Newbie to this site

CarrieF4

Diagnosed July 2022 Stage 1 TNBC tumor 1.8 cm. Not in lymph nodes as of the first breast MRI. I guess we will find out after surgery Just finished 5 months of chemo and getting ready for lumpectomy and auxiliary node removal in February then I will have radiation not sure how many yet. I am worried because I never got a Ct scan or PET scan. Always worried that it could have spread. I had an MRI of breast and lymph nodes only when diagnosed. I had 4 rounds of AC (8weeks) and tumor shrunk to .6cm. Drastic improvement in 8 weeks Then did 12 weeks of Taxol and did not get another set of imaging. Hoping it got rid of all of it and didn’t grow. Again guess we find out after surgery. Praying for PCR. AC was brutal on my stomach th ought I might have to stop treatment. Taxol was a walk in the park in comparison. Maybe tired at times but nothing too bad. Hope that it worked. Lol. Please share your story with me. Would love to hear how others are doing. How was the recovery for lumpectomy and or side effects from radiation? Also anyone else not get a body scan?

praying for all of us to recover quickly and stay cancer free!

catlady2

Lumpectomy wasn't too bad. I was able to have the hidden scar procedure and when I look down both my breast look the same. If I look closely I can see differences in my breast. Recovery was smooth and not very painful.

Radiation was more challenging for me. The actual treatments are quick and painless. The big problem for me was my sensitive skin. I had a reaction to the creams they recommended and developed a horrendous rash that took steroid pills to clear it up. Dummy me thought is was just a treatment rash! If you get a bad rash from radiation talk to your team about switching creams! You may also have issues with being tired. I spent a lot of time on the couch. Exercise and power walking became challenging So be prepared to take it easy and pamper your self.

Another thing that I was not prepared for was the treatment mapping session prior to the start of the radiation treatments. The mapping took about 45 minutes and several small blue dot tattoos were made on my chest that they use to line up the beams during treatment. The dots are permanent, but not very noticeable unless you look closely.

Take care!

CarrieF4

https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1703153#Comment_1703153

Thank you for the advice I will keep the cream in mind in case I have a reaction.