Breast Cancer Now Forum

Hello - I am currently having radiotherapy. After that they have run out of things to do to me so I just have to take the Tamoxifen and hope for the best. The oncologist will talk to you about chemotherapy.  Make sure you let him or her know your full medical history, even things that might seem irrelevant.  Ask how it will be administered.  Can you have a PICC line or Portacath which saves your veins from being damaged (although you get another scar on your chest)?  Ask whether they will be giving you Neulasta or similar to manage immune suppression.  But don't worry too much about the chemo - it is unpleasant but manageable.  Please also ask your consultant, BCN or GP for an urgent referral to a counsellor who specialises in cancer counselling.  I was recommended to take up yoga which I have found an enormous help.  Let me know how you get on.  Xx ... View more

Hello - no need to be petrified!! The key thing is to wash your hands before you eat, when you get home, after you touch pets etc.  Basically as much as possible without developing OCD. Make all visitors wash their hands on arrival.  Makes a big difference.  I also carried antibacterial wipes with me everywhere.  I bought some masks but did not wear them in the end.  They can give you drugs that bring your immune system back up again (e.g, Neulasta). I had a Neulasta injection after each EC treatment and had no problems with low immunity. If you don't use Neulasta or similar, after FEC your immunity will be lowest around days 7-10 after treatment.  With weekly Paclitaxel you have slightly low immunity all the time but even then all I got was a slight cold that wouldn't clear up properly until I finished chemo.  I travelled all the time on buses, tube trains, went to the theatre, shopping centres etc and had no problems.  However, I think if you have a history of asthma or lung problems you need to be much more cautious. I hope that has reassured you a bit.  Also for most people the chemo generally isn't nearly as bad as you fear. Take care.  Xxx ... View more

Hello - just want to send you my best wishes.  I "only" had 4 lymph node tumours and another tumour in my axillary fat (even after chemo, grrr) and that is still freaking me out. I guess you got the news from your breast surgeon?  Have you seen the oncologist yet?  In my experience oncologists are miles better at explaining to you what is happening than surgeons are. The oncologists are also the ones that dispense the treatments that keep stage 3 and 4 ladies alive.  Do let me know how your scan goes.  I will be thinking of you. Xxx  ... View more

Oestrogen positive is actually good news because it means that it should respond to hormone treatments such as tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors.  If they are doing a node biopsy they may put a drain in but not always. I had a small seroma (pocket of fluid build up) after I had node biopsy but it went away in a couple of weeks.  You will get a full pathology report after the operation. My advice is to ask for a copy of the report and then get someone (oncologist, breast care nurse, Macmillan support line etc) to explain it to you and your mum in detail.  If the lymph nodes are clear on examination under the microscope, they may do something called an Oncotype test on the tumour which tells them more about your personal recurrence risk and therefore whether you should have chemo even if your nodes are clear.  It's a long journey and it's wonderful for your mum to have your support. The love of your family and friends makes all the difference.  I would also say to everyone that the best practical thing you can do for someone going through cancer treatment is to help them out with household chores like cleaning and making some nice healthy home cooked meals for them.  Best wishes.  Xx ... View more

Laura , she needs to check with surgeon but normally after this type of surgery you would need to wear a soft sports bra or compression bra - ask the BCN what is recommended. There's lots of info re this on the Surgery section of the Going Through Treatment forum, as well as more tips on what to take into hospital.  Is she having a sentinel node biopsy at the same time or has she already had this? I guess she is having chemo because she is Grade 3.  Do you know if she is Her 2 positive or negative? Have you seen the oncologist yet re what the chemo regime will be? Again there's a lot of info re chemo in the Going Through Treatment forum which you might find helpful.  Xx  ... View more

