Hi everyone

I was diagnosed with IBC in Sep 2010 at 46yo with one 5yo daughter in prep.  Like you, no family history of breast cancer so a huge shock.  I am now almost 3yrs down the track & so grateful to be 'in remission'.  I did the 6 rounds of very tough chemo first & lost my hair after my first one.  When you see those huge tuffs of hair floating down the plughole, it all becomes real.  Wigs are so lifelike these days & it is great that private health (if you're in it) does cover some of the cost.  Not sure if they still do it, but QLD cancer council also contributed some funds toward the wig cost.  I also never got my periods again so essentially I went into menopause at this stage.  This was good for me because my cancer's 'favourite food' was oestrogen.  The chemo was tough but I visualised it as the soldiers running around my body & wiping out the cancer with their machine guns!  I recently read an article about Anna Bligh, ex QLD premier who is currently undergoing treatment for lymphoma & she had a similar visualisation.  Very powerful stuff.A few weeks rest before a double mastectomy even though my cancer was only in the left side.  This was partly because I had huge breasts & it would have been ridiculous with nothing on one side & a size H on the other!  I looked at them as traitors anyway & was pleased to see them go.  Summer was always so uncomfortable with such large breasts.  The other reason is that I believe, IBC can come back in the other breast so I was glad to be rid of them.Next was 6.5wks of radio which was easy after chemo & surgery.  You just need to keep the Moo Goo cream up to help minimise the burns & bleeding.  I was really lucky & didn' suffer from this too much.Now on Femara tablets for 5yrs to keep my oestrogen suppressed.  There are a few different alternatives depending on where you're at with menopause etc.  They all have various side effects but the way I look at it is, I'm still here, I'm pretty healthy & my daughter is now 8yo & in year 3.  Sometimes, you just need to put up with the negatives of treatment to get your life back.  After all, we all know IBC is life threatening & you're already Stage 3 on diagnosis.Another thing I found very powerful was repeating a positive affirmation to myself whenever I remembered.  Mine is 'Let my lymph flow freely, let my treatment be kind & gentle to me & my cancer be gone forever!'I hope this helps.  As you get further down the track, you stop thinking about cancer 24hrs a day, you stop looking over your shoulder at every little 'twang' that 'could be' a secondary and eventually it starts to become some nightmare that happened a long time ago.Yes, and make use of any support group you can find, IBC or regular breast cancer (if there is such a thing).  I turned to this forum as I wasn't meeting anyone in my support groups with IBC & I wanted to see how others were going as there's so little information on the internet.  My oncologist said to only read the .gov or .org sites as anyone can put anything on the internet which could be absolutely rubbish & worry you unnecessarily.Take care of yourself & let those who want to help you, help.  I didn't keep it a secret (like some others I've met) even explaining what was happening to my 5yo & this worked best for me.  People just want to help & don't know how to approach you.  By not being afraid to talk about your breast cancer (& educate other women) the help just pours in.Terri (Brisbane)