Overwhelmed

Hi Mac 

im in a similar position to you. My mom was diagnosed two weeks ago with Grade 2 and has been started on hormone tablets. My mom is 86 bless her. We were told that surgery wouldn’t happen because of Covid 19 as well. All we’ve been told is start tablets and appointment in July :( like you say they are unprecedented times and the staff are doing their best. I asked what Stage moms cancer is as stage and grade are different. I was told they are not looking at stage yet. What worries me is without a stage we don’t know if the Breast cancer is contained or spread in her body. My Mom is normally a tough cookie and marvellous for her age but she is so exhausted and her skin is itching her crazy and she is having daily back pain :( she does also suffer with kidney disease and I don’t know if the symptoms are this or the cancer. Can’t give hugs either it’s so hard isn’t it . 

Hi Di67, thank you for your reply, I'm sorry to hear what your Mom and your family are going through, such a tough thing to deal with but at this time it's just so scary with limited support. I know what you mean about the stage/grade and whether it has spread or not,  we feel at a loss. My mom has bad back pain too and also in the area where the cancer is, today she has developed a water infection so has been prescribed antibiotics. The hardest thing is not being able hug her . Big hugs to you and your family, let's hope this virus goes away quickly so our lovely mom's can get some treatment 

Hi Mac76

Thank you and I hope you and your Mom will be ok. It helps knowing others are in similar situations and I really do hope this virus clears up soon so we can give our moms the hugs and care they deserve. Take care and thanks for the connection on here x

Hi  and 

Sorry that both of you are here courtesy of your Moms' diagnosis,  but you have come to the right place for people to help you out.

With regards to the surgery where they have normally offered a lump removal (lumpectomy or WLE) but have decided to remove her whole breast (mastectomy), I suspect that this is only because the haven't been able to perform a WLE due to the position or size of the tumor/DCIS. They wouldn't normally go for a mastectomy when a WLE could be done instead because it is a MUCH larger operation and they'd want to do as little as possible for her.  (DCIS is in 'easy terms' pre-cancerous cells which is quite possible to have these with a tumor as well.  For instance - I had a 15mm, grade 2 tumour and 2 areas of grade 3 DCIS measuring 53mm in total) - they were able to carry out a WLE because of the positioning and because my breast was large enough.  Especially at these times they wouldn't want to carry out a mastectomy over and above a WLE if they could avoid it. 

You both will find that during your mothers' treatments things may be amended as scans come back with different results etc, so it might not be due to Covid-19 if things change.

The big change that is happening, is as you say - tablets are being given prior to surgery.  The type of cancer that needs this is ER+ (oestrogen positive) and the tablets take away the oestrogen with 'fires' the cancer.  As I say, I had grade 2 and 3 and from when I was diagnosed it was quite a while before my operation.  Grade 1 = slow growing, Grade 2 = intermediate Grade 3 Faster Growing.  Nothing had changed from my original scans to when they operated in terms of size.  I didn't even start on my tablets until after the operation and when I started radiotherapy.  

Please be assured that they wouldn't do it this way if they thought it would cause the cancer to be growing unchecked.

With regards to Anastrozole - I'm on those.  There are others (tamoxifen - premenopause, letrozole or anastrozole - post menopause).  The tablets can have certain different ingredients in them and sometime the brand can make a huge difference.  I had Accord and fine on these, got given a different brand and OMG within a couple of days every bone in my body ached!  I ended up having the doctor write "Accord brand only" on my prescription slip. Unfortunately now (pre Covid-19) Accord are struggling to supply UK pharmacies, so I've had to change to TEVA brand.  A couple more aches, but nowhere near as bad as the other brand which I binned without checking their name (unfortunately).  I think that drinking a lot helps with these tablets as well.  I take mine 1st thing in the morning with a pint of squash and do drink a lot of other drinks during the day - tea, green tea, coffee, squash etc.  Others also take theirs with food which might also have an impact.  Perhaps they could try them at different times of the day, experiment with food/drink etc and keep a record of any different brands they have to check which ones might be best for them.

Kindest wishes to you both,

Hello Lesley

sorry that you have cancer yourself. Thank you so much for your reply I really appreciate it. Yes my mom is on letrozole 2.5mg once a day so far she has been ok on them no side effects at all which is incredible really. She has been on them a month. We are having to wait until July 6th for the next appointment so I’m hoping at that point they might offer scan so we will know what stage it is. We only know it’s grade 2 at the moment. 

She has been suffering with huge fatigue and back ache and this did start before she started the tablets. 

I hope you are getting on ok 

kind Regards 

Hi

I'm glad your Mum isn't having side effects from the tablets.  Here's hoping that as things ease with the coronavirus then normal surgery /checks will begin to resume. At least she has one booked in, but if you hear of more things being opened up, there's no harm in her ringing for an earlier appointment as a cancellation maybe?

Not long before I was diagnosed, my other half and I went to London for the weekend and we got on a tube at the end of the day to go back to the hotel.  I was absolutely shattered.  A lady (about my age) got up from her seat and offered it to me - I thought she was getting off.  No!  She was offering me her seat - so I must have looked bad, I was mortified at the time, ha, ha.  But I do wonder if I was just so tired because my body was fighting the cancer. Who knows.

I've had 2 clear mammograms and my next one would be June (probably not going to be).  But I found it helpful to try and think of it as any other type of illness.  The word cancer frightened the life out of me and it took a long time before I was able to change my mindset. It's a good one to try and achieve to stop the panic. 

I'm doing fine and nowadays hardly thing about it - it's in a little compartment to only worry about when my annual mammogram happens.  I hope your Mum can get to that stage too

Very best wishes,