Hi,
I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer (2cm tumour) a week ago. The ultrasound suggested lymph node involvement, but I guess this won’t be confirmed until surgery. Does anyone out there have a similar story?
Hi Chatterbox,
sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis but I’m glad you’ve found us here. This site is awesome and I don’t know what I would’ve done without it to be honest!
I was diagnosed in march aged 34. I had a mastectomy and total axillary node clearance just week after diagnosis which was a bit of a shocker!! My tumour was 4cm, grade 3, hormone receptive and I had 25/28 nodes affected. Just about everyone here will have a similar story to yourself. I knew very little about bc prior to diagnosis and it has been a very steep learning curve.
This site has helped me immensly but its important to remember that everybody’s situation is different. I often lost sight of that fact when I was first diagnosed, and sometimes searching sites such as this actually made me feel worse. I was reading things and instantly imagining the worst! My over active imagination would go wild.
You will prob find that even when people have a similar diagnosis to you, their treatment plans and things may be completely different to yours. It seems to be very much up to the individual Dr’s preferences and no two seem to be the same! I had surgery first whilst others have chemo first. Some people have ‘the works’ whilst others just need surgery. This site offers a wealth of information and I can defo recommend ordering some of the leaflets and booklets they offer, just to help you ‘get your head around things’ as it were.
Take care and let us know how you are doing,
Kelly
-x-
Hi chatterbox
kelly is so right, i was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with grade 3 invasive ductal cancer 2cm and poss lymph spread, i have a lovely husband , 2 young children and family & friends but this site is so great as you get support from ladies in your situation, i am going for my 1st session of chemotherapy on friday i will have 8 sessions in total , then rads then surgery, the waiting has been the hardest thing for me, i had a week of waiting for my biopsy results and it was the worst week ever, but i am now getting stronger every day and gaining as much positive information as poss, as kelly said everybodys treatment is different , i panicked thinking why cant i have surgery 1st everybody else is ? but please keep in mind all hospitals work differently and you have to put your confidence in them, i never thought i would start to feel ok about losing my hair but thanks to the fantastic ladies on this site and messages of support i have ordered some lovely bandanas and i am now prepared for that happening, you will be amazed how you will get stronger everyday, good luck with things and please let us know how you get on
take care
love galen
Hi Princess18 and Galen,
Thank you for your support. I am all over the place at the moment. I have a liver scan to look forward to (not) and I swing from utter dispair to relative hope. Yet I have been told over and over again by my bc nurse that the outlook is good
xx
Hiya chatterbox, I was also diagnosed last week. Mine is grade 2 and 16mm. The Dr suggested a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy if no more surgery is required and my lymph node is not involved. This is happening on thursday and i think i am still in shock.
Hi Julie,
Now I am confused. When I got my biopsy results I was told that they knew it was invasive cancer, but they couldn’t tell me more than that until after the surgery…
Are you having your surgery next week? If so good luck
xx
Hi chatterbox, I was only told after surgery that mine was 2cm grade2 no lymph nodes involved.Before wle they thought it was smaller than that it really is better to wait and be sure.Good luck,
Hi Chatterbox,
just wondering how you’re doing today?
Kelly
-x-
Hi Kelly,
Thank you of thinking of me 
I am not doing too bad. My surgery is going to be at the end of the month (my choice) and I think I am just weary of all the worry,
What about you. How are you doing? I see you had your surgery a few months ago. Are you having chemo now? Sorry if I have got that wrong. I’m not sure what goes where and when!!
In other news…My lump hurts from time to time. Has anyone else had this experience?
xx
Hi Chatterbox,
I’m glad you are not doing too bad. I think the time between diagnosis and actually starting treatment is the worst and it definately does make you weary with worry! Once I’d had my op I really felt much better as things were progressing and i was ‘on the road to recovery’ if you know what I mean?!
I’m doing ok ta, thank you for asking. I had chemo No4 last weds and as its now a week on I’m finally starting to feel ‘normal’ again! Out for lunch tomorrow, lovely!! Couldn’t have done that a week ago so glad to be feeling good again. Although I don’t think my waistline is pleased!!
Take care and keep in touch
Kelly
Hi Chatterbox,
How are you doing? I hope I can help reassure you a bit.
I was diagnosed on 7th May. for me the worst thing was that no-one could really tell me what was going on. I had a wide spread tumour which seemed to be mainly confined to my ducts but there was a tiny bit of invasion into my lymphatic system. Basically the only way they could tell what was what was through surgery, like you they couldn’t see on the biopsies where the invasion was coming from.
I had a modifed radical mstectomy and full node clearance on 11th June, this revealed a grade 3 10mm tumour which had caused invasion into 2 out of 10 lymph nodes. I’m also hormone and protein receptive. So I was hit with everything! surgery, chemo (which started on Tuesday and is fine) then radiotherapy, hormone treatment and Herceptin as well. But you know what it’s just fine, if this is what I have to go through to get better then bring it on! My breast nurse actually said it was good news that I was hormone receptive because that meant they could give me drugs to protect my body and to stop the cancer coming back, that’s a really positive thing.
