back to one who seemed full of doom and gloom; not what I needed. I spend more time trying to boost his spirits and feeling guilty for making him so unhappy while it’s me facing the treatment! Whichever the case, I wish you all the very best - and hope you get a few responses to your questions.
Jan
Chemotherapy is a very difficult procedure! It comes in many different forms. It is a collection of many different medications used to treat various tumors. These drugs are characterized by both common and specific side effects, often diametrically opposed. Suppose someone says that they had chemotherapy twenty years ago and almost died. In that case, it doesn’t mean that the chemotherapy will have the same effect on a patient today. Many people turn to auditors to protect their health and money fortismedicalbilling.com/pittsburgh-pennsylvania/ . But the most important thing when going through such a procedure is not to give up and fight!
Hello Zane
Zey has given you a lot of good advice, particularly about avoiding Dr Cooke searches, so much online is out of date as newer Treatments commence. Phone and have a Chat with a Breastcancernow Nurse; phone or visit a Maggie’s Centre for great support.
There are other Threads on this Forum relating to Chemo that may be more relevant to you, will find them under 'Going through Breast cancer Treatment ’ Chemotherapy Monthly Thread and another called Chemotherapy.
Good luck to you and your wife, but remember it’s a long journey through Cancer so pace yourself and arm yourself with ‘Humour’.
Silver6
Ues I jad cjemo before a masectomy. I had chemo first as advised because the tumour was large and if Id had the op first i would have to wait for several weeks before starting the chemo. In my case that wasnt a good idea. We are all different. Lots of people have the op first then the chemo. It all depend on the size, type and how aggressive.
The muti-discinplinary team, should guide you on this,