The “journey” begins.

@MrsMorrisey - Thank you for the kind words xx   Yes - I did feel so much better after the surgery was over - as I hope you do once you know 'the beast' is gone!  ;)  I'd worked myself into a right lather prior to surgery .... It was like a weight off my shoulders.

Feel free to add 'Mid North Coast' or town name in your 'profile', then we can point you to services & activities in the area ;)  ...... Are you in one of the outlying towns, or a major centre?  Being 'out of town', you may be able to claim petrol & accommodation costs thru IPTAAS (Isolated Patients Travel and Accommodation Scheme.)  We have a private group for Rural & Regional patients that you can join and raise any questions re treatment & travel & other areas.  ;) 

All the best for Wed 

@cactusk could I be so bold as to ask how old you are? 

Hi @MrsMorrisey, depending on the cancer size,pathology and if no lymph nodes involved you might get lucky and just need the anti hormone drugs. I didn’t need chemo the first time but I did when I had a recurrence.Don’t think too far ahead.As far as telling people, I was really sorry I told everyone the first time as I ended up consoling them.I handled it differently the second time by only telling people when I had a plan and information. I also put my husband in charge of answering the phone and front door- instructing him whether I wanted to talk or not. You are going to need about 2wks at least post surgery of being looked after ie someone to cook,clean and maybe wash your hair for you.Time to put yourself absolutely first.Big hugs xx

@MrsMorrisey.
No stress at all - I’m 54. I had 2 nodes positive (didn’t appear to be from ultrasound nor CAT / MRI scan, and this was discovered post surgery). I totally thought I was going to head down the chemo path, but my med onc recommended the Oncotype DX test. I looked into it and went ahead. It is expensive, but my recurrence score was low (10) so chemo was shown by this test not to be an affective treatment protocol. I was very stressed before I knew the result, but am very grateful that I was able to get this genome assay done (in the US) and that the result was positive for me. 

@cactusk Thankyou. I’m so pleased for you. What a relief. 

I've never heard that term before, @MrsMorrisey .... but here's a link to a medical site referring to it. 
Let us know how you go afterwards!! It appears to be similar to a Sentinel Node test (which many of us had done) the day before surgery - to identify the nodes that the tumour is 'draining' to.  So instead of removing ALL the nodes for testing (like they used to in the old days) they now may only remove 3-5 nodes in the immediate area of the tumour.
https://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info/lympho

Here's a pic of Female Lymph nodes .... they usually remove 2-3 in & around under your arm.


I hope you are going OK in the lead up to your surgery - this disease mucks with your head even MORE than with your body - so if you are having difficulty sleeping, make sure you have something on hand to help - be it melatonin tabs or even a mild sleeping tablet like Temase.

Keeping busy, both before & after surgery, doing what you love doing really helps.  I just went out & fished all day, every day in my kayak!  I was out there when I got the call to attend the GP when the biopsy results came in .... and the start of my own BC journey!

Stay away from Dr Google too - as everyone's diagnosis is totally unique - and a lot of stuff on the web is old & outdated & totally not relevant to your own diagnosis.   

Write down any questions you want to put to your team - and definitely consider recording your meetings before & after surgery, as it is very difficult to remember ALL that is said, on the day.  Also, have a buddy or family member sit in on the meetings with you too, for both physical and mental support.  My SIL came with me & she asked some brilliant questions, too! ;) 

Take care & all the best!

It’s a scan that takes 2 hours to locate your nearest lymph nodes . They give you a little injection in the breast and take pictures then you wait for an hour massaging your breast and they do it again .  

2 hours!!!! 🙄 

Yes, it's a blue dye that's used.  If you use the search under Sentinel node biopsy you will see various experiences.   Mine was the evening before surgery.