Newly diagnosed/bilateral mastectomy

Hi Bernadette,

Sorry to hear you have joined the club no one wants to join.  I had just turned 42yo when diagnosed in October 2014.  At the time my elder son had just turned 6 the week prior and my younger son was 2 1//2.  Because of lymph node involvement I started treatment with chemo before surgery (not a great sign).  I had 6 chemo treatments over 15 weeks.  To be honest I didn't struggle too much although it was tough going for the last couple at treatments.  I kept working on non-treatment weeks and generally felt able to participate in my children's activities for much of the time.  Everyone is so different but I viewed chemo as a process that threw up problems along the way which were to be solved.  I cruised through the first treatment, had severe constipation and reflux after the second which was managed from then on, and after later treatments I experienced very runny eyes, muscle pain and stiffness, and night sweats and insomnia due to the menopause symptoms brought on by chemo.  There were some tough times but on the whole there were many others when I was able to say I felt pretty normal.  Due to cold capping I kept most of my hair.  Nausea wasn't a problem for me with the great meds available but I know not everyone is so lucky on this front.  Emotionally things get easier and it is important to remember that most people with early stage breast cancer have a healthy future ahead of them once they have kicked its butt via all this unpleasant treatment.  As my cancer turned out to be genetic I have had further surgeries since (preventative) completing  active treatment in July 2015 and will complete my reconstructions in Feb 2016.  I am now really starting to feel normal, though a new kind of normal. The fear of recurrence lingers in the background but is fading.

Good luck with your journey.