14 Ladies 1 Year on!

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Our Gang meet up.jpg

 

On Saturday the 2nd of December 2017, 14 ladies met for the 1st time, for a dinner to remember! We came from all corners of GB, including Northern Ireland and met in Manchester.

 

This time last year all 14 of us ladies were in the early stages of our breast cancer journey, we met on this forum and you can see how it all started in these threads from last year: 
forum.breastcancercare.org.uk/t5/Diagnosed-with-breast-cancer/How-s-everyone-doing/m-p/1065090/highlight/true#M58218

forum.breastcancercare.org.uk/t5/Hope-and-inspiration/Our-Gang-Come-chat/m-p/1082121/highlight/true#M2656

 

We went on to create our own face book group and have supported each other through the entire journey.

There has been a lot of fear, tears and melt downs; worry and anxiety BUT there have also been amazing times, celebrating results and end of treatment as well as sharing tips, giving advice and swapping stories………and not everything has been about breast cancer, we have a good laugh, take the mickey, share photos and just about anything!

 

We unanimously agreed to post this thread to give people hope and inspiration for the future and to help with that, this is what we have all been through:

 

How it was found: (lump found by me)

Type: (invasive ductal, ER+ PR+)

Grade: (2)

Node involvement: (micro mets)

Surgeries: (wle, snb, margin scrape, double mastectomy with implant recon)

Chemo: 6 rounds fec-t

Radiotherapy rounds & boosters:

Ongoing: (tamoxifen 10 years)

 

Lump found incidentally

Invasive ductal/lobular ER/PR+

Grade 2

WLE, SNB

No node involvement

Radiotherapy 3 plus 1 week booster

Tamoxifen for 10 years

 

routine 3 yearly mammo recall
invasive tubular
ER+, grade 1, 17mm
wle,snb, clear margins
radiotherapy, 15 regular and 5 boosters
tamoxifen for 10 years xx

 

Found by me
ER/PR - Her +
Grade 3 Stage 2
WLE and full axillary clearance
3 FEC 4 THP
15 rads + 5 boosters
Herceptin x 18

 

Lump found by me (28mm cubed)
Invasive ductal
ER/PR - Her2 +
Grade 3 Stage 2
WLE and SNB
Neo-adjuvant chemo 8 rounds (4 EC, 4 Docetaxel with Herceptin and Perjeta)
15 rads + 5 boosters
Herceptin for a year in total, so 14 on top of the 4 I had with chemo

 

Found : me lump in shower
Type: multi focal breast cancer left side. 2 tumours spread over 60mm. ER +, HER2-
Grade: originally 3 they downgraded it to 2 after pathology report.
Node Involvement: 3 out of 8 removed were cancerous
Surgeries: left therapeutic mammoplasty plus node clearance and right reduction mammoplasty, re-excision of medial margin on left (some dcis left over after 1st surgery)
Chemo: neo-adjuvant 6 rounds FEC-T
Radiotherapy: 15 plus 8 boosters
Ongoing: monthly Zolodex injections to suppress ovaries and daily exemestane tablets. Also calcium and vitamin D supplements.

 

Found when I noticed a difference in size of breast in mirror lifted arm and saw a large indent under breast
Type -invasive ductal carcinoma er+ pr+ her2- 18mm
Grade- 3
Nodes-3 taken all clear
Surgeries-left wide local excision and rotational flap reconstruction
Radiotherapy-15 And 5 boosters
Ongoing-tamoxifen 10 years

 

Found lump in shower which turned out to be benign. Micro calcifications detected on mammo which turned out to be DCIS and 3cm invasive ducal ER+ HER2- Unsure of grade (1 or 2 but never confirmed with me). 4 nodes involved. Single mastectomy, no recon yet. Chemo 3 EC and 9 paclitaxel Rads 15 (3 weeks). Ongoing tamoxibollocks or similar…they think I’ve gone through the menopause this year so likely to change to Lestrozole.

