Delay in starting chemo/radio treatment after surgery

kiwilill

Six weeks ago I discovered a breast lump which was diagnosed as malignant and aggressive, 3.36cm. My mastectomy was delayed for three weeks. Today I was told that the tumor had grown to 5cm by the time I had the surgery, that it is not responsive to Tamoxifen, that 2 lymph nodes were positive. I was also told that there may be a wait of up to 6 weeks before I can even see the oncologist, let alone start treatment (chemo and radiotherapy). Now I'm worried that a 6-week delay may adversely affect my prognosis which doesn't look too good anyway. When is treatment usually started after a mastectomy? Is immediate treatment crucial, or am I worrying too much?

mutz

From my experience and what I know of others, it is pretty normal to have the "delays" when getting treated for cancer, whether it is surgery or chemo. Trying to get things scheduled with the doctors and healing from surgery are the major factors in the time lapses. It took 3 weeks for my mastectomy to be done and I started treatment 5 weeks after the surgery.

I also want to encourage you that your breast cancer isn't a death sentence. I had a 2.9 cm tumor with 7 positive nodes. It was ER/PR negative (no tamoxifin) and Her2neu positive (aggressive cancer). My oncologist feels that I have a pretty good chance of beating this, and so do I. Get a good oncologist that will encourage you, because it makes a difference. They are making strides in breast cancer all of the time. From all I know, you have a pretty good chance too!!!!!!!!!!

I have my 7th treatment tomorrow of 8 chemos. It hasn't been fun, but neither has it been horrible.

It is normal to want the treatment immediately. It is normal to be scared. Yet, also realize it is likely that you are going to be cured too.

Hope this helps you in some way.

jake10

mutz said:

From my experience and what I know of others, it is pretty normal to have the "delays" when getting treated for cancer, whether it is surgery or chemo. Trying to get things scheduled with the doctors and healing from surgery are the major factors in the time lapses. It took 3 weeks for my mastectomy to be done and I started treatment 5 weeks after the surgery.

I also want to encourage you that your breast cancer isn't a death sentence. I had a 2.9 cm tumor with 7 positive nodes. It was ER/PR negative (no tamoxifin) and Her2neu positive (aggressive cancer). My oncologist feels that I have a pretty good chance of beating this, and so do I. Get a good oncologist that will encourage you, because it makes a difference. They are making strides in breast cancer all of the time. From all I know, you have a pretty good chance too!!!!!!!!!!

I have my 7th treatment tomorrow of 8 chemos. It hasn't been fun, but neither has it been horrible.

It is normal to want the treatment immediately. It is normal to be scared. Yet, also realize it is likely that you are going to be cured too.

Hope this helps you in some way.

Great advice. Outlook and attitude are major components to healing. I too had to wait 3 weeks for the mastectomy. The delay caused by getting the surgeon and plastic surgeon's schedules together. My tumor was very small and I was afraid that the delay would allow it time to grow to a size that would require chemo or radiation. It did not. Tumor was 0.1cm larger at pathology then it was on film.
I am sure banking on Breast Cancer being a treatable and curable disease, and I know most of the women at this site are counting on it as well. Hope is a gift, I pray daily for this gift. Beth

rizzo15

kiwilill. I, like you, am wondering why the 6 week delay. My tumor was about as large as yours and I had 7 of 14 lymph nodes positive. I started A/C chemo less than 2 weeks after biopsy results. Then came the mastectomy. Then they started Taxotere chemo 2 weeks after the mastectomy surgery. I worried a LOT when there was a one-month time period between my last Taxotere chemo IV and the first radiation. The only reason I didn't worry myself to death was that by that time I had TOTAL confidence in my chemo therapy oncologist's advice. I think maybe that is the part that is missing for you. I don't see why the chemo therapy oncologist can't just give you a consultation appointment between now and then. It would only take a half hour of his/her time and a lot of your questions could be answered. Maybe you could look into that? I think you need to get more confidence one way or the other about this 6-week in the future decision from one of your doctors.

