How long between lumpectomy and oncologist appointment for chemo?

Hi hugie 

I was diagnosed with grade 3 TNBC at the beginning of April this year. I had a lumpectomy and SLNB at the end of the month followed by an appointment with my surgeon 3 weeks later.

I met my oncologist a couple of weeks after that, so about 5 weeks after surgery, when he explained that he wanted me to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I started the chemotherapy at the beginning of July, should have been end of June but my bloods weren't right, so that would have been about 8 weeks after surgery. 

I'm having my last chemo this week and will then be starting radiotherapy at the end of December.

x

Thanks Latchbrook, guess I'm just eager to get it over with. 

I can certainly understand that hugie 

I know they like to leave a gap between surgery and chemo to make sure your body has completely healed before it's subjected to chemo, although I can't remember what the 'ideal' gap is.

x

In similar circumstances, I had my surgery on March 23rd, met the oncologist for the first time on 27th April and started chemo on 10th May. I think the letter for the oncology appointment arrived about 10 days before the appointment. This is Queen Alexandra Hospital Portsmouth. I had 24 weeks of chemo (4 cycles of EC every 3 weeks) and then 12 weeks of Paclitaxel. I have just completed 5 days of radiotherapy.

How have you found the radiotherapy Coddfish? I should be having the radiotherapy planning meeting next week and then should be starting treatment after Christmas.

x

Thanks Coddfish

My last couple of entries describe it - plus another one covers the planning. I am lacking energy, but otherwise ok. community.macmillan.org.uk/.../a-trip-with-triple-negative-breast-cancer

Thanks very much for the link to your cancer blog which I found very informative. 

I've been lucky to not really suffer with side effects while on EC and pax so I'm keeping everything crossed that will be the same with radiotherapy.

Wishing you all the best

x

Hi, I was diagnosed with TNBC at the end of September this year, like you it was Grade 3. I had surgery on 8th Nov and had my follow up appointment on 16 November- 5 weeks later,  with the welcome news that they got a clear margin and my lymph nodes were clear. Mine also doubled in size from diagnosis to lumpectomy which did scare me (it grew from 1.2cm to 3cm). I'm starting chemo on 9th January (again, like you, due to the aggressive nature of the cancer), so my treatment is just over 8 weeks post surgery. Hope this helps. I know the wait can be stressful. Best wishes for a full recovery X

Hi Macdaisy, thanks for the reply. I've since had an appointment with my oncologist and start chemo on Wednesday 21st December. Getting nervous about it now, but know it has to be done to be safe and reduce recurrence risk so just going to get on with it and then move forward with the rest of my life! Good luck in your own fight Hun. We can do this!