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 have completed 4 A/C given three weekly and now just completed 8 paclitaxel given weekly with four more still to go. I will be seeing my surgeon in a weeks time to discuss my surgical options. I have decided I want a double mastectomy without reconstruction. My current concern is I have just had a progress ultrasound and it show that tumors haven’t changed much. My oncologist says it might all be dead tissue but this doesn’t give me much confidence. Because of this I have concerns that whilst undergoing this gruelling 6 months of treatment my cancer could actually be spreading. I just can’t wait to get this surgery done and dusted. Has anyone else had similar experiences with this line of treatment.

😁😃🥰 I was the same as you. Stalked for months but never posted. Once I did, I also felt like I was a part of the group, but for the friendliness part, cos none of us wanna be here for the cancer part obviously 😆😘

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 :)

Hi @heathfield hang in there. As I said to @Kabee, whilst it makes sense to get going with the chemo straight away, I don’t know that anyone has really considered how psychologically hard that is for all of us who are anxiously waiting for our pathology results which give us all of those answers we so desperately want. Now, I am definitely no expert, but I have been through a very similar treatment schedule. I did 4 x AC then 12 x taxol then I had 5 weeks break followed by a BMX. I was diagnosed December 2019, finished chemo May 2020, surgery June 2020 and completed recon December 2020. I knew from the start that for my own peace of mind, I wanted the BMX - so left breast had the ILC and the right breast was ok. My surgeon was excellent and totally supported my decision. The chemo will be doing something, don’t worry about that! Now, everyone responds differently so please don’t worry yourself unnecessarily. I gather that after chemo and when they do the surgery, they are able to see what they call the ‘tumour bed’ and that can have a mix of cells in it. If there are any active cells, well, those suckers are getting cut out, so they will be gone anyway! The upside of having the surgery after chemo is that they can see how the tumour responded - like a report card and they can make some more decisions about your treatment plan. The chemo will be doing its job. I know it is not easy waiting, but just focus on one day at a time - that’s how I got through it. The chemo will be mopping up and my oncologist said it is like taking out an extra insurance policy.You are also coming to the end of what I imagine felt like a perilous mountain crossing and here you are about to take the next step forward. Take care Mx

Thanks for your reply Kaybee I was never offered an MRI but I did have a PET scan before my treatment. I guess we can never really be sure until we get final pathology after surgery which you will be waiting for now no doubt. I hope you are okay and that you get great pathology. The waiting game is the worst thing. I have one large tumor and three smaller ones and they said the larger one had reduced in size a bit but the smaller ones looked the same. I don’t think these ultrasounds and mammograms are terribly accurate to be honest as I have dense breast tissue and even now nothing much shows on my mammogram. But my oncologist did say that what is on the ultrasound may be just scar tissue. It’s hard to have faith sometimes. Thanks for your support. I’ll just push on.

My breast care nurse told me that neoadjuvant chemo will hopefully shrink or kill the tumour itself, but that the important job is to kill any stray cells which might have gone walkabout elsewhere in the body. She told me that the cancer in my breast would not kill me, but that any cells from it going elsewhere, might well be a different story. Even if the main tumors or tumours don't show much shrinkage, I'm sure the chemo would still have helped greatly. The other advantage of chemo first, is that when the time comes for surgery, they know just where things are.

IS MY CHEMO WORKING | BCNA Online Network

13 Replies

FLClover
Member
4 years ago
Push on darl. Ultrasounds and mammograms don’t show a very clear picture. Only pathology does. The biggest one is shrinking, that’s progress right there. Chemo is very effective most of the time. Don’t think about it spreading, just think about it completely gone from your body, and it will be. They’re looking after you well 💟
heathfield
Member
4 years ago
Thanks for your reply Kaybee I was never offered an MRI but I did have a PET scan before my treatment. I guess we can never really be sure until we get final pathology after surgery which you will be waiting for now no doubt. I hope you are okay and that you get great pathology. The waiting game is the worst thing. I have one large tumor and three smaller ones and they said the larger one had reduced in size a bit but the smaller ones looked the same. I don’t think these ultrasounds and mammograms are terribly accurate to be honest as I have dense breast tissue and even now nothing much shows on my mammogram. But my oncologist did say that what is on the ultrasound may be just scar tissue. It’s hard to have faith sometimes. Thanks for your support. I’ll just push on.
Kabee
Member
4 years ago
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 :)

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