Hi I’m new here
let me introduce myself
My name is Clare. I’m 35. On the evening of May 8th 2023 I found a lump in my left breast while at in the bath shaving, I went to the doctors the following day and was referred to the breast clinic at Macclesfield hospital. I had an ultrasound guided biopsy on May 26th and 3 weeks later I was diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer (DCIS) I had a mammogram that day, followed by a second biopsy 3 weeks later, this time xray guided I also had a 3D mammogram and another ultrasound this time on my right. When I went for the results of that I was told my DCIS had grown to 6x4cms and I was having a mastectomy and SLNB with expander recon, my op was booked in for Aug 21st. The following day I got told everything went great with the actual op, but they had to keep me in because I had a reaction to the radio active dye. Fast forward to Sept 14th, my results were ready, my DCIS had grown to a whopping 8x6cms but my diagnosis had changed to IDC with lymph node involvement, and that I’m triple positive, I now needed ALNC, 4 1/2 mths chemo and herceptin. The next day was my 35th birthday, which saw me hiding away in my room all day, I felt like it was ruined. ALNC was booked in for Oct 20th, I asked for a bed for the night as my sister was babysitting a friends 18th old for the night and he is into everything especially pulling. I then started fertility preservation on nov 10th, had my collection on Nov 23rd and got 2 eggs, I started a second round the following day. Dec 1st was my postponed results (egg collection was the original date) to find out another 5 nodes were involved, she was discharging me from clinic and was now passed over to oncology. Dec 6th saw my first visit to the Christie at Macclesfield Hospital, where I was told I’m having 6 rounds, each round being 3 weeks apart. I’m having Docetaxin (taxotere) & via IV and start pheago a few weeks later. My chemo start date is in 4 days, and I’m scared. What do I take with me? I have ginger biscuits a colouring book and pencils, crochet, chocolate, drink bottle, juice, but I don’t know what else is essential to pack. What were you essentials when going through chemo?
