Young mum diagnosed IDC and DCIS.
Hello! Im 37 and was recently diagnosed in November with early breast cancer - IDC (ER+, PR+, Her2-) and then following my surgery they also discovered DCIS. Plan is chemotherapy starting tomorrow and then mastectomy/recon 4-6 weeks post surgery! Looking for advice on: 1. What to take with me to chemotherapy tomorrow (will be there approx 5 hours as will be trying scalp cooling). Also what do people wear when using ice gloves/boots/cold cap? 2. Any advice on TC chemo and how you tolerated it (I’m doing 4 cycles). 3. Any tips on managing chemotherapy with 3 children aged between 3-7yrs and a husband who works long hours but very supportive. Thanks so much!
My ALND was a bust..
Hi everyone, this is my first time posting. I discovered my lump in late May while breastfeeding my bub, and am now two weeks post surgery for hormone positive breast cancer. Not the clogged duct I had originally assumed it was. It’s been an awful shock, as I know everyone will understand. So, I have just had a lumpectomy, a LICAP reconstruction on the boob, and level 2 axillary clearance. I’m looking for advice from those who have had an axillary lymph node dissection. I just had my post-op and it was a real mixed bag. Breast cancer out with clear margins (great) BUT seven nodes removed and … none cancerous. While that sounds like great news the problem is that they had biopsied one suspicious node prior to surgery and it had come back positive. So it appears that this positive node was missed. I’m now headed for a second surgery. My question is - for those of you who have undergone ALND- is it normal that they didn’t mark my positive node in any way so they knew where it was during the biopsy or prior to surgery? The doctors are saying they will mark it for the second surgery with magseed and it seems completely ridiculous to me that this wasn’t done initially, when my breast tumor (which was palpable so very obvious) was marked during biopsy. It just seems very slap dash to presume you don’t need to mark as you’re taking everything out anyway. I am wondering whether not marking or targeting when a clearance is planned is just normal procedure and I should just roll with this situation, or whether my hospital or perhaps the surgeon has not done something they probably should have ie mark the cancerous node. I have an appointment on Friday with the surgeon, and I feel knowing others experiences prior to that conversation will give me some peace of mind, or perhaps the gumption to at least push for a second biopsy alongside the magseed. I want to be really sure this time that they are targeting and marking the right node before I go for another surgery. Any shared experiences or thoughts from those who have walked this road ahead of me is appreciated. You are all so brave. This whole situation is very frightening.
Recent diagnosis and new to the group
Good afternoon. My name is Jenny and I was diagnosed with Grade 2 cancer in my right breast on the 17 April. I had lumpectomy surgery on 4 May and a PET/CT scan last week as cancer cells were detected in 1 of 3 lymph nodes and results are pending. We met the Oncologist last Tuesday and due to several risk factors, chemotherapy has been recommended as the next step and I commence on 12 June starting with fortnightly infusions for the first 8 weeks then weekly for the next 12 weeks. Radiation will follow as they were not able to get the level of clear margins with the surgery and no further surgery is possible. Then if all this goes onto hormone blocking medication for 5 years as I'm ER positive, PR negative and HER2 negative. I'm feeling OK negotiating the roller coaster of procedures, tests and waiting for results and adjusting. At this stage, I've accepted what is happening and learning to live my best life with this diagnosis now and in the future. Thank you for taking the time to read to my story and appreciate the insights others can give from their lived experience. Kind regards, Jenny
Preparing for surgery
Moderator moved @m_m11 post from activity section to main 'Discussion' page: m_m11 Good morning lovely ladies, I have finished my chemos and surgery is on 4th of June which is lumpectomy and breast size reduction. I’m very nervous and anxious about it, my surgeon said 6 weeks for recovery. Please share how recovery will be and recovery tips and thing I need to careful, is recovery will be painful? I’m very very anxious because never had surgery before. TIA
Nervous
Newly diagnosed with invasive breast cancer mid December. Surgery delayed once already but now is tomorrow with a lymphoscintography shortly. Feeling very nervous and quite emotional today - haven’t really cried since diagnosed but today I can’t seem to stop. Is this how others have felt?
