Is this all normal?

Hi Naomi,

It's a scary time and we all know that out of control feeling when first given the diagnosis and the agony of the wait.

It's seems to be the norm at the beginning to just have the surgery booked and no further until after the procedure.  Until they remove the lump and redo testing and sentinal nodes etc will they have definitive stage and grade. For instance my biopsy said ES+ Her2+ and a grade 2. But final result was a slightly bigger tumour and a grade 3. I saw my surgeon again  the day of the surgery when he drew on me and just briefly went over things. Have you been connected to a breast care nurse? If not contact the centre where your surgeon is and ask to speak with one. They will be a great support and will walk you through the steps. Have you got your hospital pre op appointment yet?

So a few things I do know...a lumpectomy is always referred for radiation therapy and you will get this referral with your surgery follow up appointment. A her2 pos cancer is usually referred to an oncologist....you will most likely be offered chemotherapy plus a targeted therapy called herceptin. I was in fact contacted prior my follow up appointment and this was booked the same day as I lived 500km away. From what I have seen the radiotherapy isn't until after chemo is complete. 

There will be many more questions so ask away. I am sure you will have many more peopke here to support you. I had a bilateral mastectomy so my initial experience is different from yours. Hope things become clearer for you soon. Also you can irder your breast cancer care kit from this site. It cobtains loads of info and if you do it tiday you will probably have by Mibday