New member, who is discouraged that she has to go through cancer again.

Diagnosed with breast cancer Recently diagnosed with breast cancer
1

I am 71 years old and am scheduled for a mastectomy on my left breast followed by a silicon implant, and an adjustment surgery on my right breast for mid-September.

This is the second time I am experiencing breast cancer. In 2007, fifteen years ago, I underwent a lumpectomy on my left breast, Chemo, and radiation. I naively thought that I was done with cancer. Well, I was partially correct, that cancer did not return, but now a new cancer has invaded my body.

Since this is the second occurrence, I am being advised to remove the breast. So I have madly been researching mastectomies and am reading that there is a lot of the pain that can go on for months. This scares me. 

Can anyone tell me how long they experienced pain, and what if anything can be done to alleviate it?

Also, they are telling me that I will have to stay overnight in the hospital, maybe for several days. I have never needed to stay in a hospital before, and have no idea how to prepare, or what to bring.

2

I was worried about pain, too, but I had a double mastectomy five days ago and have experienced very little pain. My surgeon was superb so I think that can make or break you but healing was quick, bruising was minimal, and no long term side effects to speak of beyond simply having no breasts. Range of motion is completely back, too, and I think I’ll probably start lifting small weights again today just because I can. My surgeon told me that most people are back to a pretty normal life in two weeks or so. I thought she was full of bullcrap at first but considering my recovery I think that’s probably correct. Yes there are outliers who don’t do well. Everything has outliers after all. But for the most part, a mastectomy is a relatively easy surgery to recover from. 

3

I have a similar experience. I found two new tumours after 19 years in April this year. Things have changed a lot in those years, but unfortunately if you have had breast conservation I had and get a recurrence in the same breast as I did, and have had radiotherapy once, the advice I got is that there is no other option but to have a mastectomy. You can’t have radiotherapy more than once as it’s dangerous to have more than a certain dose and you have already had that.

Although I really did not want a mastectomy I was  offered reconstruction at the same time as the operation to remove my breast. This is a major operation of 4 to 6 hours length. Luckily I am in good health, don’t smoke, am quite thin and I am only (ha ha) aged 67. The first time I had cancer I was a mere 47.

I was told by the general hospital that diagnosed me in June 2022 that my recurrence was the same kind I had before but apparently this is wrong.

The head cancer surgeon at my new hospital told me on Monday I have an entirely different second primary cancer which is ductal of no special type, grade 2, more aggressive than my first tumour. Luckily it doesn’t appear to have spread yet, judging from how my lymph nodes look under an ultrasound probe. 

I have a sense of guilt that I could have found it earlier if I had continued to be worried about new tumours. I got the feeling I had not acted early enough because I did not want to know I could get cancer again. I had moved on from thinking of my self as a cancer patient. I decided not to have any follow up after 2004 because I couldn’t see how it would help me. Instead I would refer myself if I had any symptoms.

I was really worried for the first two years after diagnosis, because I thought it would spread to my bones, liver, lungs or brain but this didn’t happen so over the years I forgot about it. I never  considered I could get a new bout of breast cancer.

This was a mistake as I have 2 new primary tumours  in the left breast, where I had already had radiotherapy and surgery. I am sorry you have got a new cancer as well, but unfortunately we are in the same position and it’s sad. I am taking part in a long term research project called Generations which I joined in 2006 and I will be updating them with the news. I think research is the way to find out why these cancers do sometimes come back.

There must have been cells in the area of my breast which was irradiated that continued to be unstable and eventually grew into a tumour. It did take a long time to do this, so perhaps the radiotherapy gave me 19 years cancer free. I have no idea if this is the case, but maybe it did.

4

I was told bring pyjamas with a top that can be undone at the front i.e. a blouse shaped jacket with buttons, with trousers.

i am also bringing a CD player with ear phones as I am deaf and don’t want to disturb any other patients with my loud rock and roll.

I may bring a book. Last time I read Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn but it wasn’t a bundle of laughs so maybe Rik Mayall or Sheila Hancock’s latest “Old Rage”

I am not into eating biscuits but some satsuma oranges might be nice so they may accompany me too.

It’s amazing how much is going on in hospital wards so it’s difficult to concentrate, and I don’t sleep well in a room with a lot of other people but you don’t stay there long thank goodness.

Some nice scented hand lotion or cleanser might help morale. I can’t remember whether I needed slippers but probably something like that could help.