Hi there,
I was diagnosed with breast cancer just under 2 weeks ago, and it's been a bit of a whirlwind. From finding a small lump in early Feb which I was convinced would be a cyst, to being told I have a 4cm metaplastic grade 3 tumour.
Unfortunately one of the results from my 4 biopsies came back borderline (HER2) and I need to have another biopsy done, hopefully next week. I was in so much pain after the last time I had to take 2 days off work and didn't put a bra on or leave the house for 4 days. The oestrogen and progesterone results came back negative.
So I'm sort of in limbo right now about which chemo treatment regimen will apply until they get this result back. But they have also said that I could opt for surgery first, and I need to speak with the surgeon again to see when that would be possible, but with the size it'd likely be a mastectomy rather than a lumpectomy. The oncologist seems keen to do chemo first to shrink it, I suppose my reason for thinking of surgery first is that my breast is really painful (speed bumps are the enemy), itchy and uncomfortable. It wakes me from sleep if I roll onto it, I can't exercise and the constant pain is draining me. I also have multiple sclerosis, so my energy levels are already lower than most too. They took me off my HRT patches so my moods and anxiety are all over the place!
Can anyone recommend anything to help with the pain and itching? I use ibuprofen gel to take the edge off but honestly I feel like I'm carrying a baseball around in my breast all the time!
And I'd really love to hear any experiences of chemo first or surgery first and how that went for you.
Thank you for reading if you made it this far!
CC
