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Re: Chemo before surgery - anyone do this?
Lucky me! I had surgery before AND after chemo! 
I first had a lumpectomy...but the surgeon did not get clear margins. What I didn't know at the time was...The tumors were FAR too large, and spread apart, to ever have been removed that way!
My breast was ridiculously misshapen when she was done! (Picture a bruised and lopsided orange that should have been thrown out two weeks ago...minus the greenish fuzz) And, she also left me with a massive infection, cellulitis, lymphedema and a 500mL seroma!
Oh, and her parting gift to me was a 'pep talk' about the pathology report that convinced me beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I'd be dead by year's end.
What a way to embark on this journey!
Then I wised up, and went to a "real" cancer center, which is only an hour away...shame on me for being lazy!!...had chemo...followed by the bilateral mastectomy I should have had originally...complete with reconstruction, and a pathology report that said NED! The plastic surgeon even cleaned up the messy scars the first hack left.
Live and learn?
Water under the bridge?
All's well that ends well?
Maybe a little bit of each! At any rate...Radiation will be complete in 5 days...then Christmas...a nice vacation...and the start of a happy, and healthy 2012.
Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!
Denise
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1/11-needle biopsy
2/11-Lumpectomy/axillary node dissection - Stage 3c, ER/PR-14/17 nodes
3/11 - Post-op staph infection,cellulitis, lymphedema,seroma,ARRRGH!
4/12/11-A/C x 4, then T/H x 4, H only,Q3 weeks
8/26/11 finished Taxol!!!
10/7/11 mastectomy/DIEP recon
11/11 radiation x28
1/12/12 1st CANCER-VERSARY!
1/12 Low EF/Herceptin "Holiday" :(
2/12 EF up - Back on Herceptin, heart meds
4/2/1212 surgery to repair separated incision from DIEP recon
6/8/12 Return to work :)
6/17/12 Fall, shatter wrist,surgery to repair/insert plate :(
7/10/12 last Herceptin
7/23/12 Brain Mets %$&#! 3cm and 1cm
8/10/12 Gamma knife surgery, LOTS of steroids;start H/Tykerb
8/23/12 Back to work
12/20/12 Injure back-3 weeks in wheel chair
1/12/13 2nd CANCER-VERSARY!
1/14/13 herniate disk in back - surgery to repair
1/27/13 Radiation necrosis - edema in brain - back on steroids - but not back to work - off balance, poor cordination in right arm
5/3/13 Start Avastin to shrink necrosis
5/10/13 begin weaning steroids
6/18/13 Brain MRI - Avastin seems to be working!
6/20/13 quarterly CT - chest, abdomen, pelvis - All Clear!
7/5/13 finally off steroids!!
7/7/13 joined the ranks of the CHEMO NINJAS I am now Tekuto Ki Ariku cancer assassin!
7/13/13 Symptoms return - back on steroids
7/26/13 Back on Avastin - try again!
8/26/13 Not ready to return to classroom yet :( But I CAN walk without holding onto things! :)
9/9/13 Brain MRI - fingers crossed
“ Life is a grindstone, and whether it grinds you down or polishes you up is for you, and you alone, to decide. ” – Cavett Robert
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