Positive chemo first stories?!

Hi, new person here. Diagnosed two months ago (I'm in the U.S.) and will soon have 3rd of 6 chemo sessions. Question: My oncologist told me there would be no MRI monitoring during the chemo, just 6 straight sessions. My SURGEON told me they would not wait that long and will do an MRI soon to see if it's shrinking. Any experience from others? Thanks

Hi, also new here. I was diagnosed with triple negative IDC with node involvement in February 2015, and started neoadjuvant chemo right away with 6 rounds of TAC with the last one on June 10. I had an MRI pre treatment, but was told by my surgeon that insurance does not pay for mid treatment MRI. Therefore I had an ultrasound and mammogram after my third treatment. The mammogram did not appear helpful as it showed no change due to the density of my breasts, but ultrasound showed the tumor breaking up with ~ 50% shrinkage in tumor size from just over 4 cm to 2 cm and that the node had also become smaller. I just had my post chemo MRI and mammogram earlier this week and am still awaiting the results. Overall I feel that I handled chemo fairly well, with more and more fatigue building each time, but manageable. I definitely feel a difference at the tumor site, but since my third treatment, I have felt my axillary node increase in size a bit and my breast and axillae ache, with the discomfort sometimes radiating down my back. I did not have this during the first half of treatment, and it seems worse after this last treatment; wondering if anyone else has experienced this toward the end of treatment? I've been told it can be fibrosis or necrosis, the cumulative effects of the chemo on the tumor areas, and/or the body is hard at work trying to clear the dead cells out (like little pac mans chomping it up) or any combination of the above. I find it hard to believe that it could signal anything negative after having such a good initial response, but it's hard not to worry.

Thanks,

Thank you for your reply Amanda. Glad to know I'm not alone regarding the pain. It's a little better today, but I'm concerned about the nodes I can feel so well now when they had been shrinking. I'll find out tomorrow what the MRI picked up. Hoping for the best.

Hi I had chemo first. 4 AC and then 12 Taxol with carbo thrown in every 3rd time. I had an US, mammo, MRI and PET scan all before starting treatment. After the 2nd AC neither my MO or I could feel the tumor anymore. I never had anymore imaging done. Not sure if thats because we could definitely feel that the chemo was working. When I had BMX almost 8 weeks after chemo was done I had NED. So I liked doing chemo 1st because I liked to feel the results and hear the positive news when BMX pathology came back. Good luck to you!