Change in how your tumor feels on chemo?

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takeheart
takeheart Member Posts: 4
edited April 2016 in Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After

This is my first post, happy to have a place to discuss with ladies who "get it." I was diagnosed triple negative in Dec and started AC chemo immediately. The tumor responded well and after the 4th infusion (they were every other week), I could no longer feel the tumor! Currently I am on weekly TA a chemo, 7 down and 5 to go. Sad to say, I can feel the tumor again. Very disconcerting! Ultrasound confirms it is smaller than it was at diagnosis, about half the size. My docs are going to monitor closely with ultrasounds every 2 weeks from here on out to confirm it is shrinking and not (Lord forbid) growing again. They say the change in what I am feeling could be due to other factors than growth, and I am hoping they are right! Just wondering if anyone else has had this experience of feeling nothing (yay!) followed by feeling something (AHH!), and what the outcome was for you...

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited April 2016

    Takeheart-

    We wanted to welcome you to our community here at BCO! We hope you find the support you need here.

    We totally understand how that could be discouraging! But it sounds like the doctors had good news about the size, so it seems like it might be attributable to other factors. Please keep us posted on how the monitoring goes!

    The Mods

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited April 2016

    Bumping for more responses from our wonderful members!

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  • PurpleMinion
    PurpleMinion Member Posts: 165
    edited April 2016

    Hi Takeheart,

    I didn't initially respond to this because I was hoping others would, with positive happy stories. What *could* be happeniing possibly scar tissue or inflammation. What happened to me was that the second chemo didn't work and all the gains made on the first chemo were lost over the course of a few months. I am not saying that is what is happening to you, I sure hope it is something else, but you wanted to hear other people's experiences. Wishing you the very best!

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  • takeheart
    takeheart Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2016

    Thank you for the reply. I appreciate your honesty! When they realized the chemo wasn't working for you, did they discontinue and move straight to surgery? That is the plan if they find my tumor is growing... I hope you ended up with a good outcome, despite the setback.

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  • PurpleMinion
    PurpleMinion Member Posts: 165
    edited April 2016

    takeheart, no. I have IBC so surgery really cannot be done until the cancer is dead. I started on a clinical trial. I don't know what your diagnosis is but I have heard of people having surgery when chemo wasn't shrinking the tumor of the surgeon can get good margins. I personally would want to wait and get on some chemo that worked because there may be cancer cells floating around out there.

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  • takeheart
    takeheart Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2016

    I hope the clinical trial proves effective for you! I have borderline triple negative IDC. If we find it's growing/not responding to this chemo (TA), will move forward with masectomy and then finish chemo after in order to flush out any other cancer that may be lurking. Agree, want to get rid of anything that might be floating around... Best of luck to you, thank you for the reply.

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  • LifeAloft
    LifeAloft Member Posts: 150
    edited April 2016

    takeheart,

    I think there are a couple ladies around who have had that happen, I believe they went to surgery.

    I'm TN and have the same chemo as you, except I'm also getting Carboplatin every 3 weeks too. This week will be my 5th, so I'm a couple weeks behind you. What you describe is one of my fears, it took a while for my tumor to shrink with the AC and we had discussed going right to surgery, luckily it seems to have disappeared. I'm hoping that it stays gone. I've also read about a few people going on Xeloda after surgery if there was still cancer left after surgery.

    Best wishes to you! It's good to hear they are keeping a close eye on it!

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  • takeheart
    takeheart Member Posts: 4
    edited April 2016

    My doctors say it's really rare for a tumor to grow on TA chemo, but it does happen. :( I'm glad to hear yours has disappeared, I'm sure that is such a huge relief. Hoping with you that it is gone for good!

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