Very likely breast cancer, 26 weeks pregnant

Hi! So sorry for your news but also congratulations on the pregnancy!. News like this is hard never mind having a baby to think about too. My situation wasn’t the same as yours, my son was 3 months old when i diagnosed but id imagine our thoughts would be roughly the same. During that time of waiting for the results i would suggest just trying to accept that you have it. I know most would say try forget about it but lets be honest thats impossible. Atleast if you accept it then you process all of te emotions before you get hit with a million and one pieces of information and then if the results came back that you don’t have it then the relief would be immense too! 
Throw yourself in to prepping for baby, don’t let cancer cloud this amazing time in your life. I think if any one suggested this to me i wouldve laughed in theor face but what i did was just pretended as if all this was normal, all the tests, all the treatments. It obviously wasnt normal and there was alot of times where it was hard to pretend but i do think it helped. 
I don’t know if youve got anyone to talk to, but I really don’t mind if you wanted to talk or ask questions, about cancer, processes or becoming a mum (although my son is only a year old and ive totally winged it haha) 

youve got this though, no matter what!

Thank you so much Tink for your reply, I really appreciate it. I think you’re right with accepting I have it and I’m trying to do that as much as possible. The tiny slither of hope they got it wrong is still there but I honestly think this is so so unlikely based on what they said to me after the ultrasound and biopsies. I’m just struggling to accept this is happening at the moment, and just very concerned for the baby! 

I would love to pick your brains on all things cancer and babies! It’s very hard to find someone who understands this. I haven’t yet bought a single thing for the baby so maybe I should do that to help me! What has your journey looked like? And how are you doing now? I hope okay

Aw you will always have that hope! You have to! I remember sitting getting chemo and every time my cancer nurse came into the room i had this hope that she was walking over to say ‘oh sorry we got wrong youve not got cancer, heres a million pound in compensation’  

Youre at a vulnerable point just now because all youll know is you probably have cancer but you don’t know to what extent or treatments or plans etc which is terrifying. I promise when you get more information, no matter which way it goes, it will be better because you can understand what is going to happen rather than make it up. Dont be scared to ask questions to your team, if its on your mind, ask it. Nothings too stupid, I remember all i had in my head was can i swim? Haha i dont even swim normally but because my son never had i knew i wanted to take him at some point.

I remember when i found out about the cancer all i wanted to do was take my son to be checked even though they said it couldnt be passed to him when i was pregnant. You are a mum at the end of the day, whether you have held them in your arms or not, all you want to do is protect them and by getting checked and even standing there you are protecting them so don’t forget it.

Yes go buy stuff haha, is this your first baby? How have you been like pregnancy symptom wise? 

I’m doing good thank you for asking! So i found a lump size of a golf ball on Christmas day, got told by gp it was just a cyst but sent to breast clinic as protocol and found out in feb it was triple negative breast cancer (don’t ask me what that means, i keep forgetting haha) i started chemo and immunotherapy in march, at this point of starting the lump was size of a tennis ball. After that first chemo, i kid you not i couldnt feel the lump. So i got that for 6 months, i got 1 type of chemo every week for 3 months and then a different type every 3 weeks for another 3 months and immunotherapy every 3 weeks the whole time. I got a mammogram after chemo where they told me they couldnt see the lump anymore which was great. I had a lumpectomy and had 4-5 lymphnodes removed in september and found out a few weeks ago that i am cancer free! I am currently getting radiotherapy, 9 doses over 2 weeks so come friday i will be all done. Its crazy that after 10 months my cancer has been cured haha. Now I’m doing good, I’m not going to lie i have achy legs but they have said thats due to fertility drugs that i was on during chemo to protect my fertitlity. But even with that its not that bad, i feel so much better and feel ‘normal’ again. There is alot of wee bits prior to treatment and during treatment but i will say (for me anyway) physically its not as bad a you think worst case scenario. Mentally its tiring but i think that alot of that will be what a non cancer person would experience anyway with a newborn so its a difficult one to place blame essentially. No matter what though, by the end of it ive ‘beat’ cancer while looking after a baby - what?! Haha how i have done that i have no idea but you just do it and thank god i had my son because he distracted me from everything, you don’t have time to dwell on the cancer when you have a baby needing you 24/7

sorry this was a long message haha x

 I reckon I’d think the same! They gave me a call this morning and my results are already back so I find out tomorrow what’s going on. Can’t help but worry that it’s really serious as it’s been so fast, but at least the waiting will be over and I can plan. 

