Hi Everyone I am Sydney based and i have just found out yesterday that i have stage 3 breast cancer ( its a hormonal one ) not sure the rest of the details yet ( or i cant remember at this point) - very shocked and overwhelmed. At the moment i am waiting to do a genetics test and then further bone scans and CT scans before i go into surgery within the next 3-4 weeks. Then after that Chemo and Radiation starts and i will also be taking a tablet which i cant remember what it was. As you could imagine the first thing i did was google survival rates and almost had a heart attack when i saw its more aggressive in younger woman and the rates are not high for women under 40. I am really looking forward to hearing everyones stories or advice and any words of guidance and wisdom would be highly appreciatedLove to you all rella :)xo

So sorry to see you on here and so young. Don’t google, you are not a statistic. What you have is pretty common unfortunately when you start reading on this forum. Lots of us are in this boat together, with lots of violent rocking from the waves! If you haven’t had your surgery yet, it’s completely routine to head off for CT scan and bone scan. I freaked out completely with these, just assuming they meant that the oncologist thought I had metastasis elsewhere and waiting for the results was agony. But in actual fact they do these scans primarily for comparison later. These first weeks are so hard to deal with emotionally so be reassured it’s totally normal to be a churning mess inside but holding it together for everyone around you. Once you have a plan worked out then it gets calmer. My advice is don’t google. Ever. Ask your oncologist, call the breast cancer helpline, ask your breast care nurse. Be reassured that you have found this now, the treatment is good and everything that comes next is only half as bad as you imagine. I am halfway through chemo, two rounds of surgery down and I mostly feel normal again.sending you much love and encouragement xx

Hi there I just wanted to say a big thank you to you both for taking the time to comment on my post with your lovely messages and great advice.hearing it come from someone who is on their own journey and has been through what i have just became aware of gives me so much hope and strength that everything is going to be ok. Thank you both again sending lots of love! rellaxo

@rella1 good morning... Sucks you’ve joined us. I was diagnosed last February at 27 so I’ve gone through everything you’re about to. If you have a search for the thread “27 year old lobular carcinoma” that’s my experience.... I’ve also written a big thread on fertility preservation.We tend to still do chemo for us very young patients even being hormone positive, so something to start thinking about is fertility preservation if you thought you might want kids one day. As you’ll see in my posts on here, choosing to do egg harvest was the hardest decision for me. But I’m glad I’ve done it now, even though I don’t think I’ll ever use them, I have them as an option. My other advice is to ask for a plastic surgery opinion about reconstruction, you should ideally get an appointment pretty much immediately so you can consider your options in conjunction with surgery for the cancer. Delayed reconstruction is possible, which is what I chose and I don’t regret my decision, but if I had a tissue expander placed at diagnosis/mastectomy it may have made options a bit easier for me now. Radiation and implants make things tricky and have higher rates of failure so it’s important to have these discussions. Of course if you don’t care about going flat or if your mass is small enough for lumpectomy then you don’t need to consider this. I actually know of another girl who was diagnosed aged 27 last week through a friend of a friend. Perhaps I could see if she wants a virtual friend to go through treatment with, it really helped me I had two girlfriends under 30 all having treatment at the same time...

Don't trust Dr Google (we've all been there but trust me, it's not worth it - much of it is unreliable, out-of-date, or just plain wrong). This is one of the hardest times to go through - diagnosis and testing. Once you have surgery, the pathology report will give clearer information and enable your medical team to plan your treatment with more certainty. In the meantime, do what you need to to get through. You can tell all and sundry or you can bunker down - whatever suits you best. If you can, take someone you trust to appointments as it's always better to have a second pair of ears. Try to distract your thoughts and just breathe. You've had a hell of a shock and things are still unknown so be kind to yourself. There is a young women's private group on here that you will need to request to join if you want to.

