Hello all, I am 42 years old and was diagnosed with breast cancer a week ago on Tuesday, to say its been farsicle from the start would be no exageration.
I first went to my Drs on the 27th April with a large lump in my right breast, he said he was not concerned and advised me to leave things until I had had another menstrual cycle. I did this and went back about 5-6 weeks later. Once again he said he was not concerned but on my insistance he agreed to refer me to the hospital but as a non-urgent case. Ten weeks later I went to the hospital for a fine needle biopsy. The Dr there also told me he was not clinically concerned and that he would arrange an appointment for a mamogram as a non-urgent case. Three weeks later I rec’d a letter requesting that I attend for a mamogram and US in both breasts, at the hospital last Tuesday I was informed by another Dr that I did indeed have cancer and would need a mastectomy.
I have lost all faith in them now and feel that I need to take some control in all this especially as they have now told me that it could be another 5 weeks before I have surgery.
Obviously I am terrified and in pain as my breast seems to be throbbing and i’m convinced it is spreading by the minute. What makes the situation worse is that both Drs who carried out the ultra sound scans did not believe that it had spread to my lymph nodes but I am convinced that by the time I have the op it will have.
Is there anyone out there who can advise/reassure me in anyway? I am totally in the dark and i’m desperately trying to learn as much as I can but I just feel more and more confused and none the wiser!
Please can anyone help me?
Stellam
Hi stellam
You sound like you’re having a bit of a tough time at the moment and I can understand your confusion and frustration following your diagnosis. You may find it helpful to give our helpline a call to chat through some of your concerns, they are really happy to offer support and information or just be a listening ear if you want to offload, the number is 0808 800 6000, they’ll be open today 9.00 until 5.00.
I have also given her a link to our resources pack which you may find helpful, you can order the pack online by following this link:
breastcancercare.org.uk/server/show/nav.681/changeTemplate/PublicationDisplay/publicationId/82
Hope this helps.
Kind regards.
Louise
Facilitator
sorry that you have had to join us on here, but you will find lots of support and many women have had to go through the same thing with waiting for tests and results. I thought my wait was bad enough, it was 10 wks from me attending gps to having surgery, but a lady at the pre op with me (who was 80, i’m 35)said it had taken less than 2 weeks for her - so i felt somewhat hard done by! My cousin who is a nurse reassured me that it probably wouldn’t change much over a few weeks…but then i question how long it has been there in the first place, and who can case at what point it chooses to spread?
Either way, in my opinion the waiting is the most painful part of all this, and even if we weren’t ill before hand, by the end of it you feel like you are losing your mind which is just not acceptable under any circumstances regardless of the outcome to the results.
I’m sorry i cannot reassure you very much but if you have a trawl through some of the threads you will find other’s who have been in the same situation - search for waiting for results or waiting for clinic appointment.
best of luck with your treatment
x
Hi Stellam
The waiting is the worst part there’s no getting away from that. I’m 29 and was diagnosed in march and waited till the end of april for my op, i postponed it a week to do the half marathon i’m a radiographer and believe they wouldn’t have allowed me to postpone if they were concerned about it spreading in that time. I too didn’t have any pain until after it was diagnosed so i thought it was in my head. Do you have a breast care nurse? Mine was brill explained that the pain was real but probably due to the biopsy and knowing the lump was there.
They wont know for sure if it’s spread until they biopsy the lymph nodes they will explain how and when they’ll do that as it varies depending on where you are.
This forum is a great source of support. It’s a difficult time but there are lots of people here to talk to and ask questions of.
Allie xxx
Hi
I didn’t get any pain until after I was diagnosed. The breast began to ache and eventually I could feel it in my neck. I was convinced the cancer was spreading. It wasn’t. The pain felt so real, but on reflection, I’m not so sure. Just before I went in, someone accidentally elbowed me and I was convinced it had ruptured. It hadn’t.
I had to wait four weeks for my op. It wasn’t the greatest of times, but I got through it. I kept busy by cooking food for the freezer (12 weeks later and I’m not half-way through it!).
Hope it all goes well for you. I didn’t find this place until well after my op. Support and shared experiences help us all.
Helen
Hi
I am sorry you have had such a bad experience. I had a mastectomy in June - I had to wait 5 weeks for it. Those 5 weeks gave me time to come to terms with it - and do plenty of research. My breast care nurse was a wonderful support. I think it would help you if you could talk to yours. I wish you all the best. Take care.