I don't think you need anything special for lumpectomy or radio except, as Helena says, soft bras for post-op and unperfumed soap and aqueous moisturiser for radio.  My hospital recommends Doublebase rather than E45 which some people react to.  Drinking straws can be useful immediately after surgery! A packet of biscuits. Dry shampoo in case she is not showering for a couple of days? A few travel sized toiletries.  Packet of face wipes.  Overall I would go for some treats which are luxurious and feminine - e.g. A nice lipstick and powder compact.  A nice pashmina or similar can be useful to throw round the shoulders in bed.  Maybe some socks to wear in bed.  What a lovely thoughtful person you are!  Good luck to your mum. Xx ... View more

Hello again lovely Nicki - just to say I am thinking of you and hoping you are having an ok day.  As you see lots of ladies here feel for you and want to send you our love.  Also many of us have been through the bald with one breast stage or similar.  Fortunately my hair is now growing back but before cancer I had long blonde hair and now I have short curly brown/grey hair which isn't quite the same look!  I know how hard the hair loss is, but trust me it will come back soon and hopefully then you will start to feel better about yourself.  Also I am currently sporting one natural E cup breast and one reconstructed C cup breast (no nipple yet)  - hope they can be made to match better eventually but will take a further 12-18 months to get the finished set.  Lots of us are happy to share our experience of reconstruction if that interests you - I would strongly recommend it if you can bear more surgery in due course.  If you feel able to say what area you live in, there may be ladies near you who could pop by or being treated at the same hospital who could meet you for a coffee when you are there. Do take care.  Susan xx  ... View more

I have had SNB and later a full node clearance.  I had absolutely no side effects from the SNB and I believe this is usually the case. Whereas cording, numbness and lymphoedema are relatively common with full node clearance, they are rare with only a SNB.  Of course the nature of these forums is that it is mainly ladies who have been unlucky with their side effects who post. The SNB is crucial to determine whether the cancer has spread beyond your breast and will inform all future treatment decisions, including whether you need chemo, further surgery and radio.  Plus, I'm not sure they're going to give you much of a choice ....  Because it is so crucial. Honestly, in this case the small risk of side effects is outweighed by the benefit. Best wishes. Xxx ... View more

My hospital says to use only Doublebase gel (available from pharmacy counter).  Don't know if it has lanolin in but I find E45 a bit irritating and Doublebase not at all so.  Good luck.  ... View more

Hello - feeling your anger and frustration.  I had 2 out of 3 nodes affected in SNB, then had all the chemo, then had full ANC in April where they removed a further 2 nodes with live tumours (one at level 2) and a 5mm live tumour in the surrounding axillary tissue.  Welcome to Stage 3 I thought.  My Onc then said that lymph node tumours don't respond that well to chemo especially for hormone positive patients like me.  Grrrrr.  Makes you lose faith in the treatments a bit, doesn't it?  Just started radio today - 15 treatments and they are doing the lymph nodes around my collarbone as well as the breast area. On the nodes they irradiate from the point where the ANC ended (there's a marker clip) upwards.  I think after that they've finally run out of things to do to me!  But I have asked for a CT scan in August/September (a year after diagnosis) just to double-check it hasn't spread any further in the last 12 months. Somehow we have to learn to live with this being part of us always and just hope it can be kept at bay with hormone treatment for a very, very long time.  Xxx ... View more

I think there are 2 issues - possible skin reaction (skin more sensitive following chemo) and the first hair growth you get through after chemo is still affected by the chemicals and is in effect damaged.  If you colour this first hair growth (esp bleach) according to my hairdresser it will just go orange and frizzy.  So she has told me I need to wait until it gets long enough that she has been able to trim off all the chemo-damaged ends.  She says she will then test a few cut strands with the dye to see whether it will take the colour ok.  So you need to patch test both your skin and your hair in effect.  I would suggest trying to find a hairdresser near you who is experienced with treating chemo hair, at least for the first colouring.  Frustrating, isn't it?! ... View more

Hello - can be a symptom of blood pressure issues so you should mention to your oncologist, BCN or GP and have that checked/ruled out. Tamoxifen is messing with your hormonal balance which can then affect other parts of your system, as it were.  I did also get swelling with the Paclitaxel chemo but it went away a few weeks after treatment.  ... View more

