Calling All with Tumors 6 cm +

Yay solarsister..  det var gode nyheter  (that's good news)

So glad I found this site!!!





Just got back from MO. I'm so disheartened and barely keeping tears in. My MRI showed cCR but my path report showed a 7 cm tumour. It was just over 6 before chemo!!! How in the name could this tumour not been seen on the MRI??? How could it have grown when every 2 weeks physical measurements showed shrinkage?? How can this be???

MO says that I need rads again. I've had recon already and it looks FABULOUS only 2 weeks out. I don't want to chance that rads will ruin it.

Seriously, I was so on top of the world for the past 3 weeks thinking I kicked this beast in the butt and now I feel like my world has crashed on top of me.

I know rads aren't bad considering everything I've already been through, but I was in the healing and moving forward mode and now that is all put on hold again!!!! ARRRGHHHH!!!!!!! I don't know if I've got enough left to get through this. :-(

I just want to go and hit my first BS so hard. I want to ruin his life. This is the guy that 3 yrs ago told me the 8mm mass "was fibrocystic and not to worry. We'll watch it closely". Watch it he did!! US, biopsies, and mammos every 3-6 months. When I asked him to take it out when it got to 2.5cm he said "no it would deform my breast and its ok. It would likely disappear after menopause." May he lose his arms in a horrific accident and his crotch be infested with mites!!!!

shianne - damn disgusting.. as lago says - initial shock horror, soon you will put the survival cap back on and you will go through the motions sorry, once more.

mine is different but know exactly how you feel.  i started with a 2 cm lump, nearly 4 months of wasted wrong diagnosis, diagnosed at 4 months with with a 6 cm.. chemo stopped responding on 5th & 6th dose, at mastectomy they took off 10 cm of all tumor.

we have to take charge of our bc and if need become aggressive and make sure from now on you get what you deserve.  after being miss treated i got 3 more opinions and moved on to another onc that i have so much confidence in and feel he is in my corner.   huge difference mentally for me, its bad but with the right team just having faith in them is a huge plus.

sorry you have to go through this but you do.  for me the breast can be reconstructed again.  i had just had beautiful silicone implants put in overseas in jan 2012 and was diagnosed in april 2012 and had to have them removed so i know what that feels like but now im just looking forward to reconstruction in the future.

you can do this.

we are with you.

xx

Lago (or s it Iago) space 89 that's me!!! Lol.

Ok I guess I'm over the shock. I'm still pi$$'d but now I can almost smile. Or is that a snarl??? Yes, I found a wonderful new BS that has been fantastic. She managed to get me into her very highly demanded PS BFF(lol) inside of a week. Serious. Consult with PS squeezed into same day as BS. That was the 4th on the 8th I was called with a surgery date of the 12. This was a Saturday. They both, along with an anesthesiologist did this on their day off. In Canada, surgery is not scheduled on weekends!!! Anyway, long story short. New BS great. Old BS $hite!!!



liv- no apologies!!! I'm all for innuendoes!!!!! You are right also, it too can be reconstructed. Just the shock!!! I can do this!!! I have to and I can!!!!



Damn, I know most of you have been in my shoes and can identify my feelings. That's the beauty of this site. Us newbies get the words of wisdom from experience. Experience gets the joy of helping others. I can't wait to be experienced!!!! Put this all behind me and help others.



Shari!!!!!! *hugs* my buddy!!! Yes. Moving slowly forward now. Thank you for letting me vent.



I'm so glad I found BCO.

shianne29 It's Lago with a lower case L. More informal with lower case. So glad you have a  new team. It makes a huge difference. Trust me the doctors don't do surgery here in the US unless it's an emergency either. Sounds like you have an amazing dedicated team now. Back to climbing up that hill. You will get there and come back to this site to help others.

Keep us posted on your progress

♥X♥X♥

Down staging is good and nothing in the nodes is excellent... That's good news I will say...r they radiating breast area then? Was there anything In nodes before. Don't recall why u had said before.. And what was size before? Bigger than now?

