1st oncology appointment tomorrow

Hi Robin,  if they biopsy before surgery you can tell if you're dealing with cancer.  Many oncologists would like a shot at the tumor while it's still in you so they can see if chemo shrinks it....this is called neo-adjuvant chemo.  Some gals had lumpectomies that surprised the doctors when they turned out to be cancer, these women have are not able to have sentinel node biopsies (they have to do full axillary), clear margins (without another surgery)or the option of neo-adjuvant chemo.  There are some gals on this site who did neo-adjuvant and the chemo wasn't effective....this means the tumor continued to grow which creates a greater risk for mets.  I did not do neo-adjuvant, but if I did I wouldn't let the doctors wait until the end of treatment to scan my tumor...just incase.  20% of TNBC does not respond to standard treatment, neo-adjuvant gives you the benefit of knowing if you're in that group.  It seems no matter what treatment we get we will always wonder what if we had chosen different.....that's our nasty beast of burden.  I hope that helps.

Dear Connie & Ronda,

Hi Robin,
When I was dx in 6/07 they biopsied the tumor and a swollen lymph node: both cancer. I had CT scans, bone scans, and a Breast Specific Gamma Imaging done since it was in my lymph system. Then I had chemo first, again because we already knew it was in my lymph system.

I had 6 rounds of ACT (adriomycin, cytoxin and taxotere) all given on same day. For me, the results were dramatic. By 3rd treatment nothing was feelable anymore. By surgery time, lumpectomy, there were just a few tiny cancer cells left. We got great clear margins and all lymph nodes were clear.

Coming up on my one year from diagnosis, with my 1st "post" mammogram on June 2. Trying not to think about that too much yet.

I was diagnosed in 8/07, my surgeon decided that it would be best to have the lumpectomy first due to the size 1.9 cm, chemo, then radiation. It is different for everyone, depending on size, lymph nodes and age. My oncologist had ordered a bone scan and a Breast MRI prior to my surgery just to make sure that everything else looked fine. I am 40 years old so they wanted to be aggressive with my treatments. I had a total of 8 chemo treatments every other week, then 33 radiation treatments. So far, all is fine. I also had the genetic testing done. Thank God, both braca 1 and 2 were negative. I will pray for good results during your visit tomorrow with the oncologist.

Robin,