Question re chemo working
 

Dear all,

Please can someone help me with the following. My wife is having chemo taxol and carboplatin. Plus herceptin and pertuzamb. She finished her 6th session out of 18. All before surgery.

She had an Mri and will get results on Friday. I wanted a heads up in case.

My wife can still feel the lump in her breast and lymph? We are not sure if it's shrunk. My questions.

1. Does this mean the chemo is not working?
2. Should the chemo have shrunk the lumps to nothing by now? Is this normal?
3. If not how long in terms of chemo sessions does it normally take for the chemo to shrink the lump?
4. How bad is it if the chemo has not shrunk the lump. Does that mean the cancer is spreading.

Also in terms of side effects

1. My wife has a constant dull headache. Is that normal?

Thanks all. And hope this message finds you all well and in good health.

Re: Question re chemo working
 

I'm not sure, MY TREATMENT was 6 rounds only
carboplatin perjeta, herceptin taxotere.

I was told that I would be hit very hard in the first
round, in fact try 8 am to almost 4 PM till I finished.

My nose when it ran had bloody clots, my tongue
turned a bright red I almost went to the ER for fear
of my throat shutting down.

I was told each round I would be getting less and less.
I could feel a tingling sensation in the area of the tumor
and by the second round, I knew it was desolving.

BUT your wife is getting 18 treatments.
NOT sure if YOUR WIFE is getting 6 rounds of
chemo, with just 12 months of herceptin which
is different then chemo. I know I was on herceptin
for 12 rounds after chemo.

Please let us know how she is doing.

Re: Question re chemo working
 

Hi, When I saw my surgeon, he offered me neoadjuvant chemo. He told me that Neoadjuvant chemo can be done to shrink the tumour enough to make surgery easier, even just to shrink it enough to allow you to have the option of a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy. So I don't think they expect neoajuvant chemo to make the tumour go away completely, though it is good if that happens. (That is called a complete pathological response.) A lot of women still have to have a lump removed, though one woman I spoke to said the lump kept getting smaller and smaller as they prepared her for surgery. It is still a good result and a sign that the chemo is hitting also any other tiny growths that may be there, too small perhaps to measure.

But I think to get proper answers, you really need to speak to your wife's oncologist, and should be able to go with her if she is happy for you to do so. Or maybe she could ask these questions at her next appointment even if you cannot come with her.

I don't know about how long it takes for primary breast cancer lumps to shrink but a friend with a dozen metastatic cancers the size of a golfball had them shrink about 30% in the first 3 months. Then they were the same size for the following test 3 months later. Then another 3 months later, they were all gone except for one 0.5cm lump. Three months later again, i.e. 12 months after she started treatment, they had all gone completely. For the first six months she had weekly treatment with paclitaxel and herceptin. Then she was put onto every 3 weeks.

This is a totally different situation i.e. secondary cancer not primary cancer, and different chemo.But it may give you an idea of how herceptin-based treatment can work. These HER2+ tumours naturally grow very fast. If the chemo stops them growing, or slows their growth, it is working to some degree. I do not think she or you would necessarily feel the difference in size if they had shrunk by a quarter or so, so would not be to disheartened.

I wish you both well, and hope the scan shows some good results. Oh, I forgot to mention, these chemo drugs are very toxic, and headaches are common. Drinking heaps of fluids and getting a daily walk in helps a bit, I was told to take panadol for mine, your oncologist may have other advice.

Re: Question re chemo working
 

on my final ct scan the day after my last chemo treatment ( not last herceptin) a lump that I had did not appear to shrink at all. The thing though was I also had a thickening of tissue( specific to IBC ) that resolved completely. Upon mastectomy they found a small piece of cancer that was 0.8mm,the lump had decreased and what was on the ct scan was dead Cancer cells ... As for the headaches mention it to the oncologist but know it cance very common. I had headaches ( dull) almost the whole time while on treatment.

Re: Question re chemo working
 

Hi all,

Many thanks indeed for your responses. Helped a lot. To share some good news. We had the results of the MRI. The oncologist said that he could no longer see the tumour on the MRI for both the breast and lymph. Does not mean the cancer has 100 per cent disappeared. But this is a good result.

Such a relief. Once again all many thanks and wish you all well.