last straw
last straw I was diagnosed on 29th may and am waiting for a mastectomy on 10th july. I have had rheumatoid arthritis for over 20 years and have been in and out of hospital many times particularly recently. Currently I am in a lot of pain and waiting for joint surgery and I dont know yet whether it will be delayed because of this new thing cancer. Somehow this breast cancer seems the final straw and I dont know if I have the fight to go through anything else. To cap it all my wheelchair is breaking down and I have huge bill to repair it. I am still finding it hard to contemplate losing a breast which feels like losing another bit of my femininity , (twisted joints do nothing to make me feel beautiful). I have had many operations before and I know it upsets the balance of everything in my body and takes me some time to recoup. Because I use my arms a great deal to transfer from seat to seat I am worried how the removal of the nodes will effect that. Today I am struggling it all feels beyond me. So I am sorry to rant
Hi Jessie. Sorry you have had to join us but this is a fantastic site which has really helped me this past week. I am newly diagnosed and go for my biopsy results in a hours time. I was at my wits end at the start of the week, but the messages I received off all these lovely people going through the same has really pulled me through, as Im sure they will you.
Just be kind to yourself and if you feel like having a good rant and rave, have one, there is always someone to listen here, and help you through. I will keep in touch.
Lots of Love . Take Care
Jillianx
For jessie16 Hi jessie
I am sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis. I am sure you will continue to receive lots of helpful advice and support from the other forum users, in addition, you are welcome to contact our freephone helpline on 0808 800 6000 where you are able to talk to someone in confidence about how you are feeling at the moment. The line is open Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm, Saturdays 9am - 2pm
Breast Cancer Care have recently published a Resources Pack which you may find helpful to read, it is filled with information to help you better understand your diagnosis, test results and the various treatments available. You can download it from the following link or you can ask for a copy to be sent to you via the helpline:
breastcancercare.org.uk//content.php?page_id=7514
I hope you find this helpful.
Kind Regards
Forum Host
Breast Cancer Care
hi jesse! hi jesse sorry youve had to join us but im sure we can all give you some support to help you through this tough time, you say you have a bill to fix your wheel chair, you should ask your breast care nurse about a grant from the macmillan fund this would be helpful towards the repair costs. you also mentioned having your lymph nodes removed i think this will be very hard for to get around as it takes quite a while for your arm movements to get back to normal why dont you ask if you can have a sentinal node biopsy done which means having a blue dye put in to see if any lymph nodes are infected rather than having the operation to remove them this will save your arm especially as you need it to get around. you seem to have gone through enough pain and discomfort over the years without all this, next time you go to the hospital tell them of your worries and im sure they will help. please feel free to ask anything you need to know take care and let us know how you get on xxx suzee
Rant away! Hi Jessie,
welcome to this site, although I’m sorry you’ve had to join us. You can rant away to your hearts content here, we all know only too well what its like trying to adjust to coping with having this bl**dy illness/nuisance/disease or whatever else we can call it!
The thought of losing a breast can be very hard to comprehend. I was diagnosed in March, aged 34, and had a mastectomy a week after diagnosis. I really thought I would struggle to come to terms with losing a boob, as I actually really liked both of them (as did my boyfriend!!). Many tears were shed prior to my op but once it was over I actually felt an enormous sense of relief as opposed to grief. Obviously I was upset that I had lost one of my lovely boobies, but it seemed a small price to pay for having the tumour removed. I had a total axillary clearance during my op and I found that I pretty much had full use of my arm just a couple of days after my op. I guess I may have had age on my side there though (no offence meant) and I was quite obsessive about doing my exercises.
I certainly think your first port of call re;the broken wheelchair should be your bc nurse. As one of the other ladies has mentioned you may well be able to get a grant from macmillan. Its certainly worth investigating.
I wish you well as you start out on this journey. It is very daunting and also a very steep learning curve. I find it as difficult mentally as it is physically. At times I wonder if I have the strength, particularly now that I’m having chemo, but for every low day I have many more high days.
Take care and be sure to let us know how you are doing,
Kelly
-x-
Last Straw Hi Jessie,
I know what you mean about another problem hitting you when you are already disabled with rhumatoid arthritis.
I have had osteo arthritis for many years and like you had numerous skeletal procedures.
I have to say the surgery for my breast cancer was nothing like as restricting as joint surgery, nor as painful. You may well have problems with transfering though so ask the breast care nurse for extra assistance and support, perhaps a physio will be able to advise you about transfering in a way that will not put as much strain on your arm as it can be quite painful initially.
At least with the cancer you will see a daily improvement and not weekly as you do when your joints have had surgery or replaced. Don’t give up the battle now, as all you have gone through so far would be for nothing.
Good luck my thoughts will be with you
eileenmary
Thanks to everyone for your kind comments it was nice to find all your replies here thank you so much for sharing your experiences with me