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Stage 1 breast cancer

Moderator moved @Tokilovesme comment to dedicated discussion:

Tokilovesme Cairns Member Posts: 1 New Member

Hello everyone, I just got diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer, so happily not as bad as some of you (sorry for you all). My report did say Invasive Carcinoma though

Luckily I've already had a chat to the Nurse at Cairns Base who is lovely and I have my first meeting with the surgeon and team next week - keep your fingers crossed for me please

Mez_BCNA

Re: When is your birthday?

Happy birthday for 31st fellow Virgo, I am the 1st September.
Good luck with surgery and ongoing treatment. This is a great group for advice and support

Ktre

Hi Blossom1961 I’m so pleased for you 👏👏👏

I have had a spread to my tummy lining unfortunately.

I have had 1 dose of Enhertu and have not coped really well with side effects, nausea, fatigue and especially the diahorrea, off a lot of foods so lost a lot of weight recently. seeing my oncologist next Friday 11/10 and will chat to her about lowering the dose. You get to the stage on some days you’re feeling so awful you just want to give up! But I have too much to live for so I’m trying to keep going.

Glynnis

Enhertu working

CT Pet scan and MRI results in. No active cancer anywhere. Previous test showed cancer in brain, bones and adrenal gland. Onco started me on Enhertu five cycles ago and the results are amazing. Feeling pretty happy right now. I still have MBC but it is all asleep.

Blossom1961

New diagnosis shocked and devastated

Moderator moved @susie55 comment in Activity section to new discussion post:

susie55

Hi my name is Susie, today 30 September 9.30 I got my biopsy result I've got breast cancer

I'm 54 year old, I'm shocked and devastated I feel lonely. My brain doesn't function anymore. My surgeon tell me to do few test and port insert and what kind treatment I’ll get. Anyone have any advise for me?

My stress is rocket High at sky, I already can't sleep for couple weeks ( when I first fund my lump) always woke up cant back to sleep. Cant eat always worry a lot of stress. and I'm sorry English is not my first language
I hope everyone who reading this understand 🙏 i never ever thought I’ll get cancer because I doing breast test every couple year and last year is Clear. Dr Said I have dense breast, Anyone have same problem with me? How to manage stress and manage another test and waiting the result? ( MRI, PET scan and heart Scan ) Manage the chemo etc ….

Any help appreciate 🙏

Mez_BCNA

Re: New diagnosis shocked and devastated

Thank for the advice
My surgeon organise pet scan and mri at Austin hospital. I’m here just with my husband and kids all my family overseas and I couldn’t talk to them I don’t have courage yet to tell them.And I booked my GP nextweek to talk about t my anxiety
and what see came up as we go a long will update
thank you ..
and I have some nurse care call me this afternoon to help me out ….
that is wonderful ….
Just all sudden still can’t believe it but ya
I have to accept in some point and start the journey
Hopely I can sleep tonight ….

susie55

Re: Wise words ....

Blossom1961

Re: Information Overload!

Time goes by so quickly!!

I'm done with the AC part of chemo (yay, no more red devil). I'm on my 5th dose of the Taxol which I'm finding a lot easier on the system. Frustratingly, I've managed to pick up a cold and a middle ear infection so have had to delay today's treatment. The week goes by so quickly between treatments, I'm mainly tired and that's starting to accumulate over time. I'm also now menopausal - yay for me. The hot flushes were awful - I'm now on Veoza (fezolinetant) for them. It's newly approved here in Australia and specifically targets the receptor in the brain that causes the hot flushes. It's not yet on the PBS - so it's $60 for a month supply, claimable on some private health insurance. I'm finding it great for the hot flushes - still have some but they aren't as intense or as frequent. I do have a dry mouth though which is a known side effect.

Very annoyingly I am putting on weight - thanks to the dexamethasone which makes me soooo hungry. It wasn't such an issue when I was only getting it every 3 weeks (and the nausea put a cap on the appetite) but now it's weekly and with no nausea it's "hello appetite!". So I have to add weight gain to the list of what's f*ked about my body - hard enough adjusting to the baldness and one boob without adding extra jiggly bits. I've always fluctuated in weight thanks to growing up a 90's girl (anyone here remember the heroin chic of the time?). I had managed to get to a mostly good place with it before being diagnosed. Of course, I have no energy to actually do the exercise I need to get rid of it. I'm *trying* to be kind to myself on that front - but not having a great deal of success.

