Trying not to spiral

Hi Clare5 

I am sorry you are going through this and hope things become clearer when you meet with your surgeon later this week. Uncertainty makes all of it far worse doesn’t it. It’s so hard not to worry about what might have been missed opportunities to find things sooner. I have added a link below of questions you might want to ask. Our information is written with the UK health system in mind but I am sure a lot of it remains relevant. 

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/treatment/your-treatment-options/questions-to-ask-your-healthcare-team

Thank you Coddfish for your reply and the link. I have my list of questions ready to ask tomorrow and hoping that getting some answers will help.

Good luck today Clare5 please let us know how you get on.

Lee x

The lymph nodes would show on a scan if they are thickened as a result of being cancerous having spread from the breast. They can still become cancerous before your surgery but it sounds like you have caught it at an early stage even if it has been growing in your breast for some time, so the cancer is very unlikely to have spread elsewhere. Any microscopic cells that have escaped will be eliminated by chemo/radiotherapy/immunotherapy to prevent the cancer coming back 

I met with the surgeon last week. He was very nice and took his time explaining everything. He thinks the tumour is small and seemed confident that a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy will be sufficient. I’m scheduled for surgery next week which can’t come fast enough. He’s going to remove the sentinel nodes at my request because I have had armpit pain and am worried about spread even though the ultrasound I had back in February didn’t show anything.

I’m concerned about the potential side effects of the radiation on my heart and lungs down the road but hopefully this will be addressed when I meet the oncologist. Still wondering if I should have gone with a mastectomy so I wouldn’t need radiation, my breasts are very small so I wouldn’t miss it, my main reason for opting for a lumpectomy was the quicker recovery time but maybe this is short sighted. 

My wife still needs radiotherapy to the breast area to help prevent the cancer coming back.  As for the radiotherapy, there is a technique called Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (Dibh) where you take a breath in and hold it for up to 20 seconds at a time for your radiotherapy planning and treatment.

Hi Clare5 I had 20 sessions of radiotherapy to my left breast and this was 13 years ago.  No real problems since then so you should be alright and as Shell says they recommend you do the breathing exercise these days (wasn't around when I had my first lot of radiotherapy.

Lee x

Thanks Leelaloo, that’s reassuring to hear. I’ve always been a very healthy person and this cancer diagnosis has knocked me for six. I’ve gone from being extremely positive about my health to now expecting the worst at every turn.