Just diagnosed a week bak- stage 3 breast cancer

sorry you had to come to this forum. you will find all useful information.

here are my few cents in random order.

cry if you want until you cannot cry no more or exhausted from it.

then you will realize time to fight. after all you have beautiful life w your children in it.

chemo first is called neoadjuvant chemo. it is to shrink tumors before surgery. some cases, chemo first will make tumors disappear. about halfway thru neoadjuvant chemo, you will get CT and more tests to see how well chemo works. well response could mean less invasive surgery. about hair loss, it is inevitable unfortunately. i shaved mine completely on day 10 after 1st. no hair conserving method was used. hair conserving method is personal choice but many oncologists dont like them and I agree that chemo supposed to kill everything. My hair came back healthy and super curly. surgery whether is lumpectomy or mastectomy is harsh. hormone therapy wise, I have not skipped a pill since last Nov. I am tolerating it well. I am 10 plus yrs older than you and overweight.

I won't lie it was a hell of a year. now I am back to my previous life. different yes. I had to pay that price to be healthy again.

p.s. the pic is taken two months ago 12months after final chemo

Hi crsathish and welcome to the club that no one wants to join. Chemo is always done first for Inflammatory Breast Cancer because the tumor cells typically invade the skin, and because it is already locally advanced by the time it is detected. The chemo should hopefully reduce the skin involvement so the surgeon doesn't have to cut directly into the diseased skin, in addition to reducing the tumor nests and targeting any tumor cells that have migrated away systemically from the primary tumor (IBC is very aggressive and spreads quickly). IBC grows differently than other breast cancers, it is not a defined lump that can be easily removed with surgery.

Hope that answers your question. If you have any concerns, worries or questions please don't hesitate to post or come join us in the Lounge just to let us know how you are doing. There are several of us here with lots of different experiences with IBC. Wishing you all the best!