Haha I hadn’t thought about swimming but that’s a fair point! My husband and I have jotted down a load of questions as I think tomorrow I’ll be all over the place to even take anything in!

Yep I’ve thought the same thing! Every nurse I’ve spoken to I’ve asked if I’ll pass the cancer to my baby and the answer is always no but I can’t help but still ask every time. The baby is definitely making me still eat and attempt to look after myself as I know I’ve got to do it for her. Yep first baby! The first 16 weeks or so were a little rough but been feeling okay since then. 

I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but sounds like the treatment was really successful and so pleased to hear 10 months after you’re cancer free - I bet that feels incredible. Yeah I don’t fully understand all the different types of cancer but will find out tomorrow what I have. Did you do cold capping whilst doing chemo? If so, how did it go? Oo I would definitely want to do the fertility drug if I can, our plan was always to have another baby so I want to make sure I can protect that if I can. How was the drug for you? Sorry to ask you loads of questions! 

It’s incredible what you have done and you should feel so strong x 

Ah thats good the results are back already, atleast you don’t have to wait long! So i work in a dermatology department as a medical secretary and deal with the processes for cancer patients and you getting them back quickly doesn’t necessarily mean its worst case, they have like various timers that get triggered at each step that they have to meet by a certain time so they do everything asap. Also if it was me i would want to get you in quicker since you are pregnant. Ill keep everything crossed for you!

Every trust is different so the rules vary but basically if youre getting chemo you need to watch for risks of infection and swimming is a breeding ground for germs apparently haha to be fair my son hated it so i didnt feel too bad. 
Thats one piece of advice ill say is don’t always take what you fond out or read as gospel even on this site as like i say this change trust to trust and patient by patient. The amount of times ive stressed about a part of treatment because of someones experience and my experience was completely different!

How exciting, oh so is it a girl?! I cried when they told me i was having a boy, i thought i didnt care but i mustve really wanted a girl haha 

yeah i done cold cap the whole time. I was really nervous about it because everyone told me it was excruciating, it was not at all! Have you ever wore a slightly tight hat? It was just like that the was cold, but then the cold disappears after about 10 mins. And i am such a wimp when it comes to pain  I kept 80% of my hair up until my 2nd last chemo and then i was down to bout 30% of my hair left but what i had was long enough to hide any patches and then a couple of weeks ago i cut my hair short to match the regrowth. It did start growing back quicker than others so i feel like the cold cap helped that. I must admit the thought of losing my hair was tough and then when it happened for about 5 mins i cried and then i couldnt stop laughing. I’m probs a maniac haha i really do not suit short hair and because of that i stopped getting photos taken which means there are about 3 photos of me and my son that exsist and i really regret that because at the end once your done you do feel proud of yourself at some point and i wish that i had documented it even if i looked like a right tit! Haha

The fertility thing was an injection in my stomach once a month, it essentially puts your ovaries asleep and you get menopause and then when you stop eventually your ovaries wake back up, I’m still waiting on that part but they did say it could take 6 months. I have heard alot of people retrieve their eggs too, i think this depends on your age though. Its not a bad injection just a bit nippy. The worst thing about it all was the hot flushes from the menopause  especially when i was trying to get my son to sleep, id have to peel him off me and hed be soaked from my sweat haha

please please ask away, i wish i had someone at the beginning to ask random stuff haha i really do not mind at all! X