Hi all!
I’m Paula . I feel a bit late in joining you but I’ll tell you about myself as I’m in the same position as lots of you. I’ve just had round 5 last Friday (had 3 FEC and that was 2nd docetaxel). I’m 40 yrs old . I have the jabs every time and gone from 5 after FEC to 7 after “t”
I haven’t had my op as my tumour suddenly grew lots after diagnosis so panic set in an they hurried chemo. I should have op 3-4 weeks after last chemo on 20/9. Lymphs clear so looking at lumpectomy although consultant said would do a mastectomy if I wanted. Given my age and grade (3) of tumour I am now armed with lots of questions to ask him next appointment.
Were any of you faced with this “choice”. Would love to know your thoughts. I hope you don’t mind me joining your forum to ask- thank you xx
Welcome to the Breast Cancer Care discussion forums, you’ve come to the right place for some good, honest support from the many informed users of this site.
If there’s anything you need to ask, don’t be afraid to, there’s always someone around to help. Also our helpline team are just a free phone call away, 0808 800 6000 lines open Mon-Fri 9-5 and Sat 10-2 forthat added bit of support.
Hi Peabea99 and welcome. I wasn’t given a choice I was just told WLE and went along and stupidly I didn’t ask what it would look like after (mine were large and droopy lol). Now i’ve got one smallish one that pints up and obviously the other one is large and points to be floor. I now know after radio it will shrink further and in hindsight feel I would have been better off with a mastectomy. It is of course personal choice but the lumpectomy that I thought would leave me looking ‘normal’ didn’t do that. All that said i’m glad to be rid of the cancerous lump as i’m sure whatever your choice you will. Good luck xx
Thanks cinderssarah ! You’re not the only one to not think about how it would look afterwards. I hadn’t thought! That’s another question for my list, so thanks so much for replying - really appreciate that .
Get yourself onto one of the monthly threads for some great support
I have been told I have to have mx as I had more than one lump on the right breast so no choice there. I was whisked straight in for chemo as the main lump got real big real quick.
Yes, I had the choice. But for me, it was actually no choice. I have a lung disease and nobody was keen on my having too many ops, or being under the anaesthetic for too long. As they need to get clear margins with a lumpectomy, because of the position of my tumour they couldn’t be sure they would do this after one op, so I decided on mx. As the mx only took about 1hour, and mx with recon took 5 hours, I just had the mx and no recon. Had my snb done at same time, 3 removed, one with cancer cells.
I had Fec T, had 7 injections after Fec. The first (and only) Tax made me so ill (zero neuts in spite of having 3 injections already) I was rushed to hospital with a temp of 38.7c. Onco put me back on to Fec - phew!!
Thanks debs and poemsgalore! Hopefully I’m now on a monthly thread Hope you are both doing ok- thanks for replying to me. I have to say I found FEC worse. (So far) but I had a night of high temp and into a&e but home with antibiotics and was ok.
Hi Paula, I’m having chemo first too. Just had first FEC on Tuesday. Two more to go then three Taxotere. Should be finished just before Christmas. Hopefully having lumpectomy afterwards. Have got lymph node invasion but i believe they are doing chemo first to reduce the size of the lump and make for less of a surgical impact and hopefully not an MX. I also have Grade 3.
The forum is a great place for support and info from all the fabulous ladies who are going through this blip in their lives. Take care. Keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on. Best wishes. x
Thanks for sharing that. My chemo is first for the same reason, to shrink the lump first. How was your FEC? I suffered with that - I was very sick and bad chemo head. It was better by the third once we had the drugs right! I’ve had 2 tax, 1 to go…
Doing ok thanks. One week on now from first FEC with no serious side effects. Just metallic mouth to start with on first day for a few hours. Since then just a small energy drop on Sunday otherwise I think I have been very lucky. Not sure if it will be the same through the next two sessions though. Then it’s Taxotere but I’m trying not to think about that at the moment.
I’m currently posting on the septemberstars monthly thread and it would seem that these drugs have a different affect on everyone. Certainly isn’t “one size fits all”!
Hope everything is ok with your final tax. Please keep in touch and let me know how everything goes. PM me if it’s easier. xx
