Attended surgeon after biopsy and was told tumour was 2cm therefore would be 8 sessions of chemo followed by surgery then radiotherapy. Had my MRI on Monday and was called back to surgeon who told me that the tumour is not in fact 2cm it’s only 8mm therefore surgery first then chemo if necessary. Don’t get me wrong I think this is great but why don’t they wait till MRI results BEFORE telling you what your pathway will be. It’s just reduced my confidence in them a bit as now thinking they could change their mind again after surgery. Has anyone else experienced this. Thanks
Hi Christina
It’s a difficult one as people also get upset when they have to wait for plans whilst more tests are done. 2cm is one of those cutoff points where above it you go one way and below it the other, and of course no measure of size from any sort of scan is as accurate as looking at the actual specimen once it’s been removed. It’s excellent news that your tumour is probably smaller than first thought. It does now leave you waiting to see whether they will still recommend chemo. That’s going to depend on its actual size and grade and whether there is any LVI in the sample. Plus what they find from a sentinel node biopsy
My TNBC tumour measured 16mm on ultrasound and 18mm when excised. It was a grade 3 and it had grown into a blood vessel. I had no lymph node involvement. I had 4 cycles of EC and 12 weeks of Paclitaxel after surgery, then a week of radiotherapy. By then it had all got a bit more complicated with a liver met discovered but that’s a longer story. The good news is I am in remission following further treatment.
Wishing you all the best for your treatment.
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I have metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer, in remission
