Hi, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carenoma grade 2 her2 negative on the 26-1-21 I had wide local excision, sentinel node biopsy and mammoplasty on the 2nd Feb all has happened so quickly from finding a lump in December, having a mammogra, ultrasound and biopsy all on the 19th of january! I am now waiting for a pathology report to say about next step? Will I have chemotherapy? I am 47 and am terrified, the breast clinic have been great but can’t say what will happen until the results? Any advice would be great
Hi Foxie
This is possibly the hardest time - your imagination is in overdrive, fuelled by all the negative images we have of breast cancer. If it helps, my breast surgeon informed me as I came round from the anaesthetic that I was now free of cancer and whatever followed would be to help keep it that way. You’ve had your surgery so hopefully they have secured healthy margins and your biopsy will come back negative. If that’s the case, you’ll probably go straight to radiotherapy.
If by bad luck, your nodes are affected, yes, you may require chemotherapy and I can imagine what’s going through your mind! I’ve been there. It just isn’t like that. They have all sorts of medications and strategies to mitigate the worst side effects and, speaking as someone with panic disorder, it is all manageable. It’s not fun but it’s doable. I have come across people who have continued to work part-time. Me, I was reduced to zombie state - there is no predicting.
You won’t be the only patient “terrified”. Don’t put on a brave face. Tell them what you’re afraid of - they’ll do their best to prevent it. And losing your hair is avoidable if it’s important to you. But I’m jumping the gun - you haven’t yet had the biopsy results. There is a lot of waiting in breast cancer world - for appointments, for broken machines, for results. My advice would be to work out how to live with that and minimise its impact on you. Terrified is not where you want to be and it’s not good for you.
Never Google anything - ask here, ask the nurses, ask your team but never ask Google. Try YouTube. They have countless videos to help with relaxation and some of them do actually work. Progressive Hypnosis’s Manifest Healing has helped me for two years now. Michael Sealey has some good stuff on anxiety - don’t be put off by ‘hypnosis’ or ‘sleep’ - they are relaxation videos that, with repeated use, can really have an impact. Go for walks and commune with nature. Run, bake, meditate, try yoga or pilates, anything to work on your emotional state because it’s going to be stretched to its limits now, chemo or no chemo. Radiotherapy takes its toll, with daily appointments, fatigue etc (personally I found it very easy but I know some women struggle - again, you just can’t predict.
So that’s basically what lies ahead. You need to trust your team and accept their recommendations but you also need to be sure all the questions you want answers to are clearly answered or banked for later. Some need every detail explained, others (myself included) prefer to just go with the flow, knowing their current reality is unpalatable. Most important is to start preparing for whatever lies ahead. Do your exercises, get fresh air, strengthen your emotional health reserves. I wish you all the best, Jan x