Time from surgery to chemotherapy?

Mellie289 · June 2013

Hi all,

I will see my surgeon Monday to get my drain removed and discuss my pathology report, but he says I need chemo due to the positive node after I recover enough from the surgery (partial mastectomy and axial lymph node removal last Thursday). Can anyone tell me what kind of time frame this might be?

How long did it take you to get an appointment with the oncologist and how long after surgery before the first chemo treatment?

Thanks!

sharon1953- · June 2013

For me it was about 5 wks. between surgery and chemo. I had a bilateral mastectomy. My MO will not start chemo until 5 wks. out from surgery. My BS had already referred me to my oncologist before the surgery.

curveball · June 2013

I don't remember how long it took to get an appointment. I had surgery June 6 last year and started chemo the middle of July, so it was 6 or 7 weeks between. My chemo start was delayed at least a little because it took longer than expected to get my Oncotype results back. As I recall my oncologist said I was getting close to the maximum they like to wait before starting chemo. This research announcement from last month mentions in passing that waiting longer than 90 days between surgery and chemo decreases survival rates.

ProfMagic · June 2013

I had a partial mastectomy and port placement on May 13th of this year and started chemo TCH on May 30th. My MO wanted to start ASAP since mine was very aggressive. I have my next treatment on Thurs 6/20. They actually wanted me to start one week out; however, I was still in pain and discomfort from the procedure so I told them we needed to wait. I hope all goes well for you!

Outfield · June 2013

Mellie, this is something where parts of the decision will be out of your control. Like ProfMagic said, it's always possible for someone to say they're not ready for a treatment because doctors really can't force it on you (really, they can't, that would be illegal). But on the other hand, it's very hard to convince a doc to do something sooner than his/her comfort zone. That comfort zone is different for different docs.

I personally started chemo about 2-1/2 weeks after my surgery. That timing was a result of my oncologist's comfort zone and experience and my surgeon's assessment of my healing. Change any one of the three of us into a different person, and that time interval could have been different.

Waiting sucks, doesn't it? I hope you are healing well and that chemo goes smoothly for you.

indenial · June 2013

I started 6 weeks after surgery. I can't imagine starting sooner than that, but I had a particularly difficult time with surgery.

I had already met with my oncologist prior to surgery so there wasn't a wait time to get an appointment with him or anything, we were just waiting 'til I was recovered enough from surgery to start.

mdg · June 2013

I had a BMX on January 27th and started chemo the first week of May. By the time you get final pathology and oncotype and consult with a MO it takes a few weeks.