Chemotherapy

Hi Aaron-

We're sorry to hear that your mom is having a hard time with chemo; it can be a difficult treatment to manage. Many of our members have undergone chemo before their surgery, lots of doctors recommend it to try and shrink the mass, thereby increasing the chances of having a lumpectomy vs a mastectomy, You can read more about that here: http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/lumpecto....

We know the side effects can be hard to manage, but try to assure you mom that many of them are temporary, and will lessen as her treatment continues. In the meantime, she might find this info on managing chemo side effects helpful: http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/chemotherapy....

We hope this information is helpful, and that it gets easier for your mom!

The Mods

Hi AaronBronte:

If she feels well enough to cook, it should be no problem. Otherwise, between treatments, maybe she can prepare food ahead of time and freeze it, so she can just warm things up when does not feel like cooking.

Sometimes mastectomy is medically indicated. When it is not required, then lumpectomy plus radiation is as effective as mastectomy in terms of overall survival. This is a fact, so it seems like your mom's aunt is not very knowledgable about breast cancer and is causing her undue stress and anxiety by saying these things. Probably the aunt has no idea why neoadjuvant chemotherapy was recommended to your mother, and has no understanding of the potential benefits and valuable information about response to chemotherapy that may be obtained from this treatment plan.

Maybe you can show your Mom these discussion boards so she can join and connect with others with similar diagnoses who are going through neoadjuvant (pre-surgery) chemotherapy, and find some support.

If she has troublesome symptoms from the chemotherapy, she should tell the oncology nurse. The nurse can work with her to adjust supportive medications to ease the symptoms.

BarredOwl

It is not at all unusual in today's world for neoadjuvant chemo (chemo before surgery) to be done. The objective is to get the cancer to shrink and get good margins to get a better surgical outcome. It has been SOP for years with IBC {Inflammatory Breast Cancer) but is being done more today other types also. In some cases, a complete response is possible but not with all. Many who do neoadjuvant will do 2 different batches of Chemo but for some of us we will do both neoadjuvant Chemo and adjuvant Chemo (after surgery). Radiation may also follow for some. For some there will also be Estrogen Blockers for years if ER/PR+. If she is HER2+, then she will be getting Herceptrin infusions for a year.

Do you know which Chemo she is doing? Or if she will be doing another Chemo also neoadjuvant? If you go with her to her infusions, ask the Chemo RNs about her TX plan. Also if she has you listed with her Drs as approved to be given HIPPA info, you could call and talk with her Dr or his/her PA/NP/RN for explanation of what is being done and why it is considered to be the best TX for her so you will have a better understanding and can possibly help her better understand.

Remember - not all different Chemo 'work' the same on every cancer or in everyone's individual body.

There is no one TX option that is correct for each unique person - we are each so unique (even if it seems that DXs are the same); our Drs are also unique and (thankfully) do not all treat us exactly the same. In my case, my TX plan was quite different than most other IBCers here. Most will do 2 different Chemo neoadjuvant - I did A/C (Adriamycin and Cytoxan) neoadjuvant and then Taxol adjuvant. Did not get a complete response to A/C, never expected to - just to get it to shrink and have get good margins for surgery which it did give. Then hit 'anything' that might still be 'hiding' with the adjuvant Taxol. As I said, it was a different TX plan than most but it worked for me - Aug will be 7 yrs post DX and still NED (No Evidence of Disease).

It would be a good idea to get your Mom to come here and 'talk' about her concerns.

Bottom line - no one here can tell her (and you) what is best for her - we can only give our personal experiences which are all different. We are not medical personnel who are actually seeing her and her scans/tests/etc.

Hi AaronBronte:

Kicks raises a good question. Are you sure your mother has inflammatory breast cancer (IBC)? Or does she have another type?

Inflammatory Breast Cancer = IBC

Invasive (or Infiltrating) Ductal Carcinoma = IDC

Invasive (or Infiltrating) Lobular Carcinoma = ILC

There are other less common types (e.g., mixed, metaplastic)

You mentioned "when they remove the lump they would also scrape out extra pieces." Surgically, you seem to be describing a "lumpectomy" (removal of a lump and some extra tissue around it to try to achieve good margins). "Lumpectomy" is a type of "breast conserving surgery", which does not appear to be a standard treatment for "inflammatory breast cancer" (IBC) based on my layperson's reading of the NCCN breast cancer treatment guidelines, general information from the NCI, or this organization:

Surgery for inflammatory breast cancer: http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/types/inflammatory/treating/surgery

If you are not really sure what kind of breast cancer she has, do not know what specific drug regimen she is receiving, or have any information about tumor histology, tumor size, ER, PR or HER2 status, etc, it makes me wonder if your Mom has chosen not to share certain details with you. This in turn, makes we wonder how old you are.

It can be hard to gauge age from posts and you are certainly asking good questions, but registrants must be eighteen (18) years of age or older:

Terms of use: http://www.breastcancer.org/about_us/bco_commitment/legal_terms

If you are younger than that, then you should talk to your mother about your questions and concerns. Let her know you have questions about her treatment plan and ask how you can best help support her through treatment.

Of course, if you are 18 or older, please do not hesitate to continue posting. However, it would be helpful if you could ask your mom to share a copy of her pathology report with you, as well as more information about her diagnosis and the advice she has received regarding treatment plan (neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant drug regimen(s), surgery, radiation, etc), so you can make your questions more specific to her situation and make it easier for people here to refer you to good sources of information and/or share relevant experience.

BarredOwl