Not coping well
Hi, I’m new to this. I have been getting fairly regular mammograms ect for years now due to strong family history of breast cancer. I’m 45 and have always looked after myself physically very well. No one aside from me had any issues until they were in their 50’s or 60’s. Aside from my great grandmother no one has had a mastectomy. So after postponing my mammogram for a year due to Covid I decided I needed to get it done before starting a new job. About a week after re entering the workforce I was told there was a problem. It took 2 biopsies and about 6 weeks before they confirmed DCIS medium grade (still don’t know what that means) and I was advised of my options. The options all seemed pretty awful but a double mastectomy with reconstruction (implants as I was told I’m too thin for flaps), seemed like the safest option but I’m ashamed to say it was also very high on my priority list that I’d look ok after. What irony!!! I’ve had three operations in ten days due to complications. I’m left without implants and due to skin necrosis I’ve lost one nipple and about a third of the skin on both flaps. I’ve just seen a second surgeon for a second opinion and it appears this could and probably should have all been avoided (I believe she said “what’s this?” When she saw the mess I’ve been left with) I had to explain why my skin was so damaged. I can’t have any reconstruction until possibly mid next year maybe later as I’ll lose my job if I have any more time off. I know I should be grateful to be alive, ( the surgeon kept telling me I’d dodged a bullet) but I feel devastated, broken and completely unattractive. My relationship with my partner is at best under enormous strain. Can anyone tell me how they got through losing their breasts and feeling incomplete? I feel ashamed even whinging here about this as I know it could have been so much worse. And yet I’m not ok at all and having a very hard time seeing any light at the end of this.DCIS - oncologist?
I was diagnosed with moderate DCIS and after a double mastectomy other stuff was found in both breasts but no aggressive cancer. It’s been mentioned lately about seeing an oncologist. I wasn’t referred to one and unsure why and if it’s necessary… cost and time off work is a huge issue…does anyone have any ideas about if I should follow this up or not and why? I have a strong family history of breast cancer. Thanks
Is "Brian" the new Farnham??
So.......I thought I had given my lump "Brian" a beautiful farewell concert, complete with audience, drinks and a hearty "F...k Off Brian" back in March. At that stage, I was cruising through the Stage 1, grade 3 euphoria of "You got this Girl!" Doctor will do a Lumpectomy one morning, rip out a few nodes, dose of radiation and some pills just in case. Oh yeah, I was still scared, but I was being told - "we" got this!" "Brian" has left the building!!! So......the discovery of a 85mm lump of "Brian" and 4 positive nodes and 1 pissed off node, caused panic and it is now Mastectomy time. The family and I throw a "Fast and Furious" Movie Marathon as a Farewell to "Lefty". Receive a beautiful Love Note from my oldest daughter thanking "Lefty" for being an amazing breast and the Husband gets the final touch.. Rocked up for surgery on 6th May -it goes really well. Up and about that afternoon walking with the drip in my room, that I share with a 72 year old Lady who "Screams" in her sleep, calls out my name nonstop, refuses to eat and sneaks off for cigarette breaks. I wanted to go home just so i could actually sleep and rest!!! Anyway, 2 days after surgery, Dr. (I am God) Bolshy turns up with his entourage of Junior Registrars and says - "you can go home and by the way you are now Stage 3, Grade 3 and walks off." W.T.F. Did you just say? I had to chase this Bastard down the hallway and make him come back to my room!!!!!!!!!!!!! he refuses to tell me anymore other than you have jumped from Stage 1 to Stage 3 - the surgical team will tell you. I met up with the Surgical team last week and all hell breaks loose! "Brian" made a comeback!!! In fact "Brian" had been a busy little Lead Singer - shacking up with as many "Cell Groupies" as he could find the energy for and also shacked up with a Node (making 5 positive now and 1 annoyed) while spreading the love around! All he needed was 3 weeks of love action and he had created another 2mm aggressive growing "lump" near the original site where he was sliced/diced from the show and left his love juice in the form of 18mm of "Baby growing cancer cells" in my milk ducts. I am literally so shocked, I am unable to talk, comprehend or make any sense of what i was being told. What happened to "We got this??" Even though I am told "Brian is gone" and all is well - I am wondering if "Brian" is going to do a Farnsy and keep on making a comeback tour??? Anyway, IF Brian has left any love juice in my body or is thinking of making a 'Come Back" tour - He is in for a rude shock! I have a new band signed up to play in my body - SHE is called "Chemo and The Chemicals".....playing Centre Stage for the next 5 months in LOIS TOWN.....!! (lol) My new Motto: Find positivity in the little things and Use your words to defeat adversaries! Big Hugs Lois......who is not a Doctor's doormat.
