Hi,I am a 44 year old mother of two girls, 3 and 7. Was diagnosed with breast cancer on Tuesday evening after a mammogram and ultrasound in the morning. On Wednesday I saw a specialist who sent me for biopsies and scans. On Thursday afternoon I learnt that I have HER2 positive BC in my right breast (3x3cm with two smaller tumours nearby), and one lymph node biopsied because it was enlarged was also cancerous. A lump on the left was benign. It does not appear to have spread to bones, pelvis, liver etc however there were two 5mm nodules in my lung that might be BC. I am hoping they are something else but have to be prepared in case the cancer already is stage 4. I remember the doctor said it was grade 2-3 but not sure if that is the same thing as stage 2-3.I have somehow lost the reports, so I can't look over the details until they are mailed but I have an appointment on Wednesday with a different specialist to plan treatment. I am glad that things are moving quickly but am still reeling from the news and wish the appointment was sooner. I think I will be having preadjuvant chemo and/or targeted treatment, followed by a mastectomy of the right breast in several months (with optional rebuild), however I have not met with the oncologist so am not sure what to expect.I should have gotten to a GP weeks ago as I had noticed hardness over many months (which I had thought was related to it being dominant for milk production) and had a sore breast in early July, however because I was breastfeeding and fairly ignorant of BC I mistook the symptoms including a swollen lymph node for mastitis. Only when all pain went way and I noticed the boob seemed bigger and misshapen with a prominent lump did I get myself to a doctor. Waited a week and a half for the scan that showed it was as suspected a malignant carcinoma. Strange thing is it only started hurting again after I learned what it was.I don't know much yet but am trying to learn a bit without scaring myself too much or googling into the night. My youngest daughter has weaned herself, and on the night of the diagnosis she accepted bedtime without breast, understanding that I have sick boobies and the doctor said we should stop. In the middle of the night she was desperate to breastfeed, and I allowed this briefly. That is the last time I fed her, and she has been proud of herself for giving it up but has wanted to kiss it and hug it today. Next move is for me to give up smoking, a bad habit of mine for many years off and on, which is not easy when it has been a response to stress and I have been quite stressed at times. It must be done, as I understand that it increases the risk of metastasis (if it has not already happened) and I wouldn't want to invite another cancer along right now. But I am trying to be gentle with myself when I occasionally light them only to put them out shortly thereafter. I hope to eliminate this habit fully by Wednesday. I have to clean up my diet and prepare for the treatment. I was a lifelong vegetarian until my early thirties however I have eaten a tiny bit of fish in the past ten years. I eat lots of fruit and veg. However I do have too many sugary things and processed stuff so I need to cut the crap out of the shopping list.Emotionally I have been struggling a bit and I should arrange some counselling to work through my feelings. My mother and friends have been amazing, my husband has been a good support but doesn't like to see me crying, which I think is just a normal thing from time to time in such a circumstance. I am being open and honest with the kids and have been giving them lots of love and sweetness. Honestly I am sometimes very scared but I am trying to be strong for myself and for everyone around me.Sending love and understanding to others with BC, and those who have recently been diagnosed, it's pretty tough to take, huh?

@kabash All that you are experiecing is NORMAL. It goes with the territory that is BC.I have a big old boab tree just off the end of my verandah. That old man boab tree copped a fair number of boab nuts thrown at him in anger. I swear he still lifts his skirt and quivers with fear when I step out on the back verandah.My husband, God bless his little cotton picking insensitive socks, went fishing for 3 days and left me to fly 2,300 kms down south to handle the core biopsy and diagnosis on my own. Man, did he cop it for a fair few months afterwards.I had a special place out in the bush where I would go on my own, armed with a picnic basket and thermos. When things got too much, I would drive out there sit, cry, scream, swear and then calm down, drive back home and only I knew. No Indiana Jones style antics though. Put everything back into perspective.

Thanks for your encouraging words @lrb_03 I think it might be docotaxel, hercetin and perjeta that they will be planning for me, which does seem like a more suitable approach to my particular cancer. I have done a bit of reading and wondered why they started with the AC, but this does seem to be a standard approach (to save the herceptin for later when the cancer is reduced a bit). I will remain hopeful that this new line of treatment will work for me in helping me to have a pCR or at least for it to be reduced enough to become operable and to clear it from the nodes. Your friend's experience does give me some hope.Earlier in the day I saw my counsellor and she was commending me on my strength but also suggesting that I might be doing a bit much thinking and maybe I needed to connect with my feelings a bit more. I think in light of the crying tonight she was totally right. I must have been burying my fear and my worry. It has been good to cry. Stoic schmoic.On a brighter note I have quit smoking a month ago (right before chemo) and it is so great to wake up and not be immediately driven to an unhealthy behaviour by a raging addiction. I have also been eating well every day, big salads and lots of vegetables of all kinds and a bit of fish. I have also been raising lots of little seedlings from seeds and getting so many yummy things into the ground and in pots, and plucking radishes and strawberries growing on my roof garden. It has been a great distraction. A friend is coming to chemo tomorrow and we will play scrabble all day (my other raging addiction!) so hopefully tomorrow will be a better day all round. But if I need to cry, I will. Thanks again to everybody in this forum who has made my journey a bit easier and made me feel that there is care around from people who have been through similar experiences.

I walked just about everyday of chemo. It helps with fatigue. I worked my way up from 1.5km on the day of the infusion to a 5km on the day before the next.My husband also works interstate, three to five days a week. I asked him to to work in Melbourne for the week of the first infusion. We all react differently and I wanted to know how I would be before he went back to the interstate travel. However as @Sister says in her amazing post above, he may just have to stay home a bit more while you are in treatment.My friends were amazing. They took me to and from chemo, and organised an amazing quantity of food (seven people in my house), and quietly bustled about washing up, helping with homework, chatting to the kids, and pouring my father-in-law a glass of wine! Cancer treatment means accepting help. It's one of the first lessons you learn. There are apps you can use to coordinate the help. Handy. Helps stop the eight zucchini bakes in the freezer situation! K xox

I walked a few blocks to collect my daughter from childcare yesterday and I will try to keep up doing whatever I can exercise wise. I used to like a bit of kick to kick with my husband but that might be a bit too much now. Walking does feel good. With my chemo brain and the sleeplessness I wrote grade 3 in my last post when I meant stage 3. Anyway it is both, and it clearly doesn't like these drugs which I am very happy with. I only got two days worth of those strong anti nausea pills, so this morning I am trying something called metoclopramide that I was also given for nausea or vomiting in the hope that I might be able to eat some brekky. I did try a coloxyl with Senna the day before yesterday but maybe I need to have another! I'm so unused to taking any pills I reckon I have had less than a packet of panadol in my whole life, so sometimes I do wonder if taking too many things on top of each other might be a worry. But maybe I am a bit heartburny too, and I think I got something for that before this all started. Hoping that the next few days get a bit easier, the taste in my mouth is less strong, but yes I am just trying to ride it like a big wave. Love to everyone and thanks again!

Hi @kabash, that's a normal reaction to news of a type that you don't want.A friend who started chemo about 6-8 weeks behind me received similar news. We were both have a different cocktail to you, FEC-D. After 2 cycles of FEC she was told she'd had minimal response. They immediately commenced her on docetaxol (simlilar to paclitoxol) and she had 4 cycles of that instead of 3. She ended up having a complete pathological response. I'm not saying this to imply that it will happen to you or give false hope, but to say it can happen and you might also be lucky.Have you had any Herceptin yet? If not, that is what your cancer will respond better to, from my reading.... I'm not an oncologist, or even a doctor.We can't be stoic all the timeTake care

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