Breast Cancer - Mum

Hi mullsey165

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear about your mother.  I was diagnosed over two years ago with lymph node involvement and I made a full recovery.  There a family and friends forum that you can also join to get support from other family members in your situation.  Here's the link: (+) Family and friends forum - Macmillan Online Community.  You can also access support from Macmillan.  Here's the link to the supports you and your mother can receive: Emotional, financial and physical help for people with cancer | Macmillan Cancer Support

Wishing you and your mother the best of luck with whatever comes next.

Best wishes

Daisy53

I am a year on from getting that news and it is really tough - mine hadn’t spread on the scans but had locally and so many lymph nodes were affected they decided to treat me as if it had as tiny bits could be there that won’t be picked up by scans  - so for me surgery, accelerated chemo, radio, Abemaciclib for two years and Letrozole for 10 as I have a high likelihood of recurrence.  This year has been tough but now I am finally just on the tablets I am getting on with life and trying to prioritise fun and good times.  It’s horrible waiting but once the treatment plan is in place it’s easier to deal with - like a set of hurdles to jump over and you can put that bit of you that’s worrying into sorting all the practical things and finding ways to make things as good and fun as you can for your mum.  There can be moments of joy and togetherness in this journey - watching box sets with my teen as I dozed after chemo, lovely letters and thoughtful gifts from friends and neighbours, ticking off each section of treatment and starting to see the end of frequent hospital visits coming on the horizon.  The best people are those who are flexible enough to fit round how you are that day as it varies emotionally and physically - on one of the hottest days of the summer partway through chemo I wanted to do a long walk on Dartmoor and we did it - the next cycle I just wanted to eat ice cream and watch junk TV.  All we can really do is try to enjoy the day we have in front of us - I had a list of things I wanted to do when I was able - all local and none very big so if I had a good day it was easy to find something to do without thinking.  I feel you are going to be a great support to your Mum but don’t forget you need to take care of yourself too - it might be worth finding out about counselling so you can let it all out to someone without feeling bad.  A really important role my husband and son played was to protect me from the doomsayers and negative people - I did not have the energy to tolerate some people I normally didn’t mind giving time too - they answered my phone and door and made arrangements for visits and made sure they were kept short.  I hope the scans are clear and she has a treatment plan soon. 

a year