Unwell
Hi there I am in my second week of radiation for breast cancer and DCIS so I wonder if anyone is in my situation where they already have implants and if the radiation affected them and they had to be removed down the track which apparently there is a 40% chance they will. Also does anyone recommend acupuncture as I have been really ill with a virus and was wondering if this would help my immune system.
DCIS and no radiotherapy required (yay!) - but still feeling emotional post-surgery
Hi all you amazing women. I had a diagnosis of Intermediate Grade 2 DCIS just before Christmas, and now, three weeks after breast-conserving surgery, I've had the most fabulous news that I don't need radiotherapy, and simply to follow up annually for the next 10 years. I am absolutely blessed. I feel incredibly grateful and fortunate, as I simply need to focus on the rest of my recuperation from surgery, and then I'm done. What I'm not really understanding is why I feel so emotional about it all. I couldn't have wished for a better result - and yet I still feel quite flat and blue, almost as though I'm being 'ungrateful' sometimes (because the results could have been quite different). I just don't get it. My life is a little Topsy-Turvy at the moment - I had to come back interstate to stay with family for the surgery - as I've chosen to live a 'gypsy' lifestyle for the last 3 years, so have no fixed address (by choice), but my lovely sister-in-law has been an absolute godsend to me. I had to cancel seasonal work I had planned in Queensland because of the timing of the surgery, so currently have no work lined up (however I'm sure I'll find something in the coming months). And I'm currently choosing to house-sit here and there, simply to get a little space (as much as I love my family, I also need 'me-time'). I feel as though I'm being ungrateful, because, compared to even three weeks ago, my life is already better, So maybe there's a few things going on outside of my wellness journey, but I realise - if that's the worst of my problems - then I should just get over myself. I just don't know how to shake this flat feeling, whether it's normal for something like DCIS? (especially when compared to what so many other woman have gone / are going through), and whether it's something that will simply go with time? If anyone else has experienced something similar, I'd love to hear from you Thanks for listening. Take care. x
Newly diagnosed and about to start AC
Hi, Well as the title indicates I'm newly diagnosed with invasive DCIS, starting AC the week after next. I'm aware of side effects but wondering how the first treatment is likely to be - do they get worse with time, is it possible I'll feel well enough to attend uni two days later or is it just impossible to know? Feeling nervous, apprehensive, terrified but also wanting to get treatment underway... Any advice greatly appreciated.
Starting Chemo in two weeks
Hi Everyone, I go into hospital tomorrow to remove a triple negative tumor and lymph nodes in my right breast. Very devastated as I thought I had this. In Feb 2015 I had a double Mastectomy due to large amount of DCIS on right side. At that time I thought I was being a bit drastic but I just wanted it gone. After 2 weeks in hospital I ended up with a blood clot in my right calf and the next 6 months were stockings and tablets, lucky it was during winter. In July 15 I had my spacers out and implants in . 4 weeks later I got an infection in my left breast and had to have the implant removed on a Monday night and a new implant back in 4 days later. March 2016 i found a lump in my right breast at 6 o'clock. I had it removed and it turned out to be Estogen + and since then I have been on Anastrozole. Because of my paranoia, I scheduled regular 3 monthly ultrasounds. In June the report came back that one of my lymph nodes was a little enlarged and to monitor it. 3 months later in September I had another ultrasound and another lump was found , this time triple negative! I am having surgery tomorrow and then onto chemo in a couple of weeks and probably radiation after that. I think it depends on the results of the pathology after surgery. I think my Chemo start off with 1 treatment every 3 weeks for 6 to 8 treatments then I don't know what from there. I cannot believe all this has happened. i have been a member since 2015 but I never really went on the site, I have been busy getting fit, trying to counteract my bones getting weaker from the drugs i'm taking and trying very hard to be good and maybe wanting to forget everything, but from now on I'm in and I will be a regular viewer as i really do need information and support now. I have read some stories tonight and have been enlightened to what is ahead of me. thank you
Relationships
since being diagnosed with DCIS the rlationship with my partner has taken a turn for the worst. I am 61 and we have been living together for 2 years and dating 2 years peior to that. When we met our life was wonderful, full of fun and lots of intinacy and sex. Now it is dull and lifeless with both of us looking at perhaps bailing out! Now, I feel unattractive and boring after a mastectomy and ongoing reconstruction and he has struggled to keep life going with work, me and the renovation we began before my diagnosis.. anyway, if anyone is going through this would they kindly respond. Marisa