I am stage2B, T3N0M0. Very large tumor (literally half of my left C cup breast), my right breast and nodes are clear. The tumor is encroaching on my chest wall, so they are doing chemo first in order to shrink it enough to safely remove it all with clear margins. Manually it feels like 2 tumors, and after my 3rd round each has shrunk .5cm. I have 6 rounds of chemo left. They started me on Taxol, but I had some really bad pain and neuropathy issues right away, so they discontinued that and moved on to the AC that they had also planned on. I have 2 more rounds of that (every other week), then 4 rounds of Taxotere (every 3 weeks). After that surgery and radiation. Be glad they are customizing your treatment, and keep asking questions on here. There are many wonderful ladies here!

I had the exact same diagnosis...and also had chemo prior to surgery. I had a large tumor, and because of my age (31), it was very aggressive. They wanted to stop the growth and shrink the tumor so they wouldn't have to remove much of my chest wall during surgery. Like DanielleRose, I had ACT...5 months of chemo (they give you a couple of options for timetable). I am now post chemo, post bilateral mastectomy, and currently undergoing radiation. Let me know if you have any questions! And don't worry..you're clearly not alone.

I have triple negative breast cancer. I'm all finished now, but had 6 months of chemo prior to my double mastectomy. Then more chemo (which is kinda new to have more after surgery too) then radiation. I am cancer free now, only for a month though...but, yes, I had chemo before surgery.

Don't have much advice to give. Just wanted to tell you to hang in there! You'll be surprised at how strong you can be. I'm sending positive vibes your way and so sorry you have to go through this. <3

I did chemo neoadjuvantly, too. Size of tumor and type of cancer are why we held off on surgery (it improves success rate in terms of 'getting it all' if there is 'less to get' is how my surgeon put it to me.)

By the time I had mastectomy, there was no cancer left in me. Chemo works wonders.... (9cm mass of 4 tumors, largest was 5.5cm, lots of lymph involvement, all of it GONE--pathology from surgery was amazing). I'm glad my surgeon had me go that route (though it was hard initially to understand why I had to wander around with it in my body for so many months, it was definitely the right thing to do.)