Hi @Silverlining, I had chemo first as well. Ac chemo × 4 and Paclitaxil x 12. My tumor was big 6cm and I'm very small busted so the aim was to shrink it down. Unfortunately I had no response whatsoever to chemo and had a mastectomy. Pathology stated my tumor was 9cm and cancer still active so had grown 3cm in the six months of chemo. To be honest I'm glad I did it first as now if I need chemo again in the future they will have to use a different chemo. Had I had surgery first we would never have known that chemo combo was useless for me. So there are advantages to having it first. I was stage 3b grade 2 er positive. I've just finished six weeks of rads. All the best.
Lisa