I am 30 years old, found a lump a few months ago. 3 weeks later I had confirmation it was breast cancer. 3 weeks after I had the lump removed and recently got confirmation that it hadn’t spread, but got told just the other day I’m Her2 positive. Now I have to have chemotherapy which was so unexpected. I’m struggling to deal with this. I have a good group of friends but it’s difficult for me to speak to them when they have no idea how this feels. I’m completely in the dark about the details of my chemotherapy as I’m waiting for an appoinment with the oncologist. This has all come so quickly and is hard to get my head round. Have no idea what chemo I’m having, how many cycles I’m going to have, the only thing I actually know is I will be given herceptin. I was wondering if anyone could give me a more accurate idea as my breast care nurse just seems to be telling me to wait until I speak to the oncologist…which is more waiting and just making me so scared of the unknown
Hi Jacklynn
I can’t answer any of your questions, so not much help…only answering as it’s late and you sound down. It’s all so hard to get heads round, especially late at night. Maybe ring the helpline, the women are ace and I’m sure will untangle and support you.
I have times of feeling calm and balanced, then weepy and scrambled.
So really I’m saying, don’t be alone in this, the forum is great, kind and calming.
Hope things go ok for you, night night, Caroline
Hi Jacklyn sorry to hear your news. I was grade 3/HER2+ & can share my experience with you. Bear in mind I am not your doctor & he/she may have other plans for you, as each chemo is tailored to individual circumstances. I was initially told chemo depends on your grade, if lower you may get taxol only, but the more usual thing is FEC-T. The initials stand for the chemical names of the drugs. Some get just FEC too, but with HER I think it’s only licensed in the uk for us with taxol, a very effective 3rd generation treatment. I was told FEC-T 6 cycles. That’s 3xFEC (that’s 1 on day 1, 2nd on day 22 etc) & 3 X T. Your Herceptin starts with the first T. I am still on Herceptin & honestly haven’t had any issues with it, in common with a lot of others, so please don’t worry about that one. The E & H can damage your heart, so they just keep an eye on it via 3 monthly scans. A couple of us have outlined our chemo experience on the thread ‘is this really happening to me?’ Have a look. All the best xx
Ps may be worth a look at the Young Women’s Cancer Network so you can talk to people in their 20s & 30s as well as here, which is great. x
Hi thank you for your input, it has definitely put my mind at ease slightly or certainly given me a more detailed version of the possible treatment I may have. I am aware that the treatment varies on the person but when the only information I had to go off was that I would be having chemo therapy and herceptin, it made it very difficult to just sit and wait for my next appointment before I found out a shred of info. I was going out of my mind googling things that may not have been relevant to me at all. My tumor was stage 1 grade 3. So basically from what you have now told me( and some additional googling of it) if I have FEC-T I will only have one treatment every 21 days. And depending on the number of cycles they will give me me the FEC for the first half of the cycles and then the T for the remainder of the cycles and once the T is given only then do they give me the Herceptin… That’s what I’m understanding from this? Please correct me if I’m getting lost. I will try out some of the other forums and read through some of the other threads to try and grasp this further. Thanks you so much for your responses they have helped me immensely. Jacklynn 
Yes, you’ve got it right. It’s so hard waiting to start, but it will be better once you get going, I promise, because you just focus on getting through each one & enjoying the relatively ok times when you start to feel good again before the next one. Once you get to half way you start to feel you’re making progress. I would recommend starting a May chemo thread or joining it if one already exists, then you will have a little group who all feel just like you do right now & you can help each other between now & when it starts. Knowing you’re not the only one is really helpful & you learn from each other’s experiences. The night before the first is a bit nerve wracking, but the actual giving of the chemo is fine once they have the cannula in, it’s really the few days after. Take care you can do it xx