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Here Goes
Hello. My name is Jenny and I live on the NSW/Vic Border. I have gone to post in here a couple of times but backed out. Denial maybe?
On Wednesday I was officially given the diagnosis of BC. I have had a large lump for around a year but I have 26JJ sized breasts and the lump is down along where the bra wire sits. I put it down to thickening because of the bra wire. I recently started Lite N Easy and after loosing around 10kg I noticed that the lump was much larger than I thought. It has its own postcode ;p Its 5cm x 3cm x 2cm.
So I did the mammo and ultrasound and knew when I called for results, that the urgency by my GP to get me in to see her, that something was very wrong. That day I had bloods, CT scan and was booked in for biopsy. All along I was doing as much research as possible. Armed with knowledge I have always found it easier to deal with things. Must be part of the anxiety I have day in and out.
I met my surgeon on Wednesday who gave me the diagnosis. I was alone at the appointment and was in shock, none the less. I guess I was hoping it was just a mass that they just wanted to remove for safety sake. I do remember asking him what type of Cancer and I vaguely remember him saying Metastatic and that its very common. I am booked in for a lumpectomy and node removal on the 22nd. (Tuesday Week). I am then too do 5 weeks radiation.
I've got all of that in my head and ready to deal with. But now I am reading all of the paraphernalia and Metastatic means I have it in other places in my body? Do they know where? Does this mean I will probably have to do chemo after radiation?
I know I am overthinking all of this and should take it one day at a time. I work 3 days a week and also on partial DSP. Being at work keeps my mind off things. I am planning on taking vacation leave for the rest of the week after my lumpectomy. I am so grateful that my oldest of 2 (daughter) is able to travel up from Melbourne to bring me home from the surgery and stay with me for a couple of days.
Another questions. I had been using implannon rod to control my periods, over the years. The last one was put in around 2011 and is still in my arm somewhere. As I have very thick arms I cant feel it and haven't bothered about it. I believe that it has run out of the hormones anyway after all of this time. Is this something I should tell my surgeon about?
I have so many questions. When will I start radiation? Will someone contact me or do I contact them?
I met my Breast Care Nurse but she was heading on vacation to France the next day. I have the number of another one and I will phone her and make contact with her this week.
It's like my whole life is about the Cancer now. I am being strong in front of everyone else but these times at home alone I am terrified.
Sorry if this is all over the shop but that is how my head works. I have been treated and continue to be treated for Depression an Anxiety for close to 20 years and have only recently found a good balance. The Lite N Easy journey was me actually caring about myself. Some days I shake so much it looks like I am having a min seizure.
Usually I am upbeat and cheeky and able to find the lighter sign of things. But tonight I am low.
Any insights would be wonderful.
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- I woke up feeling pretty ordinary this morning so slept for most of the day. Trying not to worry about the tiny pay I will get next week
- Its nice to be able to do what you can to "feel normal" when everything around you and happening to you is as far from normal as possible.
- For me it was doing laundry (there's always laundry here!). My husband would get cross watching me struggle to do it but I insisted on all but the days when I couldn't get up and down the stairs, and until my hands gave up the ghost. It was a sense of achievement and normalcy. That and walking every day helped a lot during chemotherapy.
- If you feel like going to work today Jenny, go for it, even if it's just a couple of hours. It's so much better, in many ways, to keep a little bit of normality in your life. I used to joke during my first experience with chemo that decades of hangovers were excellent training when it came to going to work feeling less than optimal. I think I only missed 8 days, sometimes it can work out like that.
If you can, you can. If not, don't.
One down. Tell if you need anything. Mxx - So sorry to hear that @Joannie. Big hug sweetheart. K xox
- @Joannie It truly does. My sister ran away from her first one. I was with her and a nurse was unpleasant and it was enough to make her pull out the canula and run away (literally; we didn't see her for several days, no one knew where she was). I spent the next few hours dealing with the hospital's complaints people. Outrageous that they couldn't be kinder to someone in such a fragile state as most of us are on the first chemo.
- Don't forget it can make you feel crook/drowsy/weird a few days after receiving it @TabooGal ..... so be gentle on yourself. Don't overdo it ... Pace yourself xx
