Lumpectomy before or after chemo??
Does anyone know why some gave lumpectomy before chemo and some after? Apart from the tamoxifen Shirls is same as me but I'm not having lumpectomy till after chemo. Just curious
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Hi again Wickow Lady,
Do you know what size your lumpy was? Maybe that's why I had the op before the chemo and your the other way around?
Shirls
My tumour was 2.7cm.
Hi
I just happened to ask one day if i could do chemo first,they were all set for mastectomy week before christmas!Chanced my arm i think i was also hoping that if the two tumors shrank id escape the surgery.Ha ha .They told me it made no difference which way i did it.The chemo did its job and the completely cleared them both.
xx
I had chemo first and they explained to me that it was more about containing the cancer than shrinking it. I was never going to get away without the double mastectomy, but because it had spread to nodes the chemo was needed to stop any rouge cells that could be moving around to other places in the body from dividing. I guess it is also about how aggressive the cancer is.
Now I was pretty out of it at the start of my treatment and it took along time for me to see why they were bothering with chemo at all if they were just going to cut them off. So maybe my facts arent totally correct. It felt like more of a punishment to me, but anyway they seemed to think it did the job.
Well I have just found the piece of paper Janice the oncologist gave me the first day I met her. Just goes to show that you don't take everything in. I have invasive ductal carcinoma with a 2.7cm lump. Er- and Her-2+. I had to come on here to realise that, thick or what? I feel that only for the invention of her-ceptin it could be a lot more serious , am I right in thinking that?
Hi there
It is my understanding that Oncologists are now devising more personal treatment plans as opposed to " one size fits all" I met many women whilst I was in treatment who had completely different regimes to me. Sometimes they want to shrink the tumour with chemo prior to surgery as apparently it makes it easier for the Surgeon. I had chemo prior to a mastectomy in order to shink the two tunours and apparently it worked. I hope this helps a bit - im no expert.
Sinéad