Hello All

Just joined the site.
Was diagnosed beginning Jan, and had WLE and SNB 10 days ago. Am now waiting to see the ‘team’ to find out the next stage of treatment. Don’t know yet whether it will be rads and pills only or chemo 1st. Am sore, bruised, worried, trying to stay positive, for family and friends, but am privately a bit teary.Everyone being v supportive, but now surgery is over, there is a feeling that the worst is over and time to get better now!
Have been reading some of the posts and am now feeling anxious about all side effects of next treatments!Although, having said that, everyone looks brilliantly supportive and I think you are all going to help a lot on this journey! How did this happen anyway? I don’t remember it being in my life contract and I certainly didn’t sign up for it!!
Just wanted to say ‘Hello’
Wandyx

Hi Wandy,
Am so sorry to hear of your recent DX but welcome to the BCC forums where i know you’ll find lots of help and support from all the ladies here.
I know its a very scarey time for you right now,so huge hugs to you,but once you get your treatment plan in place and begin your treatments it will get better, i promise.
Try not to google too much or look too far ahead ,when i was first DX with BC ,i found it easier to take things in small chunks and one step at a time then everything does’nt feel so overwhelming.
Also only try to read whats relevant to your situation at the moment, at least untill you know what your treatment plan will be ,as we can often scare ourselves sometimes and somethings wont always apply to us.
I know all the different BC treatments and some of the SEs can sound very scarey sometimes,but please,please try not to worry too much, as although not always nice ALL of the treatments are very do-able and if you do have to have Chemo/Rads ect your med team would always make sure you were given plenty of meds to combat any SEs if you did have them.
I was DX in 2007 and also had a WLE/SNB followed by Chemo/Rads/Tamoxifen now on Aromasin,and know how scarey it all was in the early days , but you will get through this , please keep comeing on here for some help and support there are lots of lovely ladies here who will help you with anything if they can.
Massive hugs to you
Best Wishes
Linda x

You’re entitled to get teary and you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t feel scared. Don’t read up too much on the treatments just yet, because we tend to share the problems more than the better parts. We all hope that you have good results and so need minimum treatment. Once you have the results and a course of treatment, then there is almost bound to be someone who has had the same treatment recently, but different people react differently to similar things.

Best wishes,

Cheryl

Wandy, you could probably do with a hug, so I’m sending you one. Not much further on in my treatment schedule but at least I do know that I have to have chemo so I had my hair cut AS SOON AS I got that bit of news, which means I get the chance to explain the big change in hairdo, and the reasons why, before it all happens and I’m feeling too crap to talk to people. Gives others the time to get used to it.

Fingers crossed for good results and that you don’t need to go for the short hairdo unless that’s how you generally wear yours.

As for reading about the treatments and people’s side-effects, a good maxim is “prepare for the worst but hope for the best.” I’m still convinced I’ll breeze through chemo with hardly a problem at all!

Hi all,
i’m new to this site too, was diagnosed on 1st Feb, i have DCIS & IDC, had MRI yesterday & get results & start discussing treatment plan on 15th. I’m 38 & single mum to a 3 year old daughter. I’m living in South Wales away from my home town, my mum & dad live local (luckily) but we were all planning on ‘going home’ this Sept after the contract with my job ends in August.
I just don’t know what to think!!!
One minute i see BC as just a massive inconvenience that will delay my plans! The next it hits home & despite the joking, brave face that i’m showing everyone else, when i’m alone i just cry cos i don’t wanna leave my little girl.
It’s hard waiting for these results, i don’t know what stage it’s at, just that it’s grade 2 & from a fine needle biopsy there doesn’t appear to be anything in the lymph nodes.
I am trying my best to be strong, i’m going to work full time,i’m naturally a jokey, open person, everyone keeps telling me i’m amazing & how great my attitude is.