 

Lump found by me
Type: invasive lobular
Grade 2. ER+.
Mastectomy left side
Chemo 3xEC 3x T
Radiotherapy x 15

Ongoing - letrozole, alendronic acid - 10 years

 

How it was found?: lump found by me
Type:4.7cm Invasive ductal – Triple neg
Grade: 3
Node involvement?: None
Surgeries: SNB & Mastectomy – No re-construction
Chemo: 6 x FEC
Radiotherapy : 15

 

 Lump announced itself by huting. 18mm ductal grade 2 + 1mm DCIS. ER + (8/8) PR + HER2-. No nodes, wle + rads (15 + 5) 5-10 years tamoxibollocks.

 

They (2 large conjoined) found by me. Grade 3 triple negative. Sentinel node biopsies clear. Fec-t Chemo, lumpectomy, followed by 4 1/2 wks of radiotherapy. 2 spots found on liver: Onc now hopeful they aren’t cancerous. 21 Dec another mri liver scan, 28 Dec Review appointment with Surgeon.

 

  • Trial mammogram for under 50’s (no lump found prior to this)
  • Recalled
  • Invasive Ductal
  • 17mm
  • Grade 2
  • ER+ PR+ HER2-
  • MRI showed more lumps
  • Hence mx
  • Histology showed even more
  • No chemo as sentinel nodes clear
  • Tamoxifen 5 yrs

 

Found by routine mammogram
10mm invasive ductal carcinoma plus DCIS ER + 7/8, HER2 -
Wide local excision
Nodes classed as clear, but isolated tumour cells found.
Oncotype score of 15
20 sessions of radiotherapy (15 regular plus 5 boosts)
Anastrozole for 10 years

 

 

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Life long friendships were cemented that day xx

3

Amazing!!! So honoured to be sat at that table and I really hope this post will give the positivity and reassurance to those people who are reading this who have been feeling down about their diagnosis - you really have to get that chin up, head held high and march on because you know what? you can do it xxxx

4

I feel I have made friends for life…the support and help you ladies have given to me has been tremendous …we had a fabulous afternoon in manchester and can’t wait for our next outing ?

5

To anyone taking their first nervous steps on this path. You can do it and it will get better. I was in bits in the beginning but stick around here and you can almost feel the warmth of the virtual hugs and hear the roars of laughter. I started treatment in January and will finish next March. It’s a long road made much easier if you surround yourself with support. Deep breath and small steps x

6

What a wonderful photo and post, thank you.
I am one of the feb 2013 valentines chemo thread members. We also now keep in touch and support each other in a secret fb group. And in feb 2018 we will be getting ready for our 5th annual get together ?xxx

7

I love every one of the ladies at that table and will never be able to express how grateful I am for their support and friendship. They truly are a shining silver lining to a very **bleep**ty cloud.

To anyone who’s just starting out, I hope you find hope, strength and comfort in our story. It can be tough going but connecting with other ladies who just ‘get it’ can make even the hardest days so much easier to get through.

Xx

8

So fab to see how the forum has brought you all together & such an inspirational post, we do get through it!
errr…can I come???
ann x

9

Wow.

 

Fantastic.  What a day you all must have had.

 

 

I can honestly say without exgeration this forum has eased my fears educated me helped me through  each stage helped me in so many ways and I know will continue to do so.

Unreal.

 

Happy Christmas to you all

 

Lucia

 

 

 

 

10

Fantastic and so inspiring! Thank you for sharing - this gives hope and support to ladies who have recently been diagnosed and those of us who are going through treatment. You are amazing!  So glad I found this forum xxx

11

This was an amazing day with the most amazing ladies I met on this forum. We have come such a long way since this time last year when we all started to make friends for life right here. We have all had ups, downs with lots of middle bits but I love you all … heres to many more years of friendships … ?

12

What a truly wonderful post, girl power, you look like you had an amazing time x

13

How lovely ladies! It’s amazing that something so awful can bring about such great friendships ?

We also have a Facebook group for a bunch of us diagnosed during spring / summer of 2015 and share our daily highs and lows with each other! Xx