hi all,my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer,she had two options have a mastectomy. or remove so many lymph nodes then have radiotherapy.She opted for the second,She had the operation 2 weeks ago and everything went well,of course she is sore at the moment and still having fluid drained from her.But today she got the results from the biopsy,the breast care nurse told her the results,both good and bad!!.The bad news is she said was that she needs chemo as well as radiotherapy,i went to see her straight away it was a bit of a blow for her and us thinking the worse was over.But my mother is like me a big worrier,she had a few cries when we were there but we tried to be positive,and we told her its a precautionary measure just to make sure about the cancer.Shes always been a wonderful mum and like i said i am a worrier,like her and i think its the actual worrying which is making it worse for her,like the side affects of chemo ie hair loss,sickness...basically i need some feedback from other people who are starting or going through chemo to settle my mind and hers.Her own mother died of throat cancer awhile back which hasnt help in the matter,thanks for reading this if you are
Might i add…i want to say a big thank you to my mothers breast care nurse and to all the breast care nurses out there for doing a great job,i`ve never met my mothers care nurse but she says the nurse is lovely and kind and always trys to put her mind at rest whenever she comes to see her,THANK YOU
Try not to worry too much Lizard - most of the people on here will tell you whilst chemo can be very hard at times, it is doable. I have had 8 cycles, plus radiotherapy and Herceptin. I finished Herceptin 5 weeks ago.
Your mum’s side effects will be well managed by her medical team and the chemo nurses will tell you just to ring if you have any worries about her. You will also be given info on what to do in an emergency (you have to take your temperature all the time on chemo). I was told another good way of managing the side effects was to stick to a healthy diet if possible, although sometimes this is hard and you have to just eat what you can as the chemo can affect your sense of taste. At one point I was having ginger biscuits and strawberry tea bags as they were all I could taste, but it was better that than nothing at all.
Also, don’t hesitate to keep in contact with the Breast Care Nurse. I have been referred for a few sessions of counselling to build up my confidence again and my nurse was able to get me an appointment within 2 weeks as an urgent request.
Last but not least, your mum should listen to her body and if it is telling her she needs to sleep or rest than that is the best thing to do. After I had my surgery, I went out and bought some of those cds with relaxation or rainforest music on them. I found these invaluable to play quietly in the bedroom an they made me very calm. I also burn incense sticks perfumed with things like lavender, jasmine and sandalwood as these are all very restful. They give you steroids to take for a few days before and after each cycle of chemo and unfortunately they give you insomnia, so anything that can calm you down is to be welcomed. I slept in the spare room when I was like this as it meant I did not disturb my husband and I could read at 4 am if I could not sleep.
I hope your mum will be fine and wish you all the best.
Hi LizardT,
Welcome to the forums. I’m sure you’ll get lots of advice and support from the many informed users of this site. You may be interested in reading one of BCC’s publications on Chemotherapy which may answer some of your questions. I’ve put the link below, you can either download a copy or order a free copy on line.
breastcancercare.org.uk/content.php?page_id=664
If you or your mum need to have a confidential chat about her diagnosis and treatment then please feel free to contact BCC’s helpline. The number for the helpline is 0808 800 6000, lines being open Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm and Saturdays 9am - 2 p.m.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Jo, Facilitator
Hi Lizard
Can only really echo what cherub has said.
I have had maastectomy and 6 cycles of chemo so far (one more to go), along with 20 rads sessions. The chemo isn’t the nicest thing in the world, but as cherub says it is do-able. My breast care team have been excellent all the way through - and believe me I’ve rung them a lot ! They do give you information about what to expect and there are several useful threads on here (the only one I can think of at the moment is the ‘Top tips goin through chemo’ thread but there are others.
Everyone is differnt in how they react, as you willprobably see from some of these threads, so I’m not going to post how I was because it almost certainly will be different for your mum. She is very lucky to have you there for her - all I would say is try to encourage her just to listen to her body. When the steroids are telling her that bouncing round the walls is the right thing to do - or that all the spring cleaning needs doing - by all means do it lol - but when her body is telling her she needs to sit down/put her feet up /sleep all day - do that too, without worrying about what else needs doing - it’s not important!
I hope she gets on ok - please keep us posted
Magz x
a question for you all…like i said shes about to go on chemo…how will it be administered? pills or injection? its just i was with my mum today after buying her a dvd player to cheer her up and hopefully keep her mind occupied by watching some films and we were discussing how she would have chemo also she has had a "level 2 or grade 2 cancer??? how many grades are there?.Im sorry for all the questions but i`d like to be able to pass the information onto my mum and shes had 12 lymph nodes taken out and 5 of them were cancerous.
Thank you by the way for your replies they are of great help and comfort,thank you once again
ohh and i found out today when she told me that she is having about 6 months of chemo in 3 weekly cycles and i think she said 5 lots of radiotherapy
Chemo is usually intravenous and is either a drip or it comes in syringes to administer via the cannula, it all depends on what drugs your mum will be on. Cancer is graded from 1 - 4; mines was grade 3 which is more aggressive than your mums. I had 22 lymph nodes out with one being cancerous. I was also Her2 positive, so I had Herceptin intravenously every 3 weeks for 17 cycles and had to have 12 weekly hear checks on account of this. I also had 25 sessions of radiotherapy, which I did not have too much trouble with thankfully.
You are right to ask questions and be informed - I found this was the best way for me to deal with things, it felt as if I still had some control over my situation.