ibc breast changes during chemo?

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felly
felly Member Posts: 12
edited June 2014 in IBC (Inflammatory Breast Cancer)

Hello Ladies.I would like to ask how did your ibc breast change during chemo.Did the redness and thickened skin peeled off?Mine did....uggggghh..leaving a soft shiny skin behind after the third taxotere treatment.Is that normal?

Thank you all in advance.You had always been a great help for me.....

You Ladies are amazing!

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  • ibcmets
    ibcmets Member Posts: 4,286
    edited April 2013

    Mine did not peel off, but I still had redness after 8 months of chemo but the thickness went down a bit.  I did BMX a year later and all the thickness & redness were no longer there.

    Terri

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  • concernhubby
    concernhubby Member Posts: 7
    edited April 2013

    We are about a month into weekly taxol and there is some skin peeling.  Initially the skin redness got worse but this week things look more calm, but the lymph nodes are softer yet more surrounding swelling (although no pain).  We are hoping this is tumor "flare".  I have to admit waiting to see if the chemo is doing anything is a frustrating the process.  Terri I am surprised you still had redness after 8 months!  Did you mets subside or go away on PET/CT or anything after chemo?

    Thank you all for sharing your experiences, it is so helpful for us through this early part of our journey of IBC.

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  • ibcmets
    ibcmets Member Posts: 4,286
    edited April 2013

    My mets were in the bones (spinal) and I was also on Zometa monthly from the start for this.  It took a few months on Zometa for my bone mets to not be active any longer on scans.  During chemo, I had PET scans done every 3 months to check progress.

    Yours skin redness could be tumor flare.  I know my breast was softer, but I still had the redness until after I completed surgery.

    Terri

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  • Sherlocked
    Sherlocked Member Posts: 46
    edited April 2013

    My thickness and swelling disappeared by about the 4th month of chemo...I know that at first the pain most certainly did increase quite a lot and so that probably means the swelling did as well.  Then because my breasts were not dense, I could actually see the tumor and see it decreasing.  I am not sure you can see that so clearly in denser breasts.  The pinkness was the very last symptom to go, long (months) after all swelling and thickness went away.

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  • Sherlocked
    Sherlocked Member Posts: 46
    edited April 2013

    But by the way Felly I'd say the peeling is a good sign that the swelling is decreasing, actually.  I'm no doctor or anything but that's a normal sign after any kind of big swelling goes down.

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  • felly
    felly Member Posts: 12
    edited May 2013

    Thank you so much for your very helpful replies.....don't know how I would copr without you!

    My breast is still peeling off ...all the thickened skin is gone along with the redness but I feel swollen nodes in both armpits and chest which are painful especially when wearing a bra.....my lymphocytes blood count is too high during chemo in contrast to my wbc that went sooooo down the hill.My.doc is wondering also.......daaahh!I don't know ....I'm freaking out?



    God bless you all!

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  • concernhubby
    concernhubby Member Posts: 7
    edited May 2013

    Hi Bon sent you a personal message trying to get some ideas about your therapy course as my wife has similar mets location and tissue classification as you.  Hope you can get to it, thanks.

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