What my breast surgeon said

Hi 

Warm welcome to the club you didn't want to join:-/

Two types, well that is just plain greedy.... Actually it isn't that uncommon.

For most it is surgery first, but around 20% have chemo prior to surgery this is termed 'neoadjuvant' which just means therapies given prior to the main treatment.

This can be carried out for several reasons but it mainly to try and shrink/kill cancer tumours down so in the case of breast cancer a lumpectomy (wle) could be carried out instead of a full mastectomy.

In other cancers it could be the tumour is in an awkward position or attached to arteries/organs for example.

If you want any further info or something is still unclear do reply back - Good luck with your HER2 result; if this comes back positive there are new targeted biological treatments for this but it means treatment drags on for around a year.

Hope this is of some help for now, G n' J

Hi, thanks for replying. She said I will need a mastectomy as the cancer is in two areas of the breast. 

I'm getting pain in my arm & shoulder so I'm having a second biopsy on my lymph nodes this Tuesday. It feels like my lymph nodes are blocked .

Hi 

That sort of makes sense if they are spread within a larger area (or multi focal) they would have to remove so much tissue to get clear margins you may have been left quite disfigured with a lumpectomy.

A lot of ladies who are Triple Negative seem to have chemo prior to surgery, so with being ER and PR negative they may be planning for the HER2 to also be negative ?

Sorry to read your lymph area is sore as well. The lymphnodes job is to trap infectious or dodgy cells so maybe some have swollen up and are causing pressure. There can be up 40 (or more) nodes on three levels up as far as the collar bone.

Have you been suffering symptoms for a while or has this all come on quite quickly ?

G n' J

Lymph nodes came up in armpit back in may, doctors said nothing to worry about, then they came up in my neck, back to doctors, they weren't to worried & said come back if u get a rash. Fast forward to September, limited use in right arm very painful & tender breast. Went back to doctors and finally referred to breast clinic.

Hi

Bummer!  You would have thought that in May you would have been given antibiotics and if nothing had changed after completing the course this would have 'flagged' a referral to check this out back then ?

G n' J

Yes I wasn't very happy when they said cancer and it took three doctors visits to get referred.

I mentioned this to the surgeon & she said probably would not have made much difference if caught earlier. But then they would say that.

I'm the sort of person who never goes to the doctors unless I'm really ill. 

On the second doctor visit she said get a blood test done, which came back as no further action needed

Hi

Oh, the old blood test get out card then....

Depends on what boxes they tick to get the sample tested for. The only common cancer markers in blood are for ovarian and prostate. Most standard tests are just for haemoglobin, blood sugar, cholesterol etc

Even a FBC full blood count may have picked up infection but there isn't (as yet) a blood test that can highlight breast cancer.

Why don't these folks realise you know your own body best :-/

G n' J

Hiya

It is very confusing all the different types and then all the different treatments, just when you want everything to be straightforward.

I had surgery first but also have heard many others have had chemo first.  My cancer was Grade 3 DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) and also Invasive ductal carcinoma (my Oncologist described it as a current bun with most of it DCIS and a few currents that were invasive).  My area was quite large and I was offered either a lumpectomy or a mastectomy but opted for a mastectomy as I just wanted it removed as quickly as possible.  Afterwards my surgeon said because of the actual size a lumpectomy would not have been viable.

I was oestrogen and progesterone neg but HER2 positive (didn't find out the HER2 bit until after surgery).

It's amazing how many different options and different cancers there are, something that I was unaware of before this happened but one way I've coped is with knowing that everyone is different and will have different treatment plans.  But the outcomes are the same and it's ok to trust your care to the experts.

I also had some pain in my armpit prior to surgery and I was very concerned however node biopsies after surgery showed that there was no lymph node involvement so pain does not necessarily mean there's going to be cancer.

There are some ladies on here that have had chemo before surgery and the chemo has shrunk the cancer to non existent so there is clearly an advantage to going down that route.

XOXO

Hi I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer G3 stage 2 in July and I have started neo adjuvant Chemo first. The consultant explained that as well as shrinking it the chemo also does a full body treatment so if any stray cells have been shed then the chemo will attack them. I think that with breast cancer being such a well trodden path once there is a diagnosis the consultants know what treatment will be the most effective and I feel that I need to trust that they know best. 

Good luck with your treatment x