This is my very first post, please bear with me. I am starting radiotherapy next month, having had surgery in February.It would be good to chat to others in a similar position. I had a lumpectomy and lymph node boipsy done. There was some issue with the pathology results about future treatment, but I finally got those, and will be starting an unknown (as yet) hormone after radiotherapy. I realise others have had far worse, and I have been reluctant to post, but I could do with a friendly hand to hold, even though things are relatively straightforward for me physically.
Hi Angie, this is my first post too! We seem to be in the same boat, lumpectomy and biopsy in February and radiotherapy starting in April. I start on April 8th. I had the planning appointment last Friday. I don’t know yet about hormone treatment, because of my age (65) my oncologist is concerned about osteoporosis so I am having a bone density scan on April 1st.
Things seem to be straight forward for me too but it doesn’t stop it being scary, does it? I think I have cried more this last few months than ever before. The diagnosis came as a total shock to me as it was following a routine mammogram in January.
As a lot of people have said, it’s the waiting that’s the worst thing. Waiting for results, waiting for appointments, though I have to say that I am so impressed by the care and compassion I have received from every one in the NHS I have dealt with over the last scary 12 weeks or so.
I had surgery lumpectomy and lymph node removal with six out of 16 nodes affected. I was told I would have chemo followed by Radiotherapy and offered a trial . I opted for the trial , my tumour was sent away re-examined and I was told Chemo was not necessary just hormone treatment and radiotherapy. I have started the hormone treatment and first radiotherapy is 4 April. Had my planning and am attending at ADDENBROOKE’S Cambridge . Still holding down a full time job and intend to continue through treatment even if it requires me to work from home . I am happy to be your buddy and discuss anything with you. Barbara
Hi I had my first session today and it was ok. A few practical things I didn’t know about were you can’t shave or wax etc whilst having treatment and you are restricted to the deodorants you can use. Best to buy/prepare before hand. Emotionally I’ve been up and down but I think that’s more about stopping my HRT and having the menopause hit me like a ton of bricks?
I’ll be joining you, to start my radiotherapy on 11th April, finishing on 3rd May (because of the bank holidays).
I was diagnosed with DCIS back in July - that seems so long ago now! They were happy to wait for me to have my Sept hols so I had a therapeutic mammoplasty at the beginning of Oct (with the other boob reduced to match). Some of the calcifications were a bit more advanced than expected so I had an op on my lymph nodes at the beginning of Nov. Thankfully they were all clear (well there was one micromet, but that doesn’t really count).
I finished 12 weekly chemo sessions yesterday and now have a couple of weeks break before the radiotherapy starts. Though I have to pop over to the hospital for my Herceptin injection on Tuesday, and will be doing that for another 9 months. I think Tamoxifen, or something similar, will start soon too.