Shari, the original size was thought to be 6.5x5 and no nodes. I thought hat was huge considering I'm only barely a B cup. Lol. More like an A.

I had planned on the diep now and maybe down the road having them both enlarged with implants to a B/C. Not sure if rads will eliminate that possibility.

lago, you are so right. I'm usually a half full kinda person. I've met this thing head on and only had a few breakdowns, unfortunately my entering this board was during one of them. But as my husband said to me, sometimes it's the little things that are the final straw. Oh well, it is what it is and I can't change the past. But I can sure as hell make my own future!!

I have been reading the YKYACP thread and laughing so hard, thinking how amazing all you ladies are!! I think that should be an automatic link for anyone starting down this road!!!

I am not sure of my stage..clinicallyvtheyvtold me two.. But u never know bc I haven't had my surgery yet.. I jus followed shianne (Luanne) here

bcfree welcome to the boards. I'm sure you will find some amazing ladies here to share with, I know I have.  That treatment was the plan I started out with, but for now breast surgeon has said I don't need the surgery - cancer is already in my bones so no advantage he says - but I started with 2 AC and then moves and switched trestment centres where the new MO switched to FAC, have had 3 of those (not working) and now on to Taxol.  First taxol was last fri, second is this fri< is that the same schedule you are following? So far the taxol is much less nauseating than the AC or FAC but the neuropathy in my hands is getting worse.  Does seem a little easier tolerated tho.

Please keep coming back and posting - everyone here is very supportive

bcfree. I did neo chemo too. 4AC and 4 taxol. As lago said SE are different for everyone but I sailed thru the AC, no nausea or anything other than hair loss and only on my head. Taxol was horribly painful for me. No neuropathy, didn't lose nails but all my fingers and toes peeled and were numb for a few days after each treatment. My head hair started to grow again on taxol also but eyebrows and lashes fell out lmao. Go figure. It was the pain that was the worst. BUT!!! It is doable. Get pain pills before and take any preventative meds they give you. And I found exercise helped. Sounds dumb but the more active I was the less pain and for shorter duration.

Good luck. Keep us posted!!

ridergirl- I, too, had neoadjuvent chemo.  AC x 4, then Taxol x 12.  Remember that chemo is cumulative, so each dose builds on what you've had before.  If you are already getting neuropathy, you need to let your MO know.  Only pre-meds I needed for taxol was claritin and benedryl because I got a pretty good rash after my 2nd dose.  No problems after that.  I had a tiny bit of neuropathy in both my middle fingers the last two doses and ended up getting quite a bit of swelling in my ankles around that time as well.  My eyebrows/lashes fell out about 4-5 weeks after finishing! taxol, but the hair on my head was growing the whole time! LOL.  I didn't use any ice pack and kept all my nails...didn't even turn black...weird how everyone is so different! Take care.

shianne - simmilar to me, when i could exercise on the good days i felt pretty normal and did find exercise really helped mentally and physically.

bcfree -( i wish)..love you name!!...good luck with chmo, it will be done before you know it.

xx

bcfree... forgot to add... My chemo

shrunk my tumor to nothing Started feeling it get smaller by second round of AC.. By the time AC was done, there was no sign of tumor..Hope this comes true for you as well

MMTOMH and whoever else that mentioned it thank you! for the advice re neuropathy. I am supposed to have day 8 treatment tomorrow and have a call in to my MO now to ask about lowering dose etc. Can't stand it like it is.  Am not doing the icing or anything - no one mentioned it before my first taxol and i guess i didn't realize i should have but probably too late now - anyway hope i have good luck with the nail issue i am loving that they are growing after working on a farm for 15 years and having them always dirty/broken. Hair is mostly all gone from AC except a few brow/lashes and starting to grow back on my head.  Guess i will lose it again to new drug??? I don't even know...so many details..and all of us so different with reactions...

ridergirl, lago, liv- Thank you all for the information and encouragement. I will continue to post my chemo experience. Ossa, it's wonderful that chemo melted your tumor!!!