Chemo didn’t kill the cancer!

Hi I was really sorry to read your post.  I had a similar -ish experience. I only had a manual exam during the chemo prior to surgery - I was told that it looked as though the chemo was working well and it was possible that by now it was just scar tissue remaining.   Everything I read about chemo online and in leaflets tells you that 'chemo kills cancer'. No one on my treatment team explained that you could have a partial response or no response - until the oncologist told me post surgery that active cancer had been found in the tumour meaning chemo hadn't killed all the cancer and I would need chemo post surgery as well.  I was really upset. Of course, once I did google using this term, I found stats showing its actually not that uncommon for someone to have a partial/no response to chemo.  I had Kadcyla post surgery. The oncologist described this as a 'belt and braces' approach.   You might want to check with your treatment team?  i wish you all the best for your next treatment 

Good morning, thank you for your reply and I’m sorry you’ve had a similar experience.  No-one has mentioned more chemo, just radiotherapy followed by hormone treatment (mine is a hormone driven cancer).  What I can’t get my head around is that all these very sophisticated scans showed one thing while the reality was different.  Even my surgeon was shocked.  He’s told me that the radiotherapy and hormone therapy is going to be important in stopping a recurrence but if you can’t trust the machines to give an accurate picture how will I ever be able to relax again?!

Hi, yes, the scans sometimes don’t pick up what it found in the pathology results. Moving forward, and if you had an oestrogen positive, HER2 negative tumour, you might be able to join the TrackER trial (which is being run from several hospitals up and down the country). This involves having  blood tests every three months, which can be used to detect a recurrence before it shows up on a scan. If the test is positive, they monitor you and you may be given treatment to prevent it going any further. Here is the link:

www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk/trak-er

xx

Hi 

I am in a similar position which also knocked me for 6. I then had an appointment with my oncologist who explained it differently from the surgeon. My tumours had changed size which meant the chemo likely worked from the outside in making them smaller the pathology can only report on the results they see ie the tumour still had active cancer. So it didn’t mean it never worked at all just didn’t completely kill the cancer. Kadcyla was mentioned to me as I was Her2 positive it is a more a targeted therapy instead of phesgo only, but it is only if you are her2 positive. I am awaiting confirmation of this and also start radiotherapy in January 15 sessions still healing from surgery. 

It’s very scary to think it never worked after going through all that. 

Wishing you all the best 

Hello and thank you for your reply. Yes I am HER2 negative.  My surgeon mentioned a blood test as part of my treatment going forward.  I am due to see him again tomorrow to check on my progress following the op so I will talk to him about it.