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bb, I was in something of the same situation as your mother.... a large lump with no lymph node involvement and they chose to do chemo before surgery. I am thankful to live in the great Northwest (seattle area), where I think we have the best treatments available. I was on Adriamyacin/cytoxin for 4 rounds of chemo and then Taxotere and Herceptin for 4 rounds. I continued with herceptin for one full year. Following my 5 months of chemo, I got my lumpectomy....They couldn't find the tumor at all! My lump had originally been large, my oncologist and surgeon both said that often those quick growing large lumps respond well to chemo.
One month after I started chemo, they had shot a "marker" into my tumor site so they would be able to find the tumor site when I finished chemo.
When I had my lumpectomy, they found NO TRACES of any cancer left. They told me at the time, that had there been any traces of cancer cells, they would have then scheduled me for a mastectomy. (I think that is your answer)
I then did 33 rounds of radiation to the tumor site.
Good luck with your mother. There is life after all of this treatment. And life after treatment feels WONDERFUL!!!!
SandyR
Everett, WA
survivor since 2005!
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