TRIP NEG...CHEMO MASTECT RADS or .CHEMO MASTECT chemo rads??

liv-

hi all,

finished chemo, had mastectomy last thursday 13th September and then will have 7 weeks of rads, my dilemma is i want to have another shot of chemo before rads but my oncologist at rph says no, she says there is no evidence to support more chemo that there will be a better outcome...

does anyone know of dr. in perth western australia that specialises in ibc?..i want more chemo before rads.

DX April 2012 IBC 10cm Triple Neg stage 3C...4mths chemo....Adriamycin Doxorubicin Docetaxel taxotere Cyclophosphamide...Mastectomy 13/9/2012 .....no reconstruction...not sure either more chemo or rads first???

hate having to convince oncologist that i want more chemo then rads or depending on pathology from mastectomy, if good results will wait and have rads first thats the way the drs want it, then more chemo if i find a dr that will let me........still really confused but my gut tells me to have more chemo even if reports are good...

here in australia they dont advise more chemo, hate having to convince drs what i want, i dont have much faith in drs here, my breast had all the symptoms of ibc, pitted orange, hot, swollen, sore, red...and it took 4 months to diagnose...i know ibc is hard to diagnose but 4 months of antibioticsFrown

....and in that time nodes above my collar bone came up, nodes to chest wall and under arm came.

did have node involvement when diagnosed, the large node under arm was biopsied and was positive for cancer.

last scan was 7 weeks ago and showed all nodes had shrunk lots but by the time i had mastectomy the node under arm had grown...i could feel it.

have no idea whats happened since, all i do know, complete node removal during mastectomy and have appointment with breast dr on the 28th september when i get results.

essentially because of the aggressive nature of ibc and being triple neg......

chemo, mastectomy, rads...booked for rads soon..
chemo..done, mastectomy...done, .......now i want more chemo then rads...i think?Undecided

also does anyone know of any great perth western australia oncologistor Dr's that specialise in BC?

 any advice would be muchly appreciated.

x

Luah

Livzz: Sorry I can't help, but hopefully someone will be along shortly. I do know many ladies do one chemo (like AC) before surgery... and if there is still evidence of BC (i.e. tumours not shrunk completely), they do more chemo after (taxol)... or vice versa... or another regimen. It may come down to the surgical path report. You may want to check some of the sig lines on our Calling all TNs thread and PM any ladies who have done additional chemo.   

mimix3

livzz:

I ran into something similar during my treatment. I had a large, triple negative tumor (11+ cm after 16 rounds of Adriamycin, Cytoxan and Taxol). After I finished chemo (but, before my bilateral mastectomy), my oncologist broke the news to me that I probably would have to have more chemo after surgery. I was very upset about the possibility of more chemo, but, finally accepted it.  However, after the surgery, even with a 1 cm growth in one node and 4 nodes with micrometastis in them (all removed, of course), my doctor made the decision that he no longer thought more chemo would be necessary. I think his reasons were: my tumor was still huge, but, had basically "disintegrated" with the chemo; my surgical margins were great and he felt that radiation was by far the best way to address any stray cells in my axilla.

I am now about 20 months past all treatments and continue to see my oncologist quarterly. I am doing fine thus far, but, he continues to see me every 3 months and will  do so for the foreseeable future.

I hope this is of some reassurance to you.

mimix3

liv-

luah thanks  ((((hugs)))

 so glad to see your doing well.

great advise and it has given me reassurance not to  completely discount having more chemo and may be ok to have rads first then more chemo...thanks to people like you on these forums,  it makes this insidious journey so much better.

cheers

xxx

liv-

mimix3

thanks for the great response (((hugs)))

yes it does give me reassurance for sure.

wow you too had a huge tumor too, did yours shrink during chemo at all or did your surgeon do surgery on 11 cm tumor?  

mine stopped responding to chemo on the 5th round and grew to about 15cm.  I was so worried that it would be inoperable but thank gawd for the surgeon who zapped it off only last week.

fingers crossed that pathology report is fairly good, i believe less nodes infected gives a better prognosis, i know for sure 2 nodes were infected on initial fna  when diagnosed.

i also wonder if tumor stopped responding after 5th dose, had 6 in total, if i were to have more chemo in the future, after rads,  would chemo work again, by then it would be a good 4 months to having prior chemo, just another thought?

cant thank u enough.

and i really hope you keep going well and strong.

x