Had my meeting to discuss biopsy results today. The mass on right side is grade 3 triple negative invasive ductal carcinoma and the cancer has spread to my lymph nodes too. I have to go for a full body and bone scans to check if it has gone elsewhere and then I'll be starting with 6 months of chemo on a 3 week schedule before surgery and possible radiotherapy / other treatments. I have to have gene testing to help decide best surgery options. I also have to have another biopsy still on the other side as they saw suspicious looking stuff when I had my original scans but they have said they will deal with that alongside as we are wanting to start treatment ASAP.
It's likely I'll be looking to have a port put in as I have really bad veins, a massive fear of needles and my toddler runs the risk of pulling tubes out...they also said that the first few rounds of chemo would be EC but I have no idea what that means.
Has anyone got experience of chemo, having a port or can explain what EC means?
Hello Sam... so sorry to hear of your diagnosis. I was diagnosed in October. Stage 2 and in the Lymph nodes. I started chemo in November, 3 weekly after the initial scans. I was lucky because the cancer hadn't spread anywhere else. My mass was quite large so the initial plan was chemotherapy and mastectomy.
The chemo is tough. Half was through I had serious doubts I could get through it but half way through a scan showed my mass had shrunk. That gave me the push to carry on. Final scans after 6 cycles of chemotherapy showed the mass had shrunk further. I had my operation 6 weeks after the last chemotherapy but I had a lumpectomy not mastectomy because of the reduction.
I had my Operation at the end of April. As well as the lump they took 30 lymph nodes. Biopsy showed no cancer cells were present in the tissue of any of the lymph nodes. The chemotherapy had worked, for which I will forever be truly grateful. I've had follow up Radiotherapy to make sure it doesn't come back as far as humanly possible.
I had a PICC line put in after the first chemotherapy cycle it was straightforward and painless. I had good advice about ongoing care of it. It meant I didn't have to have a cannula put in for every cycle and it made regular blood tests so much easier. In between cycles there is a dressing over the tube so nothing "dangles" . I'm not sure if any of this helps. I can't help about the EC as I'm not sure what that means but do ask. Professionals talk in letters out of habit sometimes but will explain if you ask.
It's tough. Don't give up hope, however hard it gets. There are some things you can do to help with side effects. I wish you well. Good Luck 
