How soon will my breast cancer treatment begin?

How soon will my breast cancer treatment begin?

Once a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, the first determination is whether she needs surgery right away or whether the tumour needs to be shrunk with chemotherapy first. Once that determination is made, the woman starts her treatment relatively soon after the diagnosis. Usually, most individuals get surgery first. After the surgery, the chemotherapy starts within four to six weeks if a woman is a candidate for adjuvant chemotherapy; in other words, if her risk of relapse is great enough to warrant adjuvant chemotherapy and if she if fit enough and strong enough to undergo chemotherapy. That chemotherapy, again, will usually begin within four to six weeks after the surgery to give her time to heal and time to get stronger before beginning that therapy. After that, if there's a role for radiation, then that will usually begin within three weeks of finishing her chemotherapy. After that, if there's a role for hormonal therapy, she usually will begin that fairly quickly; within a week or two after the radiation.