Tumor growing and becoming harder during chemo!

BFFHasBreastCancer

Hi everyone,

I am the BFF to someone diagnosed with stage 4, triple negative breast cancer.  I am also her "research assistant!" 

I am looking for the 'why' behind the growth and hardness of her tumor after 4 rounds of chemo.  She is so very anxious and I was hoping this did not necessarily mean the chemo is not working.  Has anyone experienced this and if so, what was the 'why' given to you via docs?

I really appreciate your kindness and am sending love to all of you..... 

dlb823

BFF, I haven't been in the situation you describe, but I thought I'd at least stop and bump your thread to hopefully get you a few more views.

In general though, I would be curious what her medical team says about this change in her lesion.  And I would also ask if her docs are highly experienced at treating Triple Negative (TN) bc, which is rarer than other types of bc, and as you and she probably know, can be quite aggressive.  I would venture to say that if she's not already being treated at an NCI-designated medical center, and especially if her docs can't give her a satisfactory explanation and some reassurance about what's going on, then it might be wise to get a second opinion at one of the comprehensive cancer centers listed here, where she will find oncologists who not only specialize in breast cancer, but a lot more experience treating TNBC.  http://www.cancer.gov/researchandfunding/extramur...

I'm sorry about your BFF's diagnosis.  I wish her the best of luck.   It's wonderful that you are helping her with the research, and do tell her to check in here anytime she has questions or needs support!   (((Hugs))) to you both,  Deanna

placid44

I'm usually very cautious about speculating but I can tell you that during my chemo, it felt like it was getting bigger, but it was largely inflammation, or "tumor necrosis" necrosis, where the tumor is dying, but scar tissue is forming in reaction to the chemo. The scar tissue is dead cancer cells, but you can't tell how much "live" tumor vs. dead tumor is truly left until you have surgery and pathogist takes a look. Sometimes an ultrasound can help, but it is not definitive. My tumor ended up shrinking 77 percent, from 3.1 cm to 7mm.  On the other hand, I understand that some tumors do not respond...they stay the same size or grow. I am only mentioning this because I hadn't known about necrosis.