Forum Discussion

Wayne_Groomes's avatar
12 years ago

Lump size???

Hi all, 1st time post. A family member has just started chemo on her BC. The lump is 5.5cm long. My question is, is this length considered to be large or is this similar to most. Or is there no normal size. Dr says they r trying to reduce size before op. thx in advance.

2 Replies

  • Thanks, I'm not sure of the grade and lymph node involvement. It's a little to soon to start asking technical questions. Ill just keep my fingers crossed for her.
  • Hi Wayne, lump size varies from person to person. Other things to consider are the grade and lymph node involvement. A large lump with a lower grade may not be as bad as a smaller lump with a higher grade. Likewise with or without lymph node involment. Sometimes small lumps, like 1cm may have already reached the nodes and other times larger lumps may not have spread that far. Having chemo first is a good thing, as it gives the doctors a good idea of which chemo drugs work best on these tumours. Mine was removed first and then I had chemo, however there seems to be a trend now for chemo to happen first, especially with larger tumours, as the shrinking tumour indicates a good response to the drugs, and then a smaller operation site to remove a smaller tumour. I hope this helps a bit. Love Chris