Hi, I was diagnosed following routine mammogram on26th march. was recalled for second one and had 8 biopsies ultrasound etc and given another apt for following week along with a leaflet on breast cancer, altough no-one said that was the diagnosis!! Didnt like that hospital and asked for follow up in hospital where I work (Sister in neonatal Unit) Got apt for next week where I was told i had grade 2 with a 5cm tumour! Had mastectomy and node clearance 6 days later (29thApril) Im due to start chemo (FEC)next thursday 21st May and im petrified!! Ive read all the stuff, some good, some bad. Im alone most of the time as Im selling house to move to the country and in the middle of Divorce- its all happened at the same time!! My scar area is very tender and particularly at night it swells up but has gone down in the morning- anyone else experienced this?
Hi, and welcome to the Breast Cancer Care discussion forums, you’ve come to the right place for support. As you will find, the users of these forums have a wealth of information between them and I’m sure they’ll be along shortly to support you through this.
In the meantime, I have posted for you below the link to some of BCC’s publications that you might find useful:
Chemotherapy:
breastcancercare.org.uk/server/show/nav.718/changeTemplate/PublicationDisplay/publicationId/109
Understanding your pathology report:
breastcancercare.org.uk/server/show/nav.718/changeTemplate/PublicationDisplay/publicationId/91
If you feel you need to talk to someone in confidence, then the BCC helpline is here for you, lines are open Mon - Fri 9am -5pm and Sat 9am - 2pm, calls are free, 0808 800 6000.
Hope this helps. Kind regards,
Jo, Facilitator
Hi Mumszy,
Im sorry for your recent diagnosis. Wasnt that terrible them giving you the leaflet on breast cancer when you hadnt even been diagnosed. Im 18 months further down the line than you(my story is on my profile if you want to know it). This site has women of all different stages and everyone is freindly and willing to give advice if they can help you so just fire away. Im sorry you are on your own most of the time and in the middle of a divorce. It is still quite early days after your op so i wouldnt worry to much about your wound, of course if your gut tells you to question it phone the hospital and they will have you in to have a look. Good Luck with your chemo.
Take Care
Leslee x
hiya mumszy
i had a WLE and sentinel lymph node removed on 7th and i am getting swelling under my armpit and down my arm. Nothing horrendous but its causing me some pain. The scar is pretty good however. Its worse at night and ive removed my wedding ring now!
I have a 9mth old and a 2 yr old so i assume my swelling is because i am lifting too much but dont have a great deal of choice!
Am in similar field to you- i am a midwife on delivery floor and find this whole cancer thing bloody terrifying.
I have a 2.5cm grade 3 BC with clear nodes and i am ER + 6. Consultant not told me much more and i too will prob need chemo. Will find out Tuesday.
x
hi mumszy and evie2007, i am in simular situation, DX on 8th april MX and sentinal node biopsy on 28th now waiting for further results on 21st may. Reading some of you ladies posts i feel mine is moving slowly compared to yours. Some had MX at same time as me and some of you start cemo next week, i am still waiting to find out if i need it or not (been told by BCN probably will do caus its grade 3 and because im young 45 
. I am just sick of waiting for the results, it is making me feel ill.
Anyway yes i am suffering with soreness under my arm. I am managing to wear a bra but by evening i need to take it off because fluid is building under the arm where the bra comes round and is tender and sore. Hoping it will improve with time.
Good luck to all you ladies starting cemo this week and to all the ladies like me, waiting for results. Keep us posted how you all get on, fingers crossed all goes well
Luv Pauline xxx
Sorry that so many of you have had to join us lately…
If you have grade 3 cancer and or any positive nodes it is almost certain that you will need chemo… They also seem to give it to most younger patients…
mumszy - sorry to hear that they just sent you home with a leaflet like that - and that you are going through such a tough time anyway…
Theresa
Hi all,
I feel I am in a similar situation to you, mumszy, evie and Pauline. It isn’t our choice to be here but we can certainly help and support each other since we are. I too had wle on 7th with removal of 5 nodes and I’m getting the results tomorrow too. I already know that it’s grade 3 and triple negative so I am expecting to hear that I need to have chemo which really worried me when I first realised it but I really do believe that it has move on loads since the days when I was first aware of it. Plus everyone reacts differently so I am feeling quite philosophical about it.
Sorry mumszy that your treatment at the first hospital was less than it should have been and going eleswhere if you have the optoin seems right. Pauline you do seem to be going through things slowly don’t you, looks like we’ll be doing treatment at the same time.
I have developed a haematoma under my arm which could have been caused by me doing too much or it could have happened anyway but apparently it can be reabsorbed by the body so not to worry.
Good luck with the results and chemo.
Lee xx
Lee - good luck today with your results…
Theresa
Hello All, Thanks for your encouraging words. Jo Ive already ordered those booklets (and a whole load more) and am very thankful that the resource is there for us. Im going to the hospital today to be told whether my chest has healed up enough to start chemo, so the butterflies are fluttering again…must be good for the diet though!! Good luck for your appointment Lee and once again lets just help each other get all this rubbish overwith so we can get on with LIVING!
Hi pauline dont be worried about your treatment being slow, mine is slower than yours lol
I was diagnosed on the 27th of January, then I didn’t have my mastectomy till 26th of March because I was waiting for tests that where nothing to do with my breast cancer, so they wouldn’t start treatment till I had other tests done.
So I had my MX and sentinal node biopsy, then 2 weeks later I had the results. I was grade 3 with invasive ductal cancer, but my nodes were clear, and I am am still not sure if I have to take Herceptin, because I was border line hormonal.
I should have started chemo today, but I have had an infection first in my wound and ended up back in hospital, then I got an absess just above my wound. They didn’t think it would be clear for today, and the district nurse has been coming in for 6weeks now everyday !!!
