Hi New diagnosis and terrified

Hi Dollydimple

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear that you have been diagnosed with cancer.  It's perfectly understandable that you are scared and that you are hyper aware of any ache or pain in your body.  Your not the only one that it happens to when you find out you have cancer.  Try to take your mind off it by doing the things that you love to do.  I found walking every day helped as well as losing myself in a good book.

Breast cancer is very treatable these days and while I won't say chemo is easy but it is doable and your medical team will do everything they can to make sure you stay well while you are having treatment. I found that the worst part of my diagnosis was the waiting for results.  Things should start to get easier once you have your treatment plan in place.

Wishing you the best of luck with your future treatment and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask on here.  You will get plenty of support from the people on this forum.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Thank you so much for your lovely message 

it’s just worrying about where it’s spread to  

walking is good isn’t it , for your mental health too I think  

xx

Hello Dollydimple, 

I'm almost 45, mum to 4 and wife to 1 

I remember feeling that terror when hubby very helpfully found the lump and just deep down knowing it was cancer. 

Fast forward to 8 Dec, official diagnosis of grade 3 ER+ HER- invasive ductal cancer in 2 lumps and 1 positive node.

I had an MRI and the results from that confirmed I'd need a left mastectomy and axillary clearance which I had on 13 Jan. I'm now awaiting my oncology appt. 

It's a lot to take in at points and I can remember walking out of some appts just broken. It is just such a rollercoaster ride. 

We chose not to tell the tribe until we were just about to isolate for my surgery. We had previously told the schools so support could be put in place of they needed it. 

And we are here for you to support and listen.

Lou xx

Hi Dollydimple

I am 48 mum of 3 boys. 

Last September my world changed!  Diagnosed with Er+, her2 - breast cancer. Mammogram showed a 1.8cm  cancer but ultrasound showed 3.4cm with clear lymph nodes.  Breast surgeon thought it felt between 3 -4 cms so arranged mri scan to get definite size before lumpectomy and breast reduction. 

When I went back for MRI scan results it never even occured to me that there was a possibility of further bad news.  I was so shocked when I was told there was potential abnornalities around the tumour and abnornal lymph nodes.  Had to have more biopsies on area around cancer and lymph nodes and these came back positive. 

I had mastectomy and axillary clearance in October and have recovered well from this.  2 weeks later I went back for histology results and I was told the cancer was a HUGE 12cm and 7 lymph nodes posiitive. I just don't know  how it was able to get so big before I felt the lump 

 I was so anxious going for CT and bone scan, they were negative.  I am now 4 session out of 6 of chemo, then radio and tamoxifen.  Whilst none of this has been easy, try and take each stage at a time.

Every ache in my body makes me anxious and think it will always be like this now.  

Sorry this is so long winded but wanted you to know you are not alone.  I searched these groups in the hope of finding another person with similar diagnosis in the way of large cancer and lymph nodes etc but could never find anyone.  This group is amazing though and has got me through some difficult times since September and sure will in the future.  Please keep posting if there is any advice you need.

Take care

Mel x

Hi Mel

Thanks so much for your message 

I’m so glad your mastectomy went well and you’re on your treatment now 

I feel the same about the size of this lump and the amount of nodes !

Im terrified of the CT results 

it helps so much to speak to people like you  , I don’t feel so alone knowing that you “ get it “

how you getting on with the chemo ? Xx

Hiya Lou

thanks for your message , it really helps to know other people are there ( even though I wish we weren’t here for this reason !)

Hope you’re ok after your mastectomy ?

You’re  waiting for a plan re chemo etc now ?

we’ve also told school but not the children yet 
Thanks again 

xx

When I went for my CT results I was in a total panic and wanted to run as fast as I could out of the waiting room.  I didn't take it in what they were saying to me because I was so anxious.

My first 3 chemo sessions were not too bad.  Had about 3 days of nausea  every session (1 day really bad) but then was ok for the rest of the time.  My last session last Thursday bit more challenging as more side affects but getting through it.  Have been cold capping it and lost about 50% of my hair so far x

I bet you did , my last appointment I wanted to get up run out of the waiting room and get back home asap ! During the appointment I was making sarcastic jokes … I mean ?!! ‍♀️ 

Glad chemo been as tolerable as it can be ,! did they give you something for the nausea ?
how’s the cold cap does it add to the treatment time ? 
xx

Yes they give anti-sickness tabs and I stuck to the regime but the Friday straight after the chemo was always the hardest day for some reason.

Cold cap for EC chemo (first 3 sessions) adds 2.5hrs and wiith Docetaxel (last 3) 1.5hrs.  The first 10 -15 mins is the worst on cold cap.  If you get through that then the rest of the time is easier. I use a stress ball and squeeze the hell out of it for the first 10 minutes.  I have to admit I wanted to take it off last session and give up because I had a headache but instead unclipped it and went for walk to toilet to for 5 minutes and then reconnected it x

Ah so you could almost preempt the Fridays then  

well done on the cold cap , it’s good to have that choice isn’t it 

I feel super tired and run down , worrying how it’s spread throughout my body  

its hard to keep distracting yourself isn’t it 

xx