can chemo start when you have had surgery

Thankyou for that so panadol is ok then. All i know is they said fast from midnight and you can have sips of water up to 2 hours before surgery.

You can take most things....just avoid fish oil and aspirin and nurofen at least one week prior surgery...just can increase your bleeding a bit.

I am having double mastectomy and having expanders put in. At the moment trying to keep myself busy with cleaning the house just sat down for a bit of a rest then get back to doing more i have a bit of a headache today proberly due to it being hot and me trying to get all this stuff done not sure if i can take any headache tablets at the moment with having the surgery done on the 23rd. So just doing bits at a time. I will have my mum here when i am recovering from op but i want the place to be clean when i leave so if it gets messed up while i am in hospital we know who to blame.

I had same procedure and my chemo started week 5 after surgery. Usually start within 6 weeks. I was glad for the recovery time prior chemo as that is fifficukt enough. My recon was tissue expanders and dermal matrix sling almost at full fill.

Talk to your oncologist about chemo. But they recommend based on type of cancer, this may already be known from pathology. 

I am a her2 es+ grade 3. No lymph nodes, nothing on body scans but still undergoing chemo despite bilateral mastectomy...just in case there are micro cancers not visible.

Hope surgery is smooth sailing for you.

Kath

Hi, they may not have all the answers on Friday as it may depend on your pathology results after surgery. I had a 6mm, 5mm and 12mm and they had different characteristics. So it was only post surgery my medical team were able to decide on exactly what treatment to proceed with. I went into surgery thinking I would just need radiotherapy.

Good to discuss options with your doctors now so you know what to expect. But really just focus on one stage at a time. I'm sure the operation is enough to think about! There's a lot to get your head around. I really found Kerryn Phelp's book on Cancer Recovery quite a good resource if you want to read more about the treatment options as well as how to best support yourself through this and in the future. Of course, materials from BCNA good too.

Thanks Annebirdy my tumor is in the milk duct and it is 5mm. I will be asking them lots of questions on friday like how many treatments of chemo i need after the op and everything. They detected my cancer early because i was having checkups every 6 months because of the brca1 gene so i am glad i was tested for the gene otherwise i would proberly not of known i had the cancer there as you cannot feel a lump or anything.

Hi Twilight,

You may still need chemo - depends on type of cancer and where it was. I had a mastectomy and reconstruction at end-November and started chemo about 6 weeks later. While they have cut out all of the breast tissue (and cancer - I had sentinel node biopsy and lymph nodes were clear), they still want to make sure there aren't any stray cells around. So I've had 12 weeks of taxol (which I'm still doing), then going to do 5 weeks of radiotherapy too. I had 3 small cancers, stage I. 

The other issue I have had is the wound healing. About 6 weeks after the op, the wound reopened, had it stitched up and subsequently got some infection. So ended up back in surgery to get implant replaced. One of is the issue is that wounds just don't heal very well with chemo - so I ended up having a 2-week delay in the middle. 

Anyway, hopefully your op and recovery goes better than mine. You are at the stage where you get information overload so make sure someone helps you sift through all the info, remembers to ask the questions you want and writes it all down. This forum is great for follow-up if you forget to ask anything. Good luck.

Thankyou Eileen I have my mother going with me to the appointment. I have a tumor in my left breast and i have the Brca1 gene that is why i have decided to have the double mastectomy as i do not want the cancer coming back in the same breast or the healthy breast. I have decided after i am healed with having the double mastectomy and reconstruction i am not going to have nipples made i am just going to have a tattoo over the scars. I am just worried about the chemo more then the operation at the moment i think.

Hi Twilight I had my mastectomy on the 10TH Feb & tomorrow go for an Axillary clearance. I saw the oncologist yesterday & for me they are waiting 3 to 4 weeks before starting chemo to give me chance to get over the surgery. The oncologist has told me the cancer will be out of my body but the chemo will be used to make sure there are no strays, as I had 2 types of cancer in the right breast.

I think every case is different so I would speak to your Oncologist on Friday when you see him. Remember to write down any questions you may have & take someone with you for support. I think my Hubby asked more questions than I did.

Best of Luck with your treatment.

Eileen xx