Hi all
i went for a routing mammogram end September and it culminated in being diagnosed with Grade 1 breast cancer on Thursday last week. Amazingly, I’m meeting my surgeon for the first time tomorrow and having an mri Thursday morning. Is like a surreal whirlwind. Still cannot believe I’ve got it!! Do you have any advice for me please?? Thank you x
Hello @Karen1967
I’m so sorry you find yourself here, it’s an absolute shocker when it happens: I was the same as you in May 2021 first routine mammogram, a recall, biopsies and bam “you have breast cancer”
There’s no “easy way” of navigating this situation, you will find yourself thrown into a whirlwind of appointments, leaflets, information which you never wanted to learn about and it all feels very unreal.
Many ladies will say that the hardest part is the waiting and not knowing, once you have a treatment plan in place it becomes more manageable. Have you been told what type your tumour is and what the treatment plan is? I can’t profess to remembering what my diagnosis was just that it was oestrogen positive and my treatment plan was surgery radiotherapy and hormone therapy (but it’s all written down somewhere!)
For the time being the best advice I can give you is try to stay busy, stay well away from Dr Google! And reassure yourself as much as you can that you have done absolutely the best thing by going for your mammogram (so many ladies don’t) and catching it early is the best thing (I couldn’t have seen or felt anything at the time mine was found)
Please feel free to ask whatever questions you may have on this forum, breast cancer world is full of the kindest lovely people and we’ve all been where you are now, there’s lots and lots support available both here and via other organisations like Maggie’s and MacMillan
Good luck with your appointment and MRI
AM xxx
Hi Karen,
I know just how you feel. I was diagnosed with grade 1a bc in August following a recall from a routine mammogram. Even though I had successful surgery in September and start radiotherapy on 19th December I still find it difficult to believe it has actually happened. It is a though it is all happening to someone else and the real me is looking on and waiting to take my life back again.
As AC has said the worst part is the waiting for results and treatment to start and I agree that you must resist the temptation to consult Dr Google. It is a whirlwind of appointments at first but things do settle down once you have your treatment plan. My surgeon was great, very calm, gentle, empathetic and reassuring, and he did a great job of removing my cancer but leaving me with a boob that still looks almost the same as it did before. I hope you will find yours is the same and makes you feel better about things when you meet him or her tomorrow. If you can take someone with you as it is difficult to take in everything that is said at appointments so having someone with you to remind you of what was said and of any questions you want ask is good.
Let us know how you get on xx