1st time blog
Gday beautiful pink sisters. Ive been reading this site for a couple of weeks & finally decided to do a post. New to all of this, Im learning lots from this site & other posts. It seems from what Ive...
Forum Discussion
Hi Justine, Sorry to hear you've got the dreaded BC like the rest of us here. It's very scary and confusing at first - so much information to process. I never realised until my diagnosis last April that there were so many different types of the disease.
After my biopsy I was told I might not need chemo because my cancer was supposedly a type that didn't spread readily (mucinous) but after the surgery it was found to be grade 3 (aggressive). Mine was also a little bit bigger than yours - 27mm - and E+ and P+ but with no lymph node involvement and clear margins. It was pretty horrifying to be told that I did have to have chemo and later on radiation.
I won't lie to you, chemo is not much fun and losing your hair is just awful. Mine is growing back but I still hate it being so short. But to be perfectly honest chemo wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and most of the symptoms can be managed. As Tonya said, you should probably do what your oncologist recommends. I didn't want to take the tamoxifen either (it has side effects for some people) but the way I look at it, as bad as the treatments might be, getting secondary cancer and dying in my forties would be so much worse. While there are no guarantees whatever you do, I want the peace of mind of at least knowing that I have done everything I possibly can to prevent my cancer coming back.
One of the down sides of reading about other womens dreadful symptoms and problems is that you end up worrying that everything you read about is going to happen to you. Some of it might, but chances are most of it wont. Another aspect of this site that has affected me - and keeps me taking tamoxifen and eating healthily - is reading from time to time the stories of women whose cancer has spread. It scares me witless but at the same time make me appreciate that I have a second chance and I want to do everything I can to hold on to that.
Best of luck Justine. If you do go ahead with chemo, there is lots of good advice here on how to handle things. It's unpleasant but you get will get through it. Take care, Janet. :)