Forum Discussion

TKS's avatar
TKS
Member
7 years ago

Hormone Therapy to Shrink Tumour up to 12 months before Surgery ?

Hi, I'm currently looking at being on Hormone Therapy for 6-12 months to shrink my tumour before I have surgery.   I might change my mind on this but have decided this for now as I already had a cruise booked 4 weeks after my diagnosis and thought it would be good to start to do something even if I change my mind later.  
It would be great to hear from others that may have gone down this path.   My medical team have mentioned that this is something that has been done in Europe but we haven't done it as much here.   Basically if I have surgery now on the breast with the problem I will need a mastectomy but if I can shrink the tumour (and it works) I will only need a lumpectomy.  
Happy for any thoughts on what I'm doing and it would be great to hear from anyone that might be doing the same.
Thanks,
TKS
hormone-therapy
  • Renatha's avatar
    Renatha
    Member
    7 years ago
    Hi @TKS I had original diagnosis (Nov 2013) and treatment (2014) in Melbourne and my surgeon was English. She suggested that as I could take Arimidex, it would be better to start right away given the forthcoming holiday period Dec/Jan saying it would shrink the tumour before surgery (had lumpectomy and aux clearance). She did mention that it is the practice in the UK as waiting lists are much longer than here. As it turns out, the tumour had shrunk by the Jan when I had surgery. Sounds like it could make a big difference for you if it works. P.S. Enjoy your cruise!