Why?????

Surgery first
I had surgery first, six weeks rest then went straight into chemo then rads. I think each case is a bit unique and different so some may have to have chemo first. For instance, my second cancer battle they did no surgery at all and used the tumor as a marker to see if the chemo they were using was working (was it shrinking the tumor) this way if the tumor did not shrink they would know to increase the dose or perhaps change the type of chemo. It is not an exact science, but it has save many and I would certainly do it all again in a heartbeat if need be. Hope this helps.

RE

roseann4 said:

My surgery was done first.
I thought the chemo first was to shrink the size of the tumor so it would be easier to get clean margins. Good question.

Roseann

Surgery first
I had surgery first then chemo.

Margo

I have IBC, so I get chemo
I have IBC, so I get chemo first, then surgery, and then rads. IBC is extremely aggressive, so chemo first is to kill any little cells or micro tumors that might be trying to take hold in other areas of my body.

Linda

All Breast Cancers are not the same!
Remember that while we all have some form of Breast Cancer - we do not all have the same form AND all forms are not treated the same or are the same in aggressiveness.

I can only speak for myself and my treatment process. I'm IBC which is a very aggressive form that developes RAPIDLY also has one of the lower 5 year survival rates. It was less than a month that there was nothing noticed to being quite large, obvious and node involvement. I saw my PA on Thurs. morn - she was sure that it was positive for IBC, had Mammo, sono and needle biopsy that afternoon which radiologist said that he was sure it was positive but would call me in the am when he had the results - he did at 8 am. I saw the surgeon on Mon noon-ish and was told that there was no way that he attempt to do surgery until Chemo was tried to get it somewhat 'under control'/get some margin because there was no way at that time he had any hope of getting it all out. Saw Rads and Chemo the next 2 days, had a lot of tests, port put in Aug 25, 09 and started Chemo the next day. 2 weeks after that last of that batch of Chemo (4 A/C every 2 weeks) I had mod. rad. mast.. The Chemo had done it's job and had definately shrunk the mass a lot but still large and gotten good margins. 3 weeks after surgery I started 12 weekly Taxol, 1 week after last Taxol I started 25 rads.

It is great to ask questions and get all sorts of answers but remember that not all answers are pertainent to you or me or anyone else. Talk to your Dr - he/she is the one that can answer your questions about the choice of treatment approptiate for YOU and your type of BC and stage!

Susan

Surgery 1st
I had a mastectomy & started chemo 8 wks later.

Surgery first....only lumpectomy....
...but still...

Hugs, Kathi

I had chemo first
I had chemo first, as my tumor was quite large and very aggressive(it was a reoccurence that I thought was scar tissue under my mastectomy scar). I am triple negative. The chemo did a great job shrinking my tumor from 8cm. to .5 cm. Then I had a more intensive mastectomy to remove more tissue plus my implant, plus 14 nodes, followed by 6 weeks of radiation. However most women at chemo that I met had the surgery first, then chemo.
Linda

Heatherbelle said:

I think in alot of cases
I think in alot of cases they do chemo first if the tumor is large & they want to shrink it before surgery. I had my mastectomy first, then chemo.
*hugs*
Heather

they also got margins!

they also got margins!

chemo first
I had chemo first, and from what I was told I got a very strong dosing. I had A & C every other week, so I was basically getting not real down time between treatments. They told me it was due to many factors... my age (35), the agressive nauture of the tumor, the large size and location of the tumor, and to try to save as much of my breast as possible. I got about 3 weeks off after chemo then had my surgery.

My tumor went from about 4cm to just under 2cm so it really did a good job in shrinking and I only ended up having a partial mastectomy, where I lost about 25% of my breast. They also took a few lymph nodes. But they got nice clear margins and the nodes were clear but did show signs of dead cells and scarring.

Now I am back in chemo getting Taxotere (started back yesterday) and I will have either 32 or 35 radiation sessions to follow up - the radiation oncologist seems to think the scarring on the lymph node means the cancer did spread and he wants to treat my collarbone area as well. My team is meeting because the other 3/4 of the team thinks that will be overkill and damage part of my lung for no reason ... but all that is another issue entirely.

I had my surgery first also.
I had my surgery first also. From what I understand if you're tumor is very large they may have to do chemo first to try and shrink it prior to surgery. But I know of many people who had surgery first.