My oncologist, Dr. Nguyen, recommended neoadjuvant chemotherapy, meaning chemo before surgery. Doing so will reduce the tumor size before surgery. He said that for most of his patients, the tumor disappears. I should notice a reduction in size as soon as the second cycle. But surgery is still required because cancer cells could still be lurking in the breast tissue.
Dr. Nguyen recommended TCHP, an aggressive treatment for my type of tumor because I'm still -- and I quote him here -- young. I guess compared to his older patients, I'm still young. These are the drugs:
T – Taxotere (docetaxel)
C – Carboplatin
H – Herceptin (trastuzumab)
P – Perjeta (Pertuzumab)
Taxotere and carboplatin are chemo drugs. Herceptin and Perjeta are targeted therapy drugs specifically for HER2+ tumors. I will get six cycles of the drugs given every three weeks.
After the chemo, I will be scheduled for a mastectomy. I haven't decided yet if I should get a unilateral or bilateral mastectomy. After surgery, I will continue with Herceptin and Perjeta for a total of one year. Then I switch to an aromatase inhibitor because my tumor ER+. It's a daily pill taken for 5 years.
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