A prayer in my heart and green smoothie in my hand.

Hi Simone,

All the best with your drain, hope it's not causing you more pain.

I've got my medical oncologist appt next Tuesday.  I don't know much about the chemo (only what I've read from the bc guide book) or for how long until then.  The tumour was hormone receptor postitive so it'll put me into menopause followed by tamoxifen.  At 48 and with 2 teenagers, that's ok.

I didn't have a full axillary clearance of nodes.  Only nodes taken out during the sentinel node biopsy and a few more nodes taken out (near breast tissue during the mastectomy). I found the dvd to be excellent for focusing on my shoulder/back postop. (esp after 3 surgeries to that area). 

With micromets found in 2 of 5 nodes, it was recommended earlier that I'll need radiotherapy.  I'll have another appt to see if that's the case still.

As far as getting used to my scar, I still get shocked.  I'm looking forward to going to get a proper prosthesis (for small breasted women like me, it looks like a chicken fillet with a nipple) & planning to take a couple of close friends to help pick out some nice bras. Need a few laughs.

Eventually, it'll be a reconstruction (once treatment is completed).  For me it was too complicated to consider at the time of the mastectomy esp as radiotherapy wasn't confirmed.

All the best Simone and stay in touch. We're not alone in this journey,

Karen xx

Hi Karen,

Yes it looks like we are moving along similar paths, my right sided masectomy was on the 3rd June.  Unfortunately I had a minor setback with my drain becoming blocked but tomorrow I go back to Redcliffe hospital to see if it's still blocked and where we go from there.  I'm feeling ok about it tho. So far I've done walks around the block and hoping to extend soon. Did you get your lymph nodes removed? Do you need to do specific exercises for lymph? Next week I have oncology and follow up surgical appointment to talk about what's next. When does chemo start for you and what do you know about it? How did you find out about your cancer?

thank you for contacting me.  Keep in touch.      Simone

Hello dear,

I had my mastectomy 2 weeks ago for something very similar, multifocal multicentric (which I think in layman's terms means a boob full of it).  I'm still coming to terms with the scar, it was after 2 other surgeries in quick succession to try to conserve the breast. A horrible month of May. In the sentinel node biopsy, I had micromets and I'll need chemo.  Oncology appointment is next Tues, so the cancer seems so real now.  

How's your pain?  I found the drain site was the source of more discomfort, and a relief when it came out.  Has your 'my care kit' arrived?  I felt kind of special when it did.  I'm finding the dvd to be excellent and I've incorporated a daily walk as well. It's the same route as my weekend runs, but for now it's a walk, becoming more brisk as the days go on.  Rain hail or shine, I'm walking.  So right now I'm reveling in the fact that I'm getting stronger everyday, but not looking forward to the next stage of treatment, chemo.  Not sure what normal is. I don't want to look like I've had cancer..

Take it easy, slowly slowly

Karen xx