hormone treatment

Hi 

Warm welcome to the Mac Community but sorry you needed to find yourself here   Is your BC and lymph node / clavical spread a recently found diagnosis, or occured after your original BC and what specific info regarding hormone treatment were you looking for ?

Also wanted to mention there is also a Secondary Breast Group you can check out and/or join clicking this link.

Judging by the short message assume you are still in a state of shock and finding this hard to get your head around :-/

Hugs, G n' J

It was found yesterday at the appointment to see results. I am on  Letrozole. The doctor said the cancer was taking up most of the breast and had spread to lymph nodes and clavical area. 

 I am finding hard to swallow food or pills. Also is there anything I could do to take away the soreness of the breast? He did say that if the cancer came through the skin to let them know so that frightened me.  I have tried to contact the breast unit but they are very busy. I do feel that I have not got long to live as I feel so ill. Please help.

Hi  and welcome to the forum. You must be in a state of shock after the diagnosis only yesterday.  Are you seeing an oncologist soon again to talk to about your options for treatment? Is this a first diagnosis of breast cancer? Letrozole can shrink ER+ tumors,  but often you'd also be offered chemo to try and shrink it too. There are a number of ladies on this forum with secondary cancer who will hopefully come along soon and reply, but it might be worth giving the Macmillan helpline a call in the meantime if it's hard to get hold of your breast nurse.  Their telephone number is 0808 8080000. Xxx

Hi

My name is Ellen, I’m one of the nurses who work closely with the Online Community Team. I hope you don’t mind but I saw your post and felt that you could benefit from getting added support from our team.

It’s great to see that you’ve been talking to others in our breast cancer group. There really is nothing quite like the support and help that you can get from others who know what it’s like.

Getting a cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming. It’s understandable why your feeling frightened just now. Hearing the news that your cancer had spread to your lymph nodes and clavicle doesn’t mean that you’ve not got long to live.

It’s very important that you do talk to someone about how you’re feeling and to let them know about the symptoms you’re experiencing today.

I’m saying this because you’ve mentioned that you feel ill and have difficulty swallowing food and pills. We always advise anyone to contact their doctors if they have new, persistent or worsening symptoms.

If you’re having difficulty contacting your breast care nurse/team it’s important that you do contact your GP. Your GP will be able to assess the soreness in your breast and help you to manage the pain, as well as review your other symptoms.

It sounds as if you need extra support to help you to cope with your recent diagnosis. You can talk to your GP or breast care nurse about getting help.

If you want to talk to one of our nurses about how you’re feeling or have questions about your diagnosis you can call our Support Line on 0808-808-0000. Our lines are open every day from 8am till 8pm.

Or, you can post any questions you have to our nurses here.

Best wishes and take care.

Ellen-Macmillan Online Digital Nurse Specialist.

Hello , bless you what a horrible shock. For now I'm going to echo Ellen's advice to ask for help from your gp, breast nurse, or Macmillan helpline.  From your post you dont sound as though your meeting with the doctor was handled very well?? I hope you have family or a friend to be with you, and going forward this is a really helpfull page to post on. Everyone has been so supportive of me. I really hope you get some "real life" support asap xxxxx

Hello , bless you what a horrible shock. For now I'm going to echo Ellen's advice to ask for help from your gp, breast nurse, or Macmillan helpline.  From your post you dont sound as though your meeting with the doctor was handled very well?? I hope you have family or a friend to be with you, and going forward this is a really helpfull page to post on. Everyone has been so supportive of me. I really hope you get some "real life" support asap xxxxx

Thank you Cheeboe.I appreciate you giving me a reply. This afternoon I managed to speak to the breast nurse, she was very kind. As the breast is nearly completely taken over by the cancer it is very sore. I was given the advice to take pain killing tablets.l am so grateful to you for being encouraging to me.

Hi

That is what we are here for, to be encouraging and supportive. Yes do take the painkillers and if they are not strong enough make an appointment at your GP to make sure you get effective analgesia. If you cannot take oral tablets it is possible to get transdermal patches which go on your skin and the medicine passes into your system that way. The Letrozole is very effective at stopping your oestrogen which should shrink the cancer, so do try to get it down.

I hope you have friends and or family with you at this time, but this forum is open 24/7 and someone will answer your questions or just be there. 

Sending love and hugs to you

Thank you so much Snowys mum. It really helps to have replies like yours. It reassures me that there are others out there that are going through the same feelings and anxieties that I am. Thank y

the AWAKE thread on this forum has several ladies with secondary diagnosis. They are all living their lives with the treatments and side effects etc we manage to have a good laugh you are very welcome to join us xx

I hope the pain is better today xxx