The lump who should not be named

Hello Porcha27,

Welcome to the club that none of us wanted to join..... however, once here you will see it is a great place for comfort, information, support and even jokes.  The good thing is many of us have walked these steps before you or are walking along the same road or even not as far forward as yourself.... the main thing is 'we understand' - I truly don't think anyone ever understands hearing 'that' word until you do hear it.  With this comes so much upset, turmoil, questioning and anger - with time all this does ease, it honestly does.

You will see people/family try to support you whilst others that you thought you could rely on seem to disappear and you also get the 'oww everything will be okay, it won't be anything' arrrrghhhh!!

I'm sorry you have joined this 'rollercoaster ride' - that you got pushed in the queue and someone push a ticket for the ride into your hand that you hadn't even thought about going on.  You will have many ups and downs - the thing is the ride is starting and to be honest as quick as it starts - it ends too, just as you are getting to understand things - thankfully you are then been told its all sorted.

One thing you could ask at your appointment, if they say you require 'x' number of days radiotherapy ..... ask them if the can do or could refer you to a hospital that does the TARGIT IORT ....(this stands for....Targeted intraoperative radiotherapy treatment).  This is a combined operation consisting of lumpectomy and at the same time 'one' dose of radiotherapy is given - and that's it radiotherapy is complete 'all done'.  Doctors by law should tell you about this treatment, but, many don't - I only stumbled on it by luck.  Sadly, there are only a limited number of hospitals that do this treatment, if you did qualify for it and can get this treatment for various reasons it makes the whole process so much more easier.

I'll attach a link to the website for you to have a nose at.  You might not quality or might not want this type of treatment, however, having the knowledge about it does help.

This is the link to the TARGIT IORT:
https://www.targit.org.uk

In the meantime, don't stress or worry there are lots of us around that can try and help you and easy any concerns.  If you find yourself wanting to ask questions and also have general chit-chat most of us hang around in a thread called 'AWAKE" most the 'Fruit Loops" a name we all seem to fit are in and out of this thread both day and night.

Hopefully this is the link to the 'Awake" thread:
https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_types/chat-breast-cancer/f/breast-cancer-forum/128753/awake/1657520#1657520

Best Wishes, Gail

Thank you so much for your reply.

I did get very drunk (woops) on Wednesday night when I found out and told all of Facebook, the amount of support has been amazing but yes there have been some people who I thought would say something that didn't. Ah well onwards and upwards with old and new friends. 

Had a quick look at the site, I will definitely say something to my oncologist when I see her, thank you.

Oh I've been awake pretty much since Wednesday so that threat will very much help