Breast cancer

Hi , Were you given Letrozole because you can't have chemo,  which is usually given? I've read on the forum that it can take up to a year for the Letrozole to work,  but you should be given scans every few months to check itsi shrinking.  How are you coping with the  Letrozole? X

Hi 

As Londonmumof2 says it can take a year before surgery but everyone's tumours react differently to the oestrogen starvation. You should get results of some shrinkage and softening at around 6 months but maybe not enough for the surgery at this time.

There was Heather77 here a few years back (she is till around )  who was meant to be on Letrozole instead of chemo for 18 months but had her operation at 15 months - If memory serves me correct her tumour shrank from 5cm to around 2cm in that time.

You can read one of Heather77's discussions clicking here.

Hope this is of some help, G n' J

Hi Londonmumof2

I was given letrozole to shrink the tumour in my breast , Iam waiting to be told when I can have a mastectomy, and after I have chemo and radiotherapy. 

Hi

I'm a bit confused by your treatment plan - If you are having Letrozole to shrink this down is this so you could possibly have a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy ?

Also if chemo is on the table anyway, why they aren't giving you this first to shrink it down at a much faster rate to bring forward your surgery.

Maybe I'm missing something  ( like my marbles )

Hugs, G n' J

Thank you so much for your response , I have been told so many different things my head is all over the place, the consultant sent me to see an oncologist last week who has promptly sent me back to the consultant as he doesn't think that chemotherapy is right for me before surgery, I'm now becoming distressed, I have another CT scan in March a s another appointment with the consultant at the end of March, this is also a second opinion, I just don't know which way to turn, the first consultant also said that he could keep me on letrozole for a year before surgery, 

Xxxxxxxx

Hi 

Blimey! Being treated like you are a human pinball; no wonder your head is all over the place :-/

Sounds like your consultant and oncologist need to have a meeting to get your final treatment plan sorted pronto. In most cases surgery is the main treatment to actually remove the tumour any follow up chemo, rads, tablets etc are to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Chemo can and is used prior to surgery to shrink tumours down before surgery and is also given first to those with a slightly higher risk that stray cancer cells could be elsewhere in the body like Inflammatory breast cancer and Triple Negative breast cancer.

Letrozole for at least a year is rarely used for those who are going to have chemo anyway as it just doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not medically trained ? Who placed you on the Letrozole if it was the consultant ? I would have thought if your onco said no chemo before surgery you would have been given a date for surgery not the tablets (sigh)

I would either contact your breast care nurse or your hospitals P.A.L.S. department to find out what the heck is going on....

I hope you get this sorted out if only for your peace of mind, hugs, G n' J

I honestly thought that it was me just being paranoid, but everyone contradicts themselves, I was put on letrozole straight away from diagnosis My tumour is not just one lump it's more like an explosion it' was 8cm now it's 5cm so I guess that it is shrinking it but don't understand why I haven't been given surgery yet or even chemotherapy, 

Xxxx