Question about Chemo AFTER surgery...

Sherri_V

I'm having chemo now, BEFORE surgery.  Oncologist says she is now waiting to determine whether or not I'll have chemo after surgery once my surgery takes place.  Up until today, a second go round was a given...I just wonder how they determine if one will have a second run at chemo following surgery.

Thanks for any input

otter

Sherri, I had chemo after surgery, so I'm just responding because no one else has stopped by.  I imagine that your onco will want to know if the pre-surgery chemo (neoadjuvant chemo) destroyed the tumor.  If there are any live tumor cells remaining in the tissue that's removed during surgery, your onco might consider giving you more chemo.  That might also be true if the pathology lab finds additional cancer where it wasn't expected, such as in your nodes.

I noticed that you already know your node status and the stage of your cancer.  That's kind of unusual (staging usually requires sentinel node biopsy and measurement of the whole tumor in the path lab).  Did you have a lymph node biopsied already? 

This is a quiet forum, compared to most.  You might get more replies if you post your question on the Chemotherapy forum.

otter 

Sherri_V

Yes, I had the sentinal node biopsy about a month ago, along with my port placement and the core biopsy. 

The diagnosis I've reported on my profile is what the oncologist wrote down for me, only I've adjusted my tumor size as it HAS downsized after the first chemo treatment

I'm going in on Tuesday for placement of my chip.  That sounds so out-of-the-worldly to me

thenewme

Hi Sherri,

I had chemo (ACT) after surgery too, but not before.  Which surgery are you having?  Which chemo are you doing now?   Did your onc give reasons for neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemo?  Did you (or will you) complete the chemo course before the surgery and then do a different chemo combination after?  Sorry to ask so many questions, but your treatment course sounds like it may be different than most, and I'm sure your onc has good reasons for her recommendations. 

I'm not sure what you mean by placement of a "chip?" Did they place a titanium clip at the time of your biopsy to mark the location of the tumor?  Is your tumor palpable? Have you had testing to determine if it is responding to the current chemo?

Best of luck - hopefully you're doing okay with chemo.  It really does stink,but there is light at the end of the tunnel!  How many do you have left?

GryffinSong

For me it was the addition of positive nodes that made the diff between no chemo and chemo. Since they've already done your sentinal node biopsy, hopefully that kind of surprise is not waiting in the wings.

Hugs and good luck!