What next....

I am the same as you had lumpectomy in March finished radiotherapy and taking letrozole.  Seeing oncologist 5 august.    Have an appointment for breast care in one years time.  Hope someone answers us xxx 

I can answer you but can't help you because my treatment was in a different country.

However, my surgeon has always said that the day he operated was the day I stopped having cancer. Everything afterwards was to stop recurrence. 

It is nearly six years since I had my lumpectomy.  I was checked regularly until five years. Now I have a mammogram every year. I have a prescription for an annual for the rest of my life.

At my last appointment with the surgeon earlier this year he told me that I still need to be vigilant.  Whilst the previous cancer is unlikely to reappear now five years have passed, there is a tendency for a different one to develop and these can be treated if recognised early.  Even now I have days where I think ' what if I miss it?' but that's not very often. 

In fact chemotherapy left me with more problems than the cancer but life does return to a new normality.

Friends and family have no understanding of these long term thoughts. To them we are recovered. That's why I .....and I suspect many others....still check in on the Macmillan site. The empathy is an important part of recovery. You feel less alone....less limbo.

I am sure you will both continue to stay free from cancer. Take care. Love Karen

Thankyou Karen that certainly helps   I think we all feel the same.  E eryone thinks once the surgery and treatments finish your back to normal.  I certainly don’t !!  I keep thinking will I ever be me again   I don’t think I will. The cancer will be at the back of my mind forever   Hope I can put it in a little box somewhere.    Xx 

I agree with Lacomtekp. I considered myself cancer-free once I had my surgery and got my pathology results to give me the all clear (clear margins, none in lymph nodes).I had chemo first to shrink it, then lumpectomy, then radiotherapy. I got discharged from oncology a couple of months after radiotherapy, when they also checked how I was getting on with hormone therapy and any lingering issues from chemo.

I'd already had my pathology results a couple of weeks after surgery, so I knew I was cancer free. Have you had yours yet?

My next steps have been zoledronic acid infusion every 6 months (I've already had one), and hormone therapy for 5 years to help prevent recurrence.

I was told yearly mammogram but they said that is just a catch-all and that I should be checking myself regularly and telling them of any changes. They didn't say that to scare me, they said it because my mammogram didn't show any cancer as I have dense breasts, so I wanted to know whether they would offer me an alternative. They said I shouldn't be relying on a mammogram which actually made me feel a lot better somehow.

I'm delighted to be discharged and getting on with my life again. I feel like I've drawn a line under that year and am looking to the future. I felt a bit rubbish once everything was all over, but it needs to sink in at some point and I think that is when a lot of people find themselves suddenly processing everything.

I think what you're feeling is normal but hopefully you can at least consider yourself cancer-free now :-)

Thankyou they told me they had got the lump with clear margins.  Two out of three of the lymph nodes removed were cancerous   So I had radiotherapy boob underarm and collarbone hopefully it’s all gone   I see oncologist on 5 th august 

Have they already told you no chemotherapy? If so, they must think you are cancer-free now and everything else is preventative of recurrence. Or, have they said you might need chemo?

I had the onco dx test to see if chemo was suitable   They said any score under 25 and I would not need it. Mine was 17. So straight to radiotherapy xx

I would be celebrating at being cancer free then! Your oncology appointment will just be a formal discharge, and to make sure you've recovered from radiotherapy and to check you're OK with any other ongoing treatment like hormone therapy.

Well done for getting through it all!

Thankyou so much.  You have made me feel better xx. I need to book a holiday ha ha xxx