Hiya. I attended my first routine mammogram appointment in May and quickly forgot about it. However, I got a letter asking me to come to hospital for further tests because they had found an area of concern. At that appointment, they took biopsies but I still wasn’t worried. At my follow up appointment 12 days later, they gave me the news that I have invasive ductal cancer. I was immediately taken off my HRT tablets and started on Letrozole. And that’s been it. I have to take the drug for 3 months to shrink the tumour. I haven’t heard anything from them since. I’m not sure if this is normal practice? Should I have heard from them by now? I feel kind of abandoned. By the end of this year I will have been on the Letrozole for the 3 months. I know that I will then have the operation to remove the tumour but is it normal for them not to contact me meanwhile?
Hi
Were you given a number for a breast care nurse? That could be someone you could ring to find out what happens next. Otherwise you could ring the breast clinic to find out more.
Hope you get an appointment soon
Lou x
Hello Mrs Nelly,
I sympathise with you - I was on letrozole before surgery to shrink two tumours before surgery. I remember feeling on my own as I wasn’t told when follow up appointments would be scheduled and I didn’t know what would happen next or when. I did get an ultrasound to check whether the tumours were shrinking. I was told that it takes about three months for these changes to show up on ultrasound, as it is a gradual process. If you have an ultrasound too quickly the changes that are happening won’t be visible. It depends on how your quickly your tumour responds, it’s very individual, and some people are on it longer than three months before successful surgery.
I would get in touch with your Breast Care Nurse for reassurance and to check out what happens next.
Wishing you well.
Sandpiper
x