Hi everyone, I was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer of different types and a full body scan came back clear. On 15th May I had a double mastectomy with biopsies of lymph nodes on both sides. I am now four weeks post surgery and on Monday 16th June I have my first surgery follow up appointment. This morning (13th) I received an appointment from Oncology for next Thursday 19th June, which was like a shot out of the blue and not something I was expecting. . I am so worried that I am going to have to have chemotherapy. I rang both the Oncology and Breast Clinic to ask why I had received the letter but neither were very helpful. Can anyone help put my mind at rest...
Hi Bothgone and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I’m Anne, one of the Community Champions here on the Online Community, and I had a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy for breast cancer in 2022.
It's natural to worry that you might need chemotherapy but, if you do, you might find it's not as bad as you imagine. I did lose my hair but, apart from that, I didn't really have any major side effects and you might be the same.
As for why you have an appointment with oncology, well it would be just a guess by anyone here unfortunately. Don't forget that oncology overview all sorts of treatment not just chemotherapy.
The online community is divided into different support groups so I'm going to recommend that you join the breast cancer group as you'll then connect directly with others who have the same type of cancer as you.
To join, just click on the link I've created and, once you've joined, you can start a new post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
It would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and treatment to date into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