But i just don’t know what to think.
My head is everywhere.
I’m sorry that we’re all on this site in the first place but just reading some of the posts has kept me going for the past 8 days.
I wish everybody on here the very best of luck & lots of love & hugs for now &, the future.
Chez. xx

Hi Chez,

Sorry you have had to join us. Just saying hello and bumping this up as it seems to have become lost on a busy site. You are bound to be scared and when you are thrown into this world it is really hard to take in everything people are telling you and what it all means. No node involvement is excellent news and once you have a clearer idea about your treatment plan you will be on the road to recovery.

Stages are how big the bc is.

Grades are how different the cells look from normal cells.

Ladies on here vary in the stage and grade of their bc and the type of bc which the specialists think they have, but this is a very treatable disease now and they will soon work out how best to treat you to give you the very best way forward to leading a long and happy life with your little one. I am also a single mother and it is scary and lonely to face this alone. At least you have strong family support to help you through. If there is anything we can do to help, just say or pm xx

Bump

Chez

NO NODES - YAY!!! That has to be THE BEST news to have, and Grade 2 may mean you escape chemo as well, but obviously that’s up to your treatment team.

Best of luck, the waiting really is horrible so I hope you get more information from your team quickly.

CM
x

Mary Grace & Choccie Muffin,

Thanx so much for replying to my post, this site really has kept me going the past few days!
Unfortunately i may not escape chemo, cos am 38 they’ve said they’re ‘gonna throw the book’ at me treatment wise & as for the lymph node thing, they’re still gonna double check this & take some of 'em out so nothin’s definite yet. Am prob gonna have rads & hormone treatment too…
Am tryin to stay hopeful & positive, had a real low day yesterday, couldn’t stop crying!! I just wanna know what am facing so i can beat this sh*t!!
Thanx again ladies, u are truly fabulous & ur positive comments & reassurance for us newbies is just fantastic!
Lotsa luv,
Chez. xxx

Thanx all for your comforting and encouraging posts. This site is really brilliant. Have just found out that I am in on Tuesday 15th for my results and will then find out whats next and the timetable. Am really looking forward to that.(that sounds weird doesn’t it??!)But the waiting which will have been 3 weeks seems the hardest at the minute.Just want to get on with things now and know what I’m dealing with.
Anyway thankyou again and good luck to everyone else on this journey.

Wandyx

Once you know what they are doing and feel like you are on a path to recovery, it all feels much more manageable xx

Wandy,
I get my results on the 15th too! At 10.40am to be precise so will meet u on here later on in the day/evening to discuss maybe? lol!!!
& i’m lookin forward to it too!
So obviously i’m strange too!
But yeah, i too just ‘wanna get on with it’ so i can get on the road to recovery & get on with my life again.
I think this site is brill, the helpline’s amazing too, i have just received (thru the post today after ordering only yesterday) a book called ‘mummy’s lump’…am gonna read it to my little girl.
So, best of luck with everything.
Chez. xxx

Hi chezza,

Will definitely meet you back here after our appts. I’m not in till 15.30 in the afternoon so will catch up after I get back from that.

Am healing well after my WLEand SNB so hope they got everything and am rather hoping that I can avoid chemo as well. We’ll see!

Goodluck to you and catch up soon.

Marygrace,

I’m sorry that you have to be fiddled around with again! that’s my fear that although my nodes were apparently clear that they have to go back in again to the tumour site and open up my nicely healing scar!
Still what will be will be! Keep your chin up and stay in touch. Itsnice to know about others in roughly the same place!

Wandyx

MG, Wandy and Chez, the waiting is THE PITS, and everyone on this site knows what you’re going through. I was bouncing off the ceiling during the wait and it’s impossible not to imagine the worst. We’re not talking logic here but emotion, and it is SO difficult to keep a lid on the dark, 3am fears. So do come on here at all hours of day or night just so you know you’re not alone. Just knowing what’s on the cards is so much better than waiting, so looking forward to knowing is completely understandable.

