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Is tumor responding?
Kiri was offered the option of neoadjuvant chemo for several reasons: she could participate in a clinical trial (where she is scheduled to take lapatinib (tykerb) and Taxol for 16 weeks before surgery), the possibility of the tumor shrinking made a lumpectomy a (remote) option, the tumor, if it did shrink, would be easier to excise and hopefully get clean margins with, we could determined what drugs the tumor responded to, and there was virtually no chance that the tumor would get larger with chemo. All good scenarios, and I was glad when she chose this option.
She's now had 5 treatments, including the one today, and been on the regimen 4 weeks. Last week her tumor was measured and had shrunk from 8 X 9 cm (these are measurements taken OUTSIDE the breast; the original internal u/s measurement was around 3 cm) to 8 X 8 cm. This week the tumor was still 8 X 8 cm, but the nurse said it felt "softer" and was therefore responding.
It's still early in the regimen, but I would some honest feedback from those who've been there, done that. Are we being given false hope? Is "softer" really a good indication the chemo is working? Kiri is ER+, PR- and Her2+++, and I've read that the PR- tumors can be iffy in terms of responding to chemo.
Would be grateful to hear of others' experiences. I know that neoadjuvant therapy isn't that common, and neither is the combo of ER+ and PR-, so I kind of feel we're in a vacuum here.
Thanks--
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