New to the site

Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community

I can't answer your question, having had a different type of cancer, but I noticed that your post hadn't had any replies yet. Replying to you will 'bump' it back to the top of the discussion list where it'll be more easily spotted. You could also post this question in the more active breast cancer group, which I can see you've joined, and I'm sure someone there will be happy to share their experiences with you.

While you're waiting for replies it would be great if you could pop something about your diagnosis and treatment into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.

x

Hi Kimmy1

Welcome and sorry to hear that you have been diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer.

The chemo before surgery is to reduce the size of your tumour before surgery.  I was diagnosed with triple negative last year and had chemo before surgery which reduced my tumour so much that I only needed a lumpectomy.

Wishing you the best of luck with your chemo and if you have any questions do ask as they will be answered either by me or others on this forum as well as on the breast cancer forum.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Hi

Welcome to the online community though sorry that you find yourself here. 

I imagine you are still in shock from the diagnosis only a few days ago and have lots of questions running through your mind at 100 miles an hour. You are right to be taking it a stage at a time - one step, then another until you are through. Surgery before chemo worse or better? I'm not sure there is a solid answer to that - I had chemo first to try to shrink the tumour so that I could have a partial mastectomy but then they found some other tumours so I needed a complete mastectomy anyway. Having surgery first means you have peace of mind that the tumour is gone. Surgery is far and away the most effective treatment for breast cancer - the chemo, radiotherapy or hormone treatments (for ER/PR+ tumours) are all sort of a mopping up process in addition to the surgery. 

Every person is different and even when diagnoses seem the same, we find out that treatment is different for one reason or another. Your team will have taken everything into consideration and  probably have some good reasons for giving you surgery first.

This is a very friendly site and we are here to help you however you need. As well as this Triple Negative group, there is a main Breast Cancer group which is busier and good for distraction when your thoughts are getting the better of you. Most people hop around from group to group - you can post wherever you feel the most comfortable.

Good luck with your treatment - we are here whenever you need us - do let us know how you're getting on!

R

Hi 

I am also very recently diagnosed, I’ve had my surgery first, within 4 weeks of diagnosis, I wondered why no chemotherapy first, but I’m advised each case different. I was glad to have it removed. 

hope all goes well  x x