15th will be a big day for you, so we’ll keep things crossed for you in the meantime.

Hi all,
Am feelin ok-ish today, had a bit of a clearout/get rid of some useless items day but feelin a bit too knackered to carry on with it now - but am gonna have to cos upstairs is lookin like we’ve been burgled!
Am just contemplating whether or not i should go into work tomorrow?
Don’t really feel like it, my job can be quite pressurised, dealing with the public face to face all day & i’m just feelin like i’m in a bit of a trance & dunno if i can face it?
Boss has been brilliant & has told me to take each day as it comes, get the results of my MRI & start discussing treatment plan on Tues…will i feel a bit more ‘with it’ after Tues?
Also feelin like i should be ‘living life to the full’ every day but am really not in the mood!!
Just wanna get on with my treatment now.
Hope you’re all having a restful Sunday,
Chez. xxx

Hi Don’t go to work, better stay and clear up, that old 'sorry about the mess but we have been burglared only works for so long lol!!!

Chez, I completely understand not wanting to do regular workish kind of stuff. My head’s in a completely different place since diagnosis and the one thing and the front, back and middle of my mind begins with C. There’s so much other stuff I’m meant to be doing but I just can’t put my head in the right place to do them, so I’m pretty useless at the moment and like you just want things to get going.

With your job the last thing you need is to have stressed public in your face all day, but on the other hand do you think it might help you to take your mind OFF the cancer for a while? I had a good day the other day when I just concentrated on some voluntary stuff I’m responsible for for a couple of hours and it felt really good.

CM
x

Hi all, I am new to this site and new to BC also. I was diagnosed on 9th Feb. The consultant immediately put me on Tamoxifen and told me I will be having a lumpectomy and some radiotherapy. My surgery is planned for 22nd Feb or 1st March (just waiting for confirmation). The hardest thing I have had to do is to tell my mum, she’s 83 and we lost my sister 6 years ago to bowel cancer.

This may sound odd, but at the moment I feel quite lucky that the tumour is in the position it is. Had it been on the top or underside of my breast, I may not have noticed it (as it is it is in the left outerside of my left breast, and I felt some discomfort around the side panel of my bra. I am on the larger side, so my initial fear when I was told was the thought of a general anaesthetic due to the higher risks. However, now I have had time to look at it practically, although those risks are still there, I realise that there are many “larger” people than myself that have longer and more serious operations everyday. Still I would have preferred a local anaesthetic :). I just want to get the surgery done and dusted now and move on to the next stage. Thinking positive. Best wishes to everyone else on their journey. Tracey

Hi TJR,
Welcome, i have only been on here a few days myself & there is always someone around to offer encouragement &/or inject a bit of humour into the proceedings too!
Good luck with everything. xxx

Choccie Muffin,
Am hopin the light of the morning makes me feel differently about doing normal work things! I love my job, i love all of the customers that i look after (just over 100 of them!) & i love my colleagues!
I went into work for 3 days last week & i felt like i was in a bubble the whole time.
It was really strange. Like i wasn’t really there.
I know some of my customers are going to feel like i’ve abandoned them!
Maybe i’ll feel differently after i get my results on Tues?
For the moment, i feel like i need to ‘put my house in order’ for when i go into hospital so that my mum (who works 30 hours a week) can look afer me & my little girl without falling over stuff/trying to find something…(we only moved here a few weeks ago, everythin still in boxes! lol!)
So i’m just playing it by ear for now & will see how i feel in the morning.
OMG, have never been so ‘up & down’ in my life!!
They weren’t kidding when they said it was a rollercoaster!!
Chez. xxx

Hey all,

Big day tmrw, will be discussing treatment plan & how much surgery 'm gonna be havin…
hopin it’ll be easier to deal with when i have an idea of where i’m headed. We’ll see.

Gdnite all,
Wandy - meet u here tmrw evening?!

Chez. xx