Hi @pisces85, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I can imagine that all of this information is hard to understand, and is emotionally very upsetting. We're glad that you've joined the breast cancer group for support. Connect members are patients, like you. We are not doctors.

This article from the American Cancer Society helps explain pathology reports for breast cancer: http://bit.ly/2zppVLW Everyone's pathology report is different. Yours is unique to you. Have you reviewed the details of your report with your doctor?

Getting chemotherapy before surgery is called neoadjuvant treatment. It is used to help shrink the tumor before surgery. You can read more here: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/treatment/chemotherapy-for-breast-cancer.html The ACS article explains:
"Neoadjuvant chemo can be used to try to shrink the tumor so it can be removed with less extensive surgery. Because of this, neoadjuvant chemo is often used to treat cancers that are too big to be removed by surgery at the time of diagnosis (called locally advanced cancers). Also, by giving chemo before the tumor is removed, doctors can better see how the cancer responds to it. If the first set of chemo drugs doesn’t shrink the tumor, your doctor will know that other drugs are needed.It should also kill any cancer cells that have spread but can't be seen. Just like adjuvant chemo, neoadjuvant chemo can lower the risk of breast cancer coming back."

Zayd, do you know what type of chemotherapy drug or combination you will be getting?