Hi! I've got so many questions
Hi everyone,
My name's Cass. It's with a heavy but hopeful heart that I introduce myself to you today. My 25 year old sister was diagnosed with breast cancer last week. Whilst she is dealing with this on all different levels she has asked my Mum and me to help her source some answers to the many, questions we have. It's so great to be able to find a wonderful network such as this where there are so many supportive people.
To give you a little background: She has one lump in a duct of her right breast and had biopsies and ultrasounds completed last week, which was when the diagnosis was made. I believe they checked the lymph glands at that time and found them clear. They also found a secondary site of calcium deposits behind the nipple. They have booked her in for an MRI tomorrow and will have more information after that at her specialist appointment on the 4th Feb. She's been booked in for surgery on the 8th Feb and has been told Chemo (definitely) and Radio (most likely) will follow.
She only has a couple of days after her specialist appointment to decide so many things before her surgery at the end of that week. I'm hoping that you might be able to give us insight and advice or even point us in the right direction to get some advice.
Here goes.....
Firstly, she has private health insurance but we've heard from a few people that there will still most likely be large out of pocket expenses whereas the public system is great with very little out of pocket expenses. What are your experiences?
I understand that you aren't able to provide medical advice but in your experience, is lymph node removal of some sort mandatory?
My sister has decided she would like to explore getting implants and reconstruction. What is the usual process here? We've heard that most plastic surgeons won't do any reconstruction until at least a month after surgery. Is this your experience? My sister is very concerned about waking up after surgery and is unsure how she'll cope over the next weeks until surgery is able to be completed.
She's also concerned about fertility and is wanting to explore the option of freezing her eggs. Do any of you have experience here? Do you know where we could start researching here? Approximate costs? Is it covered by some private health funds?
And lastly, she's really worried about losing her hair. We've started looking at wig suppliers but they all seem so varied in terms of what's available and the pricing. Do you have any you would recommend? What cost are we looking at to get her a good natural looking one?
I think that's all we have at the moment. I understand that there'll be support available along the way, but getting these questions answered before we get to the specialist will give us the best chance of being prepared.
I'm one of five in a large, close knit family. Hopefully the support she'll get from us along with her amazingly strong mind will set her in good stead for the year to come. I hope you might hear from her on here very soon.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Cass