Hi
I had the same high grade DCIS and opted for DIEP flap surgery.
Even though a longer operation and recovery I am Totally pleased with the outcome - good luck with your surgery xx
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I found the course very interesting and it made me feel so much less lonely in my transport lite area, unless you can drive, which I am increasingly worried about as I approach next year when I will be 70. i don’t want to be one of those mad old ladies driving at 4 miles an hour down the road in a headscarf, wellies and tweeds. Well maybe they are actually old men as I can’t see that well now.
A number of my fellow recoverers have really lovely houses and paddocks so I am suitably impressed. I do have a field outside my back doors so my garden looks enormous but it isn’t my field and it has a lot of thistles that come into my garden, plus some horrible nettles, couch grass, and the odd ant hill. One of my neighbours told me the rarest woodpeckers love these ant hills as they like eating the red ants. I destroyed one of the nests and then got poisoned by them as they squirt formic acid at you. So not only did I discourage rare woodpeckers but also got stung. Only what I deserve as one of the lower orders of East Sussex
Seagulls
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I understand what you are saying. I’ve had 3 lumpectomies and now going in for a mastectomy at the end of this month. Personally I’ve had enough! Then feel guilty as I know people are worse off. And no one would have known up to now as I’ve always looked well. But what we have been through/are going through is emotionally and physically traumatic. Just because you can’t see the trauma, doesn’t mean it’s any less. We are all in a battle to beat this disease and to do so is worth celebrating. I’ve learnt more from people who have been through this experience than the specialists. Your story may help others in the future. Best wishes for the future 
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Welcome to the forum @magsp1 and thank you for sharing. As many people have already said, everyone’s experience is different and everything you are feeling is valid.
The forum is full of wonderful, kind people and I hope you find the support you’re looking for.
Here’s a link to the post that @Shi mentioned: Mountain Lion - Coffee Lounge / Chat and inspiration - Breast Cancer Now forum
And the post that @JoanneN mentioned: Very small DCIS and imposter syndrome - Diagnosed with breast cancer / DCIS/LCIS - Breast Cancer Now forum
Sending our warmest,
Lucy
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I feel like you. I had a diagnosis May 2023 of lobular cancer in my left breast. I opted for a mastectomy which was carried out on 7 June 2023. I was 79 years old and did not like the idea of perhaps having further operations after a lumpectomy. I am now on hormone treatment for 5 - 7 years. I have recently started taking bisphosphonates to offset the damage to bones by anastrozole as my bone density is low. I also had a large seroma which has not been completely absorbed. I felt very lucky as the cancer was removed by the mastectomy and my lymph nodes did not have cancer. I still feel upset at times. It is not how I thought I would spend my old age. My life is limited by age not necessarily by cancer. I have days when I am up and those when I am down. I am fit for my age, no high blood pressure and strong heart. I have some side effects from the medication but not really bad. I hope the cancer does not return and am doing my best to stay healthy. But I feel what I have gone through is not how everyone sees cancer. I read about what some others are going through and feel that I am not the real thing because I have been able to avoid all that. I generally do not tell anyone that I had cancer last year only close family and three others. I don’t think thought that this is truly imposter syndrome. Every member of staff in the Breast Clinic took my case seriously and kindly. My BCN was extremely supportive even though I was trying not to show how I felt. She treated my cancer just as seriously as she would that of any other patient. Everyone’s ‘journey’ is different and we don’t know what our future is. You will realise that you went through more than I did. I made a choice for a mastectomy because I knew that I might not be able to cope with chemo or radiotherapy. I did not know until after the results came back from the lab that the cancer had been fully removed. You and I have had just as much worry as anyone else and I am sure, like me, you hope that the cancer will not return. Please forget about imposter syndrome as it doesn’t apply to you or me. We are not pretending. We went through the worry and pain of operations and we still have the same worry others have because we do not know what the future holds. I hope you continue to do well and I hope it never returns for either of us. You have been brave just like all the others.
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Hi im new to this forum but i like so many had a mammogram and was recalled. I had a biopsy the same day and it was confirmed later that it was stage 2 so i would have a lympectomy and 6 nodes removed. It’s now three weeks and im am still in so much pain. Exercise is painful and im very swollen and sore and very tired.
I am told i may need chemo and then radiotherapy and 5 years of a estrogen blocker.
Its still major surgery for all of us.
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Can I ask how they found your kidney cyst.
The conclusion I have come to is I may have breast cancer but it doesn’t have me or make me any less the person I am. Or bird I am. I find it really annoying when I feel i am treated like a hen on a conveyor belt going off to have my feathers plucked, insides out and browned off on all sides on a spit.
That’s why I am the Seagulls I am
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Hi
Of course I don’t mind you asking. My cyst was found at my radiotherapy planning ct scan, they said I had a lesion on my kidney so I was referred for a Ct scan with contrast due to see what it was.
If you want to know anything else please ask
Take care
J x
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Girl, I am so happy for you. I wish they would have done the same thing for me when they found it last September(2023) in my routine annual screening mammogram. The Radiologist and Dr saw something suspicious, however, they didn’t tell me anything, until the end of this March(2024)!!!
Health disparity is awful in America.
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You are very fortunate to have no Letrozole symptoms. As one nurse said to me “It’s kicking your butt”. I had some underlying issues with hip and back pain but they are now quite exaggerated. I have occasional headaches and am way tired. I feel like the Letrozole has aged me by ten years. So count yourself lucky l. It’s good to hear that some are doing well on Letrozole. It’s hopeful to think that at some point I may get used to it and have fewer symptoms.
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