I was diagnosed yesterday with invasive ductal carcinoma (I’m 45, single, no kids). Felt completely shell-shocked last night as nothing ‘worrying’ had shown up on either the mammogram or ultrasound and both the consultant and radiologist had thought my ‘lump’ was some sort of necrosis. Managed to walk into the consultants room feeling pretty confident - and came out in tears. They think I’ll need an MRI and lymph biopsies then surgery (conservative hopefully) in a couple of weeks, followed by radiotherapy.
At the moment I’m just about ‘holding it together’. I’m finding that I can get by with text/email but the moment I have to say it out loud to someone it’s suddenly all very real and I’m in floods of tears. I know this is going to be an emotional rollercoaster but any tips on how to get through talking to other people about it would be great. I couldn’t talk to anyone last night but will have to face people later today and I’m dreading it.
Sorry to hear of your diagnosis. I too felt the same following my diagnosis last month. The emotions you are feeling are totally normal but I promise you will feel better once you have had the further scans and a treatment plan. I have told most of my friends now and they have all been very supportive. What I found, slightly more reassuring was the amount of people who knew somebody who had battled breast cancer. It is much more common than I thought.
When I had my pre-op assessment ahead of my WLE and SNB, I got talking to a very friendly nurse who later told me that she had battled bc 10 years ago at 38 and she looked full of health.
Also what I find helps is the amount of progress that has been made to treating breast cancer in just a few years. More sophisticated and advanced treatments are constantly emerging which gives more hope to us all :).
I hope you find the forum helps, it has certainly helped me with all of us at various stages and treatments.
Welcome to the BCC forums where you will soon have lots of support and shared experiences with your fellow forum users, in addition, our helpline team are on hand weekdays 9-5 and Sat 10-2 on 0808 800 6000 with practical and emotional support to help you through this difficult time
You may also find the BCC further support servcies such as our weekly ‘Live chat’ and the ‘One to one’ peer support service helpful, you can read about these and more via this link:
I am still struggling to come to terms with my diagnosis 2 months ago and like you I found it so difficult to talk to people about it. I am 48 with no children but I do have a partner who was with me at the time of the diagnosis and was able to tell my mum and uncle as I was unable to talk to anyone initially. I did however go into ‘automatic pilot’ and texted or e-mailed just about everyone as soon as I could as I just wanted to get it all out the way. I told people I wasn’t ready to talk but the support that came back was overwhelming. I think once you start talking about it it will get easier. I have always been someone who tries to deal with things on my own but have realised that I can’t do this alone and have had to accept all the support on offer. I have been through every emotion possible and still have days when I can’t do anything but cry but it does get slightly easier. I am starting chemo tomorrow and am absolutely terrified of that and all the side effects.
Anyway I really hope you manage to find someone you can talk to. Please don’t try and deal with it alone.
I can fully understand how you feel.I went to my Gp following my results which was also totally unexpected…thought by 2 Drs a cyst.Gp gave me short course of tabs to calm me…i was in bits.
That was 3 weeks ago took just 2 tabs that week and non since.not really useful.
However my breast clinic had a councellor who gave me a tape…to calm me.
Brilliant.felt so relaxed.Listened to it a few times and my head cleared.Such a headache 24hrs a day went.
the tape is T.L.Recordings ltd
An Aid to Emotional Recovery-after breast cancer.
Maybe not your answer to stress but it helped me.
I had my operation 7 days ago and cannot explain how positive i now feel.
Obviosly still sore from op etc but all ok to cope with
Get my results next Tuesday so will be climbing the wall that day.Know i need radiotherapy …hope thats all and hope no more surgery.
Once you had your surgery i quess like others you will soon progress…setbacks yes but keep looking ahead.Do chat ,ask questions etc feel free.