But the thing which stoppedc my chemo was I had a bad tooth and they said it would be better if they where sorted. So last week I went to the dentist, and they informed me I needed 4 teeth out, one ordinary filling and 1 root canal filling done ((((((help))))))))
So the dentist took 3 out last week, then another onee taken out this week, then a filling and the root canal filling done next Tuesday(and that day is my birthday) so thats something to look forward to lol
I am so terrified of the dentist though, last week I was worse going to the dentist than I was having my MX done lol
So Pauline done despair yet, I might be starting my treatment with some of you others, hopefully it will start June 8th. And I hope everything goes well for the ladies who start there treatment this week.
Love Heather
hi all
i have got to go tommorrow for consultation with onc,bit nervous but moving on
pauline remember you are still only a week behind me so we are moving the same,
hope i love the pussy cat, and all the dogs on here
good luck to all
love julie x
heather, oh dear, like you i would rather have a MX than go to the dentist, they terrify me too. Hope everything is sorted soon for you.
Julie, in case i dont catch you elswhere good luck for tomorrow and let me know how you get on.
3 days to D day for me
Luv to you all Pauline xxx
Hi all,
well aren’t all these photos of dogs and cats lovely to see. What would we do without our animal friends I wonder.
Poor you Heather, good luck with the root canal, I’ve had one and it wasn’t so bad, don’t know if that helps much. Happy Birthday too!
Julie, that’s my youngest ragdoll Iggy, I’ll have to get around to changing photos so some of the others get a look in, Leslee did this to show her other cat and it was really nice to see. Yours looks like a lovely Persian is it? I love them.
Evie, good luck tomorrow.
Well, I had my chat with my consultant today and there’s good new and bad news. The good, and it’s very good, is that the nodes were clear, the lump removed was smallish, 1.7cm, and the margins are clear for cancer but pre-cancerous cells are right up to the edge of the margin so a mastectomy is recommended with reconstruction. I have to have an MRI scan sometime soon as well and at the moment we’re talking about June 11th for the op followed by chemo at some point after that but I may avoid rads apparently. So there we go.
I’m delighted really…I got a bargain, as one of my friends said! Not too chuffed about how long recovery takes after mx and recon but I’m hoping to hear some positive stories. Gutted that my children’s exams are going to be disrupted again. L has a chemistry A" exam on the day of my surgery., O has biology IGCSE the next day and S returns from Thailand gap travel on 15th…oh and meant to say, mumszy, that I can relate to the divorce situation as I am in the midst of it too. I’m glad I have the adults here to share this with as teenagers, lovely though they are, find it all a bit overwhelming.
Anyway,lots to think of, not least trying to sort out all the jobs that need doing on the house before I go in again and I am definitely going to pilates tomorrow!!
Sorry for the long post.
Lee x
Lee - as you said a mix of good and bad news there… it’s great though that the lymph nodes were clear - sorry that you face more surgery…
Julie - hope that your appointment goes well today…
Theresa
To all of you who have appointments today I hope that it all goes well for you.
Oh Lee you poor thing! But at least you can have recon (they refused me that) and Ive lost all my lymph nodes and they were totally clear! If it is any consolation the arm thing was far worse than the Mastectomy! Here we are 3 weeks from surgery and Ive been given permission to drive again! I still feel quite tired and tuck myself up quite early each night but I am beginning to feel more like my old self each day (provided I dont look in the mirror!)
Hi Mumszy,
so glad that you’re feelng stonger. Thanks for the reassurance regarding the MX. It’s such a shame that you weren’t able to have the sentinel node biopsy which is an attempt to prevent people like yourself from having all the nodes removed when they are in fact clear. Apparently the statistics show that only 1 in 5 need them removing so it is a bit aggressive to remove them for everyone and, as you say, it causes many more problems with the arm, risk of lymphodaema etc. I guess they’re saving time and money by not having to do another op on that 1 in 5.
It must be great to be driving again. I have been told not to drive for 4 weeks after the mx and recon which will drive me crazy, we live out in the sticks! I found it bad enough after the wle and I was only not driving for 5 days! Anyway what will be will be I guess. Two of my children are driving now so they will just have to pay back for all the late night pick ups I used to do!
You take care.
Lee x
just wanted to add about the sentinal node biopsy, i had that to try and save having them all removed. Got results this week, 1 out of the 4 removed was involved so i now have to decide whether i want them all removing now or having them zapped with radiotherapy. Same outcome apparently only difference is with the radio i will never know how many were actually involved. At the end of the day do i need to know, wont make any difference to the outcomes. Just wanted to say its swings and rounderbouts with every treatment you have. we all take our chances with everything dont we.
Luv Pauline xxx
Hi Pauline,
I just wanted to say in my first op i had 4 out and 1 was involved, with that being the result i had no options given to me it was a case of you have to come back in to have the rest out which i am glad about because i had another 1 involved 2 out of 28 in all. I dont think i could not know id be thinking is there anymore in me. My opinion is if there’s doubt get it out (if you can). What ever you do, good luck, let us know what you decide.
Take Care
Leslee x
Hollymeg,
If I were you I’d definitely have them surgically removed. Saves your body from extra radiation ( we all ‘glow in the dark’ to some extent after this I suppose!)and at least you wont be wondering for ever about how much was involved. But as everyone says it is your body so its a decision only you can make! Goodluck whatever you decide!
Hi
I Am just about to start my chemo and like the rest in very worried,ihave been lucky with the speed of my treatment,i went to the doctors on a monday,hospital following monday and diagnosed thurs,mastectomy 12 days later so it all happened fast,that was the 24th march and i start my chemo 28th may(scarey)i have a grade 3 and 1glade infected,
good luck all
sandra
xxx