Hello I am 35 and mum to five wonderful children I have been marriex for 15 years. I was diagnosed with a grade 3 breast cancer. Im due for a lumpectomy and sentinal node biopsy on the 10th jan. It is all so hard to take in I feel like I am talking about someone else and that its not me. I have lots of support around me, but also feel mean burdening them with this.
Love to all
Hayley
Hi Hayley,
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.
While you are waiting for replies, I have put for you below links to some of BCC’s publications you might find helpful. Also our helpline team are just a free phone call away, 0808 800 6000 lines are open over the holiday period as follows:
Monday 30 December 9am–5pm,
Tuesday 31 December 2013 9am–2pm
Normal opening hours resume on Thursday 2 January 2014 (Monday–Friday 9am–5pm and Saturday 10am–2pm.)
www2.breastcancercare.org.uk/publications/diagnosed-breast-cancer/younger-women-breast-cancer-bcc66
Take care,
Jo, Moderator
Hello, Hayley- it is such a shock when you are first diagnosed. I ‘get’ exactly what you mean when you say you feel they were discussing somebody else. It takes a good while for it all to sink in, but it is important to have some quiet reflective time, to come to terms with the diagnosis.
Family and friends can be wonderfully kind and supportive, but having a cancer diagnosis is an incredibly lonely place to be, and it is only those of us who have gone through treatment, who truly understand.
I completed my treatment for PBC nineteen months ago, and had a lumpectomy, full lymph node clearance, followed by chemo and radio, and I am now on Letrozole for five years, as it was oestrogen receptive. I found the surgery and recuperation very straight forward, but struggled with the chemo- however, it is do-able, but challenging, shall we say!!
It is amazing how you do get through it, although at the time it all seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel- but there is, and taking things one step at a time, rather than looking months in the future, really does help focus the mind, and of course, always holding the faith that you will get through it, and you will get better!
Take care, and remember that the ladies on here are really lovely and supportive- so keep posting!
Thank you for replying. They have told me beacause im still classed as young they will give me chemo and radiotherapy to make sure it is all gone. Chemo scares me the most. Im needle phobic and suffer with panic attacks. So this is throwing all my fears at me at once. But I am so determined to beat it. Thank you for sharing your story with me.
Hayley x
Hello Hayley,I know how strange it all seems at first. I was diagnosed in November and had the lump removed a month ago. Surgery is all pretty straight forward,you will jut be sore afterwards, I thought of it as just the first,easy step of the journey . Surgery was completely successfully,and nymph nodes were clear,but decided to take advice and start course of chemo to make sure it doesn’t come back! My first session is this Friday which is much more of a worry than the surgery!I must admit!though I have had surgery several times before so knew what to expect. Just take one day at a time. Xx
Thank you for replying. When did you have your picc line fitted? Were you awake ? Yeah surgery sounds a doddle compared to chemo. But I will just deal with it all as and when. Xx