Timing of Surgery and Chemo

Tina_Min

My mother was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer (grade 3) in February after discovering a lump in January. March 11th a lumpectomy was performed with a sentinel node biopsy as well. Diagnosis came back as positive in the node. She had a CT scan a couple of weeks ago that showed something on her spine but it was inconclusive whether it was cancer so a MRI was performed today. Also, the margins from the lumpectomy were not clear so a second surgery is scheduled for the end of April. After this, at the end of May/beginning of June, they have scheduled an appointment to discuss chemo. Is this how quickly treatment occurs after diagnosis? For what both the breast surgeon and medical oncologist say is a very aggressive and fast growing cancer this seems to be dragging out. Is it because a certain degree of healing needs to take place between the surgeries before they can go in again? What about the 5-6 week wait from the second surgery to starting chemo, is that normal?

Twaz

Hi Tina. Welcome.

I'm fairly newly diagnosed and the waiting game does seem to take forever. My experience is that things have moved really fast, even though they seemed slow. I was diagnosed two weeks ago tomorrow and start chemo on Tuesday. My surgeon said that in some cases they will do surgery first, others chemo, although with TN, they do seem to go chemo first because of the aggressive nature.

Has your mom done any research? Has she asked why they are doing things that way? Is it possible to get a second opinion? Maybe the MRI will determine next steps. If the spine issue is cancer, then they may change treatment plans and go chemo first. I know in my case, my nurse put me on the calendar for a few appointments, just to get me on the calendar-- I wasn't even supposed to see the oncologist until May 11, but got moved up very quickly. Not sure if that is the case with your mom, but the test results may light a fire under their butts.

One thing I was told is to be your own advocate. Don't be afraid to ask questions. If she is too timid, go with her. You want to save her life and this is serious stuff. She should have a nurse navigator who is supposed to be on call to answer these questions. Even though I've only been at this for two weeks, the couple of times I've called her, she has gotten to work and gotten me answers.

Tina_Min

Thank you for your response and sharing your story. You are right, I need to step in and help my mom by being her advocate. She's too overwhelmed by all the medical terminology and doesn't quite understand. Thank you again.

Honesty2021

I was told you they need to wait at least 3 weeks between chemo and surgery