Hi everyone, hope this posting finds you all well and having a good day!
I was told yesterday that I have breast cancer. I’ve had the tears and why me conversation with myself oh and of course how and when do i tell the children. ( who are 7 and 9yrs old). I am waiting for my Oncology appt next week, gonna be having Chemo first then they are going to operate.
Can anyone give me any advice, I am overwhelmed with all the booklets and information the hospital gave me and just dont know where to start?
Many thanks in advance,
Mandy Moo
Hi Mandy Moo,
I hope the oncology appointment was OK and you’re feeling at least a bit better. The only advice I would give you is to talk to your children, and try to tailor what you tell them to what you think they can take onboard. Mine were only 3 and 1 when I was first diagnosed, so we told them I had a lump which didn’t belong and needed to be removed. We also said I had to have treatment to prevent it from coming back. Some of the other parents at my son’s playgroup thought we were wrong to tell them anything, but you can’t prevent people from talking and we were cross when he came home to inform us that another child had said I was dying. Much better to have accurate information from you than inaccurate rubbish from another source.
Take care,
Margaret.
Hi MandyMoo.
So sorry to hear of your diagnosis, you might consider joining the August chemo thread on here if you will be starting in August. there you can join the ladies who are at the same point as you.
I am on the March thread and have found the support really invaluable and have made many virtual friends and even met up with a few in real life.
I like you have had chemo first (it has had it’s ups and downs) that’s for sure! but have no done 6 cycles with one more to do . If you want to ask anything feel free to pm me.
But my advice is a ‘bit at a time’, otherwise it is too overwhelming, I concentrated ONLY on chemo, and am moving on now to concentrate on surgery, and so on …
Best Wishes
WSx
Hi mandy moo,
When I first saw your post online I thought I was going nuts- I thought I`d posted it in the initial blur of diagnosis, and now couldn’t remember. I often go by the name of mandymoo, and have two children the same ages as yours.
However, I was diagnosed on the 15th June, and I had WLE and SNB on the 9th July. Awaiting pathology report next tuesday.
I would agree to tell your children, my daughter 7 was actually with me when I first went to the GP about my lump. I was convinced it wasnt anything too serious. My kids know I had a lump in my boob that shouldnt have been there, and the doctors needed to take it away before I got poorly- This seems to have done the trick so far. When telling other parents/friends on the school run i specifically asked them not to use the word cancer if they were explaining to their children. I don’t want my 9 year old to be too aware it is cancer at the moment. And I have been careful not to leave literature lying around, again my 9 year old reads anything he can get his mitts on!
Hope this helps you?