@rella1 I’ve just sent her a message on insta so I’ll wait to hear back .. I don’t know her personally but a friend connected us because we’re in the same area, both nurses and same age at diagnosis 🤷🏻♀️ It’s spooky sometimes how it all happens. Whilst I agree with don’t google I think there’s certain things you can google. Such as breast reconstruction options and fertility preservation... it will help you understand the lingo when you have these appointments. Do you know if you are having mastectomy or lumpectomy yet? Public vs private? I only ask this bcoz I used to work in Sydney as a nurse and just know a little bit about the systems which might help. It’s really easy to feel very isolated and the waiting room stares from older women and men were honestly awful and I found myself resenting everyone in the room. And it’s so statistically unlikely to get it this young that you can feel like the whole world is against you. But once you see there are other youngens like me etc you begin to realise you didn’t do anything wrong to get BC. It just happened. You sound like you’re managing it quite well. I hope your scans are clear 🙏🙏🙏

27 recently Diagnosed | Online Network

arpie
Member
6 years ago
Hi @rella1 that is Great news that your bone scan and CT were clear!

re. Medicinal cannabis oils..... I’ve been using both cbd (aches and pains) and THC (sleep) for some months and believe it has reduced my aches and pains from AI meds. I am not familiar with its use with chemo.

It would probably be wise to see what side effects you get first off ..

Check out these posts I put up 2 years ago .... there are a lot of hoops to jump thru to get a prescription, tho technically ANY GP can apply for one on your behalf. Eventually, I believe it will be a part of mainstream treatments for many ailments.

https://onlinenetwork.bcna.org.au/discussion/19569/medicinal-cannabis-oil-amp-reduction-of-pain-improvement-in-well-being/p1

And

https://onlinenetwork.bcna.org.au/discussion/21140/what-is-medicinal-cannabis-be-educated-how-medicinal-cannabis-oil-can-help-you/p1
(You just need to put your email address in to watch the video.)

And of course, Olivia Newton John swears by her use of it
https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/celebritydiagnosis/81740

all the best for your ongoing treatments xxx
ChezaH
Member
6 years ago
I would like to know this as well ?
kmakm
Member
6 years ago
@arpie @Zoffiel
rella1
Member
6 years ago
Thank you all for your well wishes 😘❤️ Hope you are all doing well and staying strong! I have a question has anyone used CBD oil during their chemo treatment ?
suburbangirl
Member
6 years ago
Hello @rella1, sending you my very best wishes for today and everyday, and thrilled to hear of your test results. I hope you are feeling the support and kindness of everyone on this forum, as I have. xx
Giovanna_BCNA
Member
6 years ago
Great news @rella1 wishing you all the best with your chemotherapy treatment!
primek
Member
6 years ago
Good news on the scans. You can do this. Many of us have. :)
kmakm
Member
6 years ago
That is fantastic news @rella1! It's a long road but that's an excellent start. You'll get through. Hit us up with any questions. We're all here for you. K xox
rella1
Member
6 years ago
Hi everyone
So sorry for the delay have been bsy these past few days doing tests and having so many visotirs come over family and friends which has been really nice.
Thank you all so much for your lovely messages and kind words and best wishes. Thank you also for all the advice!
I have some great news my bone scan came back all clear and my CT scan also came back all clear!
I am still doing chemo which starts in 2 week - first round is once a week every 3 weeks for 3 months then follow up tests then chemo again once a week for 3 months. then surgery then radio then tablets for 5 years!
Now that i know my treatment plan im strong and confident!
sending lots of love to you all hugs and kisses :)
xoxo
Samaus
Member
6 years ago

rella1 said:

Hi Everyone

I am Sydney based and i have just found out yesterday that i have stage 3 breast cancer ( its a hormonal one ) not sure the rest of the details yet ( or i cant remember at this point) - very shocked and overwhelmed. At the moment i am waiting to do a genetics test and then further bone scans and CT scans before i go into surgery within the next 3-4 weeks. Then after that Chemo and Radiation starts and i will also be taking a tablet which i cant remember what it was.

As you could imagine the first thing i did was google survival rates and almost had a heart attack when i saw its more aggressive in younger woman and the rates are not high for women under 40.

I am really looking forward to hearing everyones stories or advice and any words of guidance and wisdom would be highly appreciated

Love to you all

rella :)

xo

Hi Rella
Sounds very similar x it's a lot to take in the feelings and emotions so all over I'm a mum of a 8 year old so kicking ass is the only possible way to go 😂😘😭