I can't be the only one?

There doesn’t seem to be any other guys out there with BC right now it appears - say hi if I’m wrong ok :slight_smile:

Bumping this up for you Phil - one ofthe problems with the site just now is that posts dont appear in the latest posts section until they have a reply.

Hope you find others in your situation to share with.

Dawn
xx

Sorry you find yourself in this situation Phil, if its any consolation, one of my uncles had breast cancer a few years ago, but I dont really know what treatment he had, apart from surgery.
Hope you find your way through this nightmare, we are all to support each other, regardless of gender x

Phil have you tried ringing tne Helpline and asking them to put you in touch with Peer Support. The problem is when men are over their treatment they are too busy to read the Forums and many think the threads are only for women. I so hope you can chat to another man soon.
Best wishes and fingers crossed hoping another man contacts you…this will bump it up for you and I will bump it again tomorrow.

Thanks Cackles, to be honest I’m more than happy just talking with the numerous ladies of the board, I just thought I’d offer a basic olive branch out to any other guys that might not be feeling quite so happy to talk about things.

No problem Phil. When I was a nurse many years ago we had quite a few male patients so they are out there. What stage of treatment are you at?
I hope all goes well. This disease is a B…!
Have you tried the Males with breast cancer thread on the list to the left of the screen? There are a few men on it.

I’ve had a right-only mx and then a fortnight later a full right node clearence - that was three weeks ago, still getting over that a bit to be honest. Start ‘DCH’ chemo on Wednesday (I’d assumed it’d be FEC-T but I think that’s quite female-specific).
Oh and I thought this was the ‘men’ section?

Hi Phil

I wondered if you had seen our publication “Men with BC”? I have attached a link :

www2.breastcancercare.org.uk/sites/default/files/bcc14_men_w_bc.pdf

As Cackles mentioned we also have a one to one peer support service who could put you in touch with other men who have had breast cancer. To find out more phone 0845 0771893 or email UKpeersupportteam@breastcancercare.org.uk.

I hope this helps.

Very best wishes

Janet

BCC Moderator

Hello Phil, I can appreciate how lonely it must feel for you - I think bc is a lonely experience for many women too, but I would imagine more so for a man. There was a male patient who had just finished his treatment before I began mine originally back in 2004, and he gave a talk at our local “boson friends” support group run at the local hospital. I know he had mx, chemo and rads, but not sure what the chemo was. He knew of other males with bc but obviously the numbers are small. BUT please post on here (it doesn’t just have to be in the “men with bc” area, i am sure that the other women will welcome your contributions. I really hope that your chemo goes well (did you get any info on the grade of your bc?), and were your nodes affected at all?

Hi Phil I “think” DCH might be the same as TCH chemo. Is it Docetaxel, carboplatin & herceptin? Docetaxel is also known as taxotere. I had TCH chemo and finished it a month ago. I’m more than happy to share my experiences with you if you want any advice. I struggled to find people on this site who had this type of chemo. I think its quite new in the UK, but used a lot in the states.

Hi Phil,
i am in the same boat as you. I have been diagnosed with G2 invasive ductal carcinoma.
I am having a Mastectomy on my right breast on Thursday, and on Wednesday i am having a Sentinal lymph node biopsy,where they inject a blue radioactive dye to check for the Sentinal nodes.
I am feeling very positive regarding my situation.
I have been treated at the Grantham hospital breast clinic. I cant express enough thanks to all the staff of this department, they have treated me so well and with so much respect, i just cant thank them enough.
Good luck to you, i will let you know how i get on.
Best wishes Derek.

Posted on behalf of new user Derek

Hi Phil, i am in the same boat as you. I have been diagnosed with G2 invasive ductal carcinoma. I am having a Mastectomy on my right breast on Thursday, and on Wednesday i am having a Sentinal lymph node biopsy,where they inject a blue radioactive dye to check for the Sentinal nodes. I am feeling very positive regarding my situation. I have been treated at the Grantham hospital breast clinic. I cant express enough thanks to all the staff of this department, they have treated me so well and with so much respect, i just cant thank them enough. Good luck to you, i will let you know how i get on. Best wishes Derek.

just wanted to say ‘hi’ to Phil and Derek, it’s nice to see blokes out there. Derek, i had the radioactive dye a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t painful and quite hilarious having a radioactive sticker (that black and yellow logo) popped on my breast! I then had sentinal nodes removed that day, be warned your wee looks like a strong loo cleaner and you will look grey for a while as it colours your skin. Then followed by my mx last Thu, all went well. My nodes had come back clear so had a recon of veritas bovine with implant, am 6 days in and had the last of the drains removed yesterday, I have been very positive throughout this too. I was out of hospital the same day and pretty mobile considering. I have had my treatments in Leigh and Wigan (north west), my consultant and breast nurse are amazing. Good luck to you all:)

Welcome to Phil and Derek, though of course we’d all much rather you had no cause to be on here.

You’re very welcome to post on any thread you feel like, and it will also be good for us ladies to get a male perspective on all of this. If you feel comfortable, you could also invite your partners to come on the forum as we’re a pretty friendly bunch and BCC isn’t just for the patient but for everyone affected by BC, and that most certainly ignores partners.

If you’re going to have Herceptin for a year, you will probably find that a lot easier than Docetaxel or Taxotere, though the first time you have it they do keep you on the unit for several hours to keep an eye on you, in case you have an allergic reaction. It’s rare to get a reaction though, and the treatment is very effective for HER2+ BC.

Good luck both.

HI,
Thank you so much for sending my reply to Phil, i seem to have made a mistake when i came to pos.
I had my Sentinal lymph scan today ready fo my Mastectomy in the morning, i am a bit aprehensive but i havea good Surgeon so by this time tommoro it will all be over.
Kindest regards to you al.
Derek l

All the best for the mastectomy Derek, yyou are bound to feel apprehensive. Let us know how you are when you can. Phil, did you say you were startstartinstartstartingg chemo today? hope it went well.Best wishes to you both.

Wishing you all the best Derek… Big hugs xxx

I hope all is going well for you now Phil. It must be good to have contact withanother man. Any queries do shout and we will all come and stick in our two pennies worth . The First Chemo is the worst…the unknown factor . The next round will be so much easier. Any problems RING your UNIT…not GP.
Dereck the mastectomy will be suprisingly pain free. But any oroblems don’t be afraid of ringing tne unit or your GP. Men too can get seromas.
Big Hugs to both of you.

Hi Phil,
I am a male survivor of Breast cancer, diagnosed when I was 53 years old.
I was diagnosed with BC in August 2007, had left mastectomy & partial node clearance, followed by 3 x FEC then 3 x Taxotare chemotherapy, then radiotherapy.
I also had 1 year on Herceptin
I have just finished 3 years on Arimidex and then 2 years on Tamoxifen
I kept a good diary of all that happened and how it felt (with a vague intention of a book)
I worked all through the treatment as I have an office job and am self employed.
main permanent problems are poor lymphatic drainage leaving me on the verge of lymphoedema, general nerve damage and a lost career in modelling swimwear.
feel free to ask anything you like.
Ian

Thanks everyone who posted on this, this section had been perhaps a little dorment for a while so I’d not expected much activity and have just started chemo, hence my late responses.
Very good news from yourself clunkshift/Ian - looks like I’m on a very simialr path to you, though only 43 (which may help a little I guess), chemo’s going a bit better than I’d expected but my blood pressure has gone through the roof so a little worried about that. I think my modelling career may be over too :wink:
Thanks everyone, really nice to know there are other guys out there, the ladies seem to get the worst out of BC but it doesn’t mean it’s fun for us either I guess.