All I can say is that being diagnosed with breast cancer really is an unimaginable emotional roller coaster ride. Not only are you worried about your long term survival you have to deal with all the changes that treatment cause to your body and with self image problems. So much of a women's identity is wrapped up in their breasts and their hair. I remember thinking that I won't look like a woman anymore and that I would be hideous once I had surgery and once my long hair falls out from chemo. I didn't want my husband to see me like that and at times I thought about pushing him away. Add on to that the possibility that if your girlfriend needs chemo they will talk to her about freezing her eggs, as chemo damages your ovaries and may put her at risk of never being able to have children, and to expect changes to her sexuality/intimacy as another side effect of all the drugs. That is an incredible load of worries for a 19 yr old girl to carry. Her emotions are likely to be all over the place. She will have good days and bad. Unfortunately most at the days in the beginning tend to be bad because you are frightened, physically exhausted and maybe even depressed.
What comforted me the most was my husband telling me that he would love me no mattered what I looked like, that I was more than my breast, more than my hair and that through the good and the bad he would just be there for me in anyway that I needed.
I wish you and your girlfriend the very best and hope everything works out.
Nadine