I suppose my point is that once you start treatment in a lot of ways you feel better, in the early days it’s the fear of the unknown isn’t it? you will get through it, everyone’s rooting for you. If it helps at all, nothing has been as bad as I thought it would be and there are loads of people that will help you through.
Take care
Hi Veggiebean,
Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I am going to have a WLE in a few weeks and then I suppose we take it from there. At the moment my life seems full of ‘what if’s’ and the not knowing is awful, but maybe the knowing is worse I don’t know… My hope at the moment is that it hasn’t spread anywhere else…
Good luck with your treatment veggiebean and stay in touch
xx
Hi Chatterbox
My story seems similar to yours initially. I had a 3cm lump and suspected node involvement (the consultant found a lump in my armpit, but there’s been no surgery yet to confirm anything!) I very much wanted to save my breast so opted to have chemo first to shrink the tumour, which has happened. I finished 8 sessions of chemo 2 weeks ago. I am due to have a WLE on Monday and axillary node clearance, I then have to wait 10 days to see if the margins are clear (if not more surgery and possibly a mastectomy) then I’m due to have 33 sessions of radiotherapy. That’s my story!
But Kelly was right when she said that this site can be fantastic in offering support, but sometimes comparing yourself to others and reading too much can cause unnecessary worries. My chemo affected me differently to others and each month I seemed to react differently and it threw up fresh ‘surprise symptoms.’
Anyway good luck with your treatment, any questions just ask?
Take care Nicky x
Hi Nicky,
I am beginning to realise that there are no set treatment protocols. I just seem to go along with what I am told, which is most unlike me! I think my compliance has everything to do with being completely unknowledgeable about BC (although that is changing fast!). I have just found out that I am having a bone scan before my surgery is this usual?
xx
Yes, I had similar results over 3.5 years ago and am still fine (despite lots of adverse risk factors, too).
Hi Chatterbox, with regards to the bone scan, i think that depends on the hospital, at my hospital it seems to be routine if there was suspected lymph invovement. I had a CT scan and a bone scan as routine. The bone scan I had (but this is where it gets confusing as there is a different type of scan to check bone density aswell!) was in the nuclear medicine department. A substance was put in through a cannula, then I had to go back I think it was 4 hours later. You lie on a bed then a huge machine passes over you, then it rotates and passes over you again (or was it under - whatever it gives a full picture of both sides of your body) It is completely painless (apart from the cannula!) apart from being very cold, as there was a fan on the machine, but I had mine in January when it was cold outside, it might not appear as cold in the Summer!
Hope your scan goes Ok Nicky x
Hi Chatterbox
Hope you are doing okay today. I was diagnosed one month ago and I am still reeling. My tumour was 2cm taken out last week which, psychologically, just feels better. It did hurt or rather felt uncomfortable, every now and then beforehand. I don’t have node involvement but convinced myself I did as I was very sore under that arm and had taken weeks to recover from a cold the previous month. So the one thing I’ve learned is just to take it a step at a time and with each step comes new info with decisions to be made etc. It is frustrating. I like to have all the info in one go and plan ahead etc. but you do end up going a bit mad trying to figure out all the possible combinations and permutations when you only have a bit of info. I found that I got family and friends, who were desparate to help, to keep me busy during the waiting time. Whether that meant coffee, a visit or out to the shops. Also hearing my friends talking about normal things, like their kids driving them up the wall helped no end as well.
Take care, Kirsty
Hi Chatterbox,
please don’t be worrying about the fact that you are having a bone scan pre-surgery. I honestly don’t think any 2 hospitals, or even Dr’s are the same! Everybody on here seems to have a different experience, sometimes I think I’m being a bit ‘short changed’ when I read other peoples stories! LOL.
I know what you mean about being unknowledgable about bc, its a VERY steep learning curve isn’t it!
Take care and keep in touch,
Kelly
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Hi Chatterbox,
Just to say hi and that I also had a bone scan and CT scan as standard before my surgery. I also had an echocardiogram as well. All part of the procedure in my hospital.
You become surprisingly knowledgeable about BC after a while, when I went for my pre-chemo assessment the nurse asked if I was in the medical profession! no just an avid sufer of the internet who wants to know what’s going on!
Take care
Carole
Hi am brand new to the site and can’t believe there are so many folks out there going through this. I was diagnosed at beginning of June and had a mastectomy and reconstruction. My ‘lump’ was 26mm and grade 3 with extensive lymph involement. At 37 i feel like i have been hit on the face with a shovel. scared is not the beginning of it!! Start my first chemo (TAC) on 20th of this month and suddenly feel very alone. Lots of friends and well meaning folks but it’s a lnely road and this is the first place i can see where people might REALLY know how i feel.
Looking forward to support to help me through these dark days ahead.