Moving Along, chemo before surgery?

Hi - You may have mentioned this, but have you had the Oncotype-DX test? If your diagnosis makes you eligible for this test, it's a good way to figure out how well chemo will work for you. PJH

I had chemo before surgery because that's the standard treatment for inflammatory breast cancer.  The idea is that a cancer cell that has already escaped the breast and might be settling into the lungs or liver is more dangerous than the lump still in the breast.  Besides killing any stray cells, there are two major advantages to chemo first:  the doctor can see if the chemo is working as the tumor shrinks, and a small tumor may mean a less invasive surgery.  It sounds like your doctors are especially interested in the last point, so that you can have a lumpectomy.  Eleven years ago chemo before surgery was uncommon for earlier stage breast cancers, but I've seen in more frequently recently.  As you consider your options, you might ask the doctors if there are any studies on chemo first with your type and stage of cancer.