What a whirlwind
Diagnosed last week with Triple Negative, picked up in my routine 2 yearly mammogram and I am heading into hospital on Friday for lump removal and sentinel node biopsy. The last 2 weeks have been like a whirlwind, both mentally and physically. I am already a cancer survivor, having been through kidney cancer 13 years ago. Lost a kidney but was caught early enough that I didn't need any further treatment. Thought that would be the end of my cancer journey. But unfortunately it wasn't. This time I have to have both chemo and radio and frankly I am petrified of what's to come. How did others get through those first few weeks when your mind feels jumbled and overloaded with info and in my case fear. Any tips appreciated. Thanks 🙂
Newly Diagnosed & Over Thinking it all!
I'm a 54 year old women of 3 gorgeous grown up sons living with my partner of 5 years & loving life after a few years of turbulence both personally & professionally. I am newly diagnosed with invasive NST, + for both ER & PgR apparently that's good, yesterday was a week after right boobie lumpectomy & 3 x axillary lymph nodes removed and results show its travelled to the lymph nodes so pet scan booked for next Tuesday. Its been a roller-coaster, which I know many of us have experienced and my positivity since surgery is now replaced with a sick to the core feeling of dread. Which is unusual for me as a normally face everything head on but this has got me. Radiotherapy has been mentioned and then yesterday chemo was mentioned for the first time as a most likely scenario not all results were back & the rest awaits me next Tuesday. My head space at the moment is like a magpie flitting from shiny wtf-ness to omg-ness!! The cherry on the top is I'm 2 months into a new career and on LWOP from a 34 year career wondering what my new employer who has been very supportive will wonder & yes I am over thinking it :)
chemo question please?
Hi all, As some of you may have seen from my past post regarding the return of the cancer, or should I correctly say, it was never all taken at that time even though they said they had got it all with clear margins, still so angry . I'm now staring down the barrel of chemo afterwards, as part of my treatment from this round of surgeries, I wasn't required to under go chemo 1st time, so I dodged that, this time its not looking like I will have that same luxury, My questions are for all of you who have had to face this, how long dose it take for you to loose your hair, I'm just trying to do the best to mentally prepare myself, I fully understand each one of us are completely different, and each chemo session plan will be different form the next, its more of a general idea, like dose it start to come away after your 1st session, or do you get through all your sessions and then you see the hair starting to come away, I do have a great breast care nurse, who is lovely, we are just back at the early stages now biopsy's done, MRI done, PET CT scan booked in for this week, they have now seen another lump in the breast that could need another biopsy prior to theater, the list keeps going on this. But I have been advised by both the surgeon and y breast care nurse, chemo is a high possibility Is there any advice you can share on how to prepare both physically and mentally for this treatment. I have the worlds worse veins, so I've ben told about a pick line, that sounds fun, not! anything you wish to share would be very helpful, so I can try my best to mentally prepare for this stage Thank you all :)Here I go again!
Hi there. Newbie to this online group. I had my first diagnosis in 2006 at 46. A grade 3 ductal cancer for which I had a lumpectomy, radiation and hormone blockers. I had Tamoxifen until developed uterine polyps (3yrs) and then switched to Arimidex (another 5 yrs). My maternal aunt had BC first in her mid 30’s and then late 50’s before she died of mets in her mid 60’s. I’d had annual mammograms since 40 because of my family history but have no genetic markers. All going well until my last mammogram which showed another BC in the same breast. This time a lobular cancer. Luckily very small and no spread but still devastating. I’ve had another lumpectomy- because I would not speak the M word! I’m now recovering from that and have started hormone blockers - again. I can’t have radiation again in the same side - which I’m thankful for - and I don’t need chemo - again very grateful. However I feel my surgeon would prefer me to have had a mastectomy ( that word I will not speak of!). I see home again in a few months and I’m thinking this is what he will recommend to keep me safe. At least I’ve had time to get my head around this and find out more about it - I just didn’t feel I could make that decision in the days between my biopsy results and surgery. Anyway I’ve been reading lots of posts here and finding out more each day. I have a bit more knowledge under my belt from my previous experience and in some ways that makes it worse! I worry about the impact of hormone blockers on my long term health and my ability to keep fit and keep the weight under control. And I’m concerned about a reconstruction and how long the recovery will be. One of the worst things about the past few weeks is that we had to cancel a much anticipated overseas trip. We haven’t travelled since 2019 so we are keen to get back travelling but not to be! I keep saying to our kids I’m not sure how many good travel years we have left and there’s so much still to see! ��🤣