Currently trying to keep the kids occupied through the holidays. Had a wonderful treat over the weekend with a sleepover with 2 of my oldest friends - we hired an apartment in the city, had a lovely lunch and then watched movies and hung out. It was so lovely to just hang out, no kids, no partners, no restaurant time-limits, no chores. I wholeheartedly recommend this as a treat.

We're off to the beach at the end of the holidays and I'm working up the courage to get into some togs and into the water. I love, love, love swimming in the ocean. I recently went to Burleigh Heads and seriously struggled with getting togs on & getting into the water - especially as the place is full of stunning women with luscious hair, slim bods and both boobs. I was the only one boobed, bald chick on the beach and felt very conspicuous and very self-conscious. I sat there watching my husband in the water with the kids, arguing with myself to just get in the water. I eventually got his attention so he could come and accompany me to the water because I just could NOT do it on my own. I've got myself a swim prosthesis now so hopefully that will help a little - can't do much about the hair or the fat but maybe one less thing to worry about will help.

Now that I'm recovered from surgery and feeling a little more human on the Taxol, body image really is something that I'm struggling with. My clothes don't fit right any more. I can't wear a bunch of my favourite dresses because I haven't been able to find a bra with straps that sit right. Why oh why do all the straps come straight up from the nipple??? They are also a totally different shape than I'm used to wearing so nothing sits the way that I'm used to.

Sorry - this has been a bit more of a rant than an update.

lorns

Re: Information Overload!

Seems about time for an update...

My daughter's birthday party went off without a hitch and she had a wonderful time. Though my knitted knocker disappeared up towards my shoulder over the course of the party and no-one thought to tell me I was majorly lopsided

Port-a-cath was installed and is now all healed up. It was much more painful than I expected from how the procedure was described. I'm getting used to having it there and negotiating hugs with kids whose heads are at that height.

Enjoyed a weekend away with the family at the beach which was wonderful, cold but wonderful. Cabarita Beach (northern NSW) is just stunning and reminds me so much of my absolute favourite place, Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island.

I had my first chemo treatment last Tuesday. I'm on the AC-T protocol. I went in with low expectations, and hoping for the best. As the infusion finished, I suddenly felt exhausted. I had some nausea but was easily managed with the meds and finding foods that didn't set it off. Helped to not get hungry, hunger definitely is not good for nausea. I had horrible joint aches for the first couple of days. The first 3-4 days were the worst, the fatigue was pretty intense. I'm now at day 10 and feeling pretty good - gratefully so.

I had to go into emergency twice to get things checked out - of course these things happened on the days that my GP doesn't work so couldn't see them. The first was after my face & neck turned bright red - and I mean beetroot, bright red. No clear answer for it, likely a reaction to something - either meds or my skin deciding it suddenly didn't like something I was putting on it. The second, I woke up with a very sore ear and throat, spent all day in emergency waiting for bloods & swabs. Again, no idea what it was but sent home this time with antibiotics for just in case.

The emergency visits were a real head-f*k for me. I've always been the sort of person who brushes things off, works through sickness - I have a real intolerance for being sick

(ironic, right?) and having to get every little thing just makes me feel like a big hypochondriac. I mean, there were people who were having real life & death emergencies while I was there, and I'm sitting there wasting people's time with a sore ear - it felt so dramatic. It's going to take some getting used to.

In anticipation of the hair loss, I enjoyed a final trip to the hairdresser and got it cut short. Then dyed it hot pink for a bit of fun

I've booked in for a Look Good, Feel Better workshop - which looks like a lot of fun (for anyone coming across this, here's the link - https://lgfb.org.au/).

Anyway... that's where I'm at so far. Grateful for having a fairly mild time of it so far. It'll be good going into the next one with an idea of how I'm going to respond.

lorns

Re: Helping make decisions

Hi @Jemmy
Similar to your mum, I had surgery and radiotherapy, and am now on hormone blockers. Of all my meds, the zometa is the least worrisome in terms of side effects. Although I am somewhat younger than your mum (55), as I've read on this forum since I joined, everyone's experience with meds is just so different. Can she give it a go and see how she feels? Is her bone health otherwise OK? Can your BC nurse provide any help? If you search zometa on this forum, I'm sure that there will be a bunch of comments too of people who are considering or already taking this drug. Absolute best wishes to you and your mum - she's so lucky to have you with her during the tricky decisions.
Kx

cactusk