IS MY CHEMO WORKING
I was diagnosed November 2020 with locally advanced Ductal Carcinoma stage 3 grade 3 with with lymph node involvement in right breast. My treatment so far is neoadjuvant chemotherapy of which I ...
Forum Discussion
Hi @heathfield, sorry to hear your concerns but you are not alone. I felt exactly the same way during my treatment too.
Like you I have/had (currently in hospital after lumpectomy yesterday) invasive ductal with lymph node involvement although I haven’t been staged as yet. I also did neoadjuvent chemo the same schedule as you, 4 & 12. I had an ultrasound around treatment 6 (2nd week of the 12) that showed my tumour was the same size pre-chemo which was devastating to me as I thought the same thing, I’ve done all this hard work for nothing so I was sent for an MRI around treatment 10 (6th week of the 12) and this showed the tumour had actually shrunk by half.
At diagnosis the ultrasound and MRI varied considerably and I’m of the understanding that the MRI is way more accurate. Did you have an MRI at diagnosis? Perhaps you could ask your team to send you for another MRI so they can compare the size then to now, this is what my specialist did. If you didn’t get an MRI pre-chemo then this could be a little difficult to gauge.
Best wishes to you though and know you’re not alone, the ladies on here are so helpful and supportive :)
Like you I have/had (currently in hospital after lumpectomy yesterday) invasive ductal with lymph node involvement although I haven’t been staged as yet. I also did neoadjuvent chemo the same schedule as you, 4 & 12. I had an ultrasound around treatment 6 (2nd week of the 12) that showed my tumour was the same size pre-chemo which was devastating to me as I thought the same thing, I’ve done all this hard work for nothing so I was sent for an MRI around treatment 10 (6th week of the 12) and this showed the tumour had actually shrunk by half.
At diagnosis the ultrasound and MRI varied considerably and I’m of the understanding that the MRI is way more accurate. Did you have an MRI at diagnosis? Perhaps you could ask your team to send you for another MRI so they can compare the size then to now, this is what my specialist did. If you didn’t get an MRI pre-chemo then this could be a little difficult to gauge.
Best wishes to you though and know you’re not alone, the ladies on here are so helpful and supportive :)