Just diagnosed

My breast cancer was not IBC but it was classed as Stage 3 locally advanced because of the number of lymph nodes involved. So I understand how scarey this can be. I had a mastectomy, 18 weeks of chemo and 25 radiation treatments. Have just had my 12 month ultrasound and mammo and all is good. Other than being tired some days, life is good. Chemo is daunting to all of us but you will hopefully find that it is not as bad as you think. The chemo nurses are wonderful and so good at settling those first time nerves. We all have different side effects even if we have the same chemo. I guess our bodies are all different and that is why this happens. If you follow the advice of the oncologist and chemo nurses you will be fine. You will probably not feel bad all the time and might find you feel ok a lot of the time. For me (I had my chemo once every 3 weeks) I had a week of feeling like crap, a week where I felt ok (but had to be careful of low blood count and immunity) and then a week where I felt good. It is not easy but you do get through it. It does the job of killing those cancer cells and that is what matters. I found the support of the ladies on here really helpful. You are never really alone with all of us to 'talk' with. Hope your first chemo goes as well as it can. Take care. Deanne xxx