Yes, lumpectomy and local excision are the same thing.  They do literally stick a wire in you under local shortly before the op to mark where the area is that the surgeon needs to take out. It's done by the radiologist using ultrasound and then you have a mammo with the wire in!  Just when you think things couldn't get any weirder.  I had a DIEP rather than an implant because I am having radio to the mx breast which damages implants.  Hopefully my DIEP will not be too badly damaged.   You might be interested in this site. Www.keepingabreast.org.uk - it is a breast reconstruction charity. Quite a few reputable plastic surgeons also put up galleries of their before and after breast reconstructions on the internet (neck down, no faces) which you can browse to see what the recons look like.  Good luck with the plastics team.  Xx ... View more

Hello Daisy - I used to smoke quite heavily but gave up 8 years ago and that was considered no problem for a DIEP.  So I understand from your post that you are having a mx on one side and a lumpectomy on the other side - so cancer surgery to both breasts.  You need to see a really good plastic surgeon (who can do DIEP etc) and discuss ALL the options because long term you want them to match as well as possible.  I was an E cup - they will struggle to match that with any reconstruction but the lumpectomy will of course reduce your other side as well.  However, the other side can't be adjusted to match the DIEP side until about 6 months later when the DIEP has found its final shape, whereas you will be having the lumpectomy now and then rads which more or less precludes further surgery.  So in that case I'm guessing the surgeon(s) will be aiming to create the same cup size in both breasts through different ops performed around the same time and hoping they turn out similar-ish I assume.  What happens if you don't get clear margins on the lumpectomy and need a mx in the end?  You can only have the DIEP done once although you can sometimes have both breasts created from the DIEP if done at the same time.  Or is there an option of having a saline expander and going back to do a reconstruction later when you have seen where you are with the lumpectomy side? Sorry, that doesn't give you answers but I think you need someone to look at the overall cosmetic outcome for both breasts holistically.  Hope all goes well for you whatever you choose.  Xx ... View more

Yes, we're all bl**dy angry and why not?! Breast cancer is very, very unfair and really destroys your sense of self.  After being diagnosed last year,  I read some of the interviews that Jennifer Saunders gave about her breast cancer treatment a few years ago (Google finds them). She describes her husband having a similar reaction to yours when she started tamoxifen.  I think she got antidepressants and counselling which solved it.  Anyway, you might find her experience interesting.  Your other half may also find counselling helpful.  But as everyone says, do go back to your Onc and tell him where you are with all this ....  Take care xx  ... View more

Hi Sjan - I appreciate your dilemma but I don't think it is essential that you take the decision now.  Many oncologists now follow the protocol that if there is a positive lymph node(s), then you start chemo immediately and go back later to do a full surgical  ANC if required.  Thus I think you could start chemo now and have ANC later if you wanted it - ask your Onc about whether this is an option for you?  I don't know whether the fact that you will be on Herceptin for a year will make any difference (I didn't need it).  I had surgery to remove rest of my lymph nodes after chemo and I would note that the pathology report showed that the chemo did not kill any of the cancer cells in my lymph nodes, only the ones in my breast!!  My Onc then said that for oestrogen positive cancers the chemo often doesn't work well in lymph nodes ... So v glad now I had them out although I very much didn't want to.  However, since your positive node tumour was small, your medical team may feel that any further tumours in your lymph nodes would be small enough to respond to chemo and/or radio.  But it may be that you can get a second opinion on that at a later date if you start chemo immediately.  Best wishes xx  ... View more

Hello - without wishing to alarm you at all, I really think you need to get this checked out with your GP asap as the dizziness could be a sign of unrelated issues such as blood pressure or heart problems, but make sure the GP knows all about your BC diagnosis and treatment as well in case it might be related to that. It may also be worth speaking to your BCN and getting an appointment with your oncologist if you are still being monitored by the hospital.  No need to worry unduly, but definitely worth investigating further. Take care.  ... View more