I have just been diagnosed

You are right lanilumps71, you will beat this.

Have you received your My Journey kit from BCNA? If not get one, it has HEAPS of useful and best of all TRUE infomation in it (so many site on the net can be wrong and just scare the life out of you).

I am the same age as you (41) and was diagnosed on 22/12/11 (at age 40) with Stage 2, Grade 2 - Ductal Cell carcinoma (breast cancer of the milk ducts, that had become invasive and grown into the surrounding tissue), my tumour was 3.1cm when it was removed, and was ER+, PR- and HER2+ and I had a 5mm deposit in 1 of the 2 sentinel nodes that they removed at the time of my mastectomy.

On the 03/02/12 I had a nipple and partial skin sparing mastectomy (my choice, was offered option of lumpectomy but with serious deformity, but I decided when I was diagnosed I didnt want my breast, in fact I decided i didn't want either of them. I have a strong family history of breast cancer) with sentinel node biopsy and immediate reconstruction using a silicon implant.

PLEASE feel free to ask me ANYTHING, either here or to add me as a contact, and ask me privately.

I am currently undergoing chemotherapy (have had 5 cycles and have 1 more to go on 16/07 (YAY!) but will continue for another 9 months with Herceptin, and will also be put onto a hormone treatment such as Tamoxifen,for 5 years, and due to my family history I am seeing a medical geneticist on 01/08 to see if I have the BRCA gene(s).

Keeping positive is a good thing - early breast cancer is a highly survivable cancer.

The waiting is the worse, it really is, it can really do your head in. Most of us find the waiting worse than the diagnosis.

Good Luck with your surgeon on Friday to get your pathology results and to find out what treatment you will be undergoing.

Do you know if you will be have a lumpectomy or mastectomy? and have you been told if you will be having any further treatment yet (I guess you wont know until you get your pathology results and find out what your hormone and HER2 status is (ER (estrogen receptor), PR (Progesterone receptor)).

Don't be worried if they ask you to have a CT scan of your chest and abdomin and a bone scan (these are VERY common scan to have after the diagnosis of breast cancer).

there are a couple of blogs here that you might find helpful with your new diagnosis, your upcoming journey and your upcoming hospital stay. Have a look at http://www.bcna.org.au/user/9395/blog/32567 - Advice for the newly diagnosed; http://www.bcna.org.au/user/9176/blog/28978 - What has helped you through your journey and; http://www.bcna.org.au/user/9176/blog/29548 - Things to pack and do for hospital stays.

Again PLEASE feel free to ank me ANYTHING at all, no matter what, I will answer anything honesty and as well as I can, ther eis NO such thing as a silly or personl question I think, the more you know the less scary things are).

Stay WEll and busy and again good Luck for Friday and for the 26th.

Welcome to this network but sorry to hear that you have to join us in this bc journey.How hard for you to be waiting for a joyous event at the same time as a dreaded event.No wonder it all seems unreal for you at the moment. You might still be in abit of shock -that bc diagnosis takes the rug from under you doesn't it.The waiting is awful and we have to do a fair bit of that.Hopefully by Friday you will have a plan -ie what sort of surgery you will need. I've had bc twice -a lumpectomy in 2003 and then a mastectomy(same breast)in 2010. Both operations are very similar as far as pain and recovery go.I went back to work after about 3 or 4 weeks post op .Just deal with Friday and don't think too far ahead cos you can't predict pathology. There are lots of us here who have survived bc or are going through it like yourself.It's a great place to come for information and support or to just rant and rave.Ask any questions -hope you have ordered the BCNA my journey kit because it's a wealth of information.As mothers we tend to put on a brave face for our family in order to protect them but you need to cry and let it out too.I held it in too much the second time around,only to turn into a blubbering mess down the track when I had to sign the chemo consent forms.Take some one with you on Friday and write everything down as it's easy to forget when you come out of the doctor's surgery.Let us know how you go and blog anytime-always someone to chat with here.

                                         Tonya xx

Welcome to this network but sorry to hear that you have to join us in this bc journey.How hard for you to be waiting for a joyous event at the same time as a dreaded event.No wonder it all seems unreal for you at the moment. You might still be in abit of shock -that bc diagnosis takes the rug from under you doesn't it.The waiting is awful and we have to do a fair bit of that.Hopefully by Friday you will have a plan -ie what sort of surgery you will need. I've had bc twice -a lumpectomy in 2003 and then a mastectomy(same breast)in 2010. Both operations are very similar as far as pain and recovery go.I went back to work after about 3 or 4 weeks post op .Just deal with Friday and don't think too far ahead cos you can't predict pathology. There are lots of us here who have survived bc or are going through it like yourself.It's a great place to come for information and support or to just rant and rave.Ask any questions -hope you have ordered the BCNA my journey kit because it's a wealth of information.As mothers we tend to put on a brave face for our family in order to protect them but you need to cry and let it out too.I held it in too much the second time around,only to turn into a blubbering mess down the track when I had to sign the chemo consent forms.Take some one with you on Friday and write everything down as it's easy to forget when you come out of the doctor's surgery.Let us know how you go and blog anytime-always someone to chat with here.

                                         Tonya xx