I had consultation appointments with my chemo therapy oncologist and my radiation onocologist within 2 days of receiving my biopsy reports. Since we had already met before they did any therapy or treatments, I knew I could call them to ask any question that I might have. Also it helped that my pathologist was willing to discuss my pathology reports after the mastectomy (not a lot are willing to do this directly with patients). He helped me understand my results and compare it to what I'd been reading on the Web about breast cancer. He also told me that I was lucky to have the chemo therapy oncologist that I had and that I should be willing to trust him completely with my ongoing care. You don't often hear doctors saying bad things about other doctors...but when you hear a lot of praise from doctors regarding one of their own...you know that guy has got to be good. And he IS!!!

kiwilill

rizzo15 said:

kiwilill. I, like you, am wondering why the 6 week delay. My tumor was about as large as yours and I had 7 of 14 lymph nodes positive. I started A/C chemo less than 2 weeks after biopsy results. Then came the mastectomy. Then they started Taxotere chemo 2 weeks after the mastectomy surgery. I worried a LOT when there was a one-month time period between my last Taxotere chemo IV and the first radiation. The only reason I didn't worry myself to death was that by that time I had TOTAL confidence in my chemo therapy oncologist's advice. I think maybe that is the part that is missing for you. I don't see why the chemo therapy oncologist can't just give you a consultation appointment between now and then. It would only take a half hour of his/her time and a lot of your questions could be answered. Maybe you could look into that? I think you need to get more confidence one way or the other about this 6-week in the future decision from one of your doctors.

I had consultation appointments with my chemo therapy oncologist and my radiation onocologist within 2 days of receiving my biopsy reports. Since we had already met before they did any therapy or treatments, I knew I could call them to ask any question that I might have. Also it helped that my pathologist was willing to discuss my pathology reports after the mastectomy (not a lot are willing to do this directly with patients). He helped me understand my results and compare it to what I'd been reading on the Web about breast cancer. He also told me that I was lucky to have the chemo therapy oncologist that I had and that I should be willing to trust him completely with my ongoing care. You don't often hear doctors saying bad things about other doctors...but when you hear a lot of praise from doctors regarding one of their own...you know that guy has got to be good. And he IS!!!

Thanks so much for your replies and all your helpful advice. I feel reassured and more positive now about what's in store. I will check to see if I can at least get an appointment with the oncologist within the next few weeks, as suggested. Many thanks, again, for your support.

DeeNY711

I had four samples taken of the lump by core needle biopsy on Jan 15. The surgeon insisted on negative CT scan and bone scan prior to surgery. Bilateral mastectomy was done on Feb 20 with 5 positive nodes. I was told that "four positive nodes or less is good and you had five." Chemotherapy started on 3/13. Last cycle was 8/7. Radiation is supposed to start 9/4 if the incision from port removal permits. I had exactly the same anxiety about the time lapses, especially between poking 4 holes in the tumor and not having the surgery until over a month later, but the tumor did not develop overnight... it just never showed on mammograms or ultrasound. I was told the job of the chemo and the radiation is "clean up." This, too, is not something that has to be initiated immediately. Part of the time span between surgery and chemo is to allow the tissue to heal as much as possible before destroying the body's ability to allow new skin cells to grow. The chemo doesn't differentiate between good new cells and bad. Hope this helps you a little. Love, Denise

Devoted

I am the husband of a cancer survivor who had a 1.7 cm tumor that was ER/PR negative and Her2Neu positive, very aggressive. I was also concerned about the delay between surgery and treatment, but when I talked to my Wifes surgeon and Oncologist, they told me that a delay was normal and wouldn't affect her prognosis. Getting a good oncologist that supports you is very important, my wife summed it up one day after interviewing one oncologist "Chris I Can't see myself getting sick in front of her" (referring to the oncologist). I hope that this has helped you.

Chris