Breast Cancer Now Forum

Yes - I felt it was odd for a couple of years and now 6 years later its become 'me' again, albeit in a new different 'not quite as I used to be way'. I remember have no 'lump at all' after surgery and then over months scarring formed - which I mentioned to my surgeon and they checked. Pain, lumps, breast lymphoma, bumps, scar tissue, radiotherapy colour changes, odd pain sensations from the radio boosters etc were very dominant for the first 2 years  (I have the ridge you talk about, which is apparently very common above the line of the surgery/ removal area) but very very slowly improved - I'd say what was mostly still there 3 years later has stayed there. I was genuinely surprised at how slowly things altered and became 'stable'. I had no infill from my surgery and started with a deep 'dent' which over the years has self-filled......somehow lol Definitely mention any concerns to the professional to be checked, especially in what is now the time where they do keep a very close eye on you with check-up appointments. You say 'still' in your title - but your surgery was only last August - 9 months ago - thats not very long 🙂 ... View more

Hello Cazzy - so have you entirely come to the end of your active treatment ?   Welcome to BCN ! ... View more

Hi Seagulls - so your appointment has come and gone on 13th ......how did it go ? ... View more

Hiyer Kitti26, Welcome to BCNow, the place where nobody wants to be but everybody is thankful it is here. Its a tough wait isn't it before the treatment plan, I guess having seen your Mum go through this twice you have a fairly good background of knowledge on what is offered and the process. (unless it was a long time ago, and things have changed). It is indeed so positive that you are heading into this with a strong sense of your 'ability' and trust in the professionals, thats so admirable and will make such a difference I'm sure to your mental health. I wish you the best of fortune in hearing the details of your treatment plan. x ... View more

Oh Seagulls - I'm sorry. What treatments were there last time ? Is it the same side/different side ? What is your treatment plan this time ? ... View more

That makes it even harder - no consistency of contact with someone. Cysts aren't something I know anything much about (that I know I've not had one), I'll be honest, but I'm guessing there is nothing much that can be done to stop them occurring (not even with anything hormone based ?) and its just a case of getting the check done, getting drained if needed and waiting for them to go...... ... View more

I can imagine how stressful it is, time consuming and emotionally challenging - you are going through the 'what if' very very often indeed !  I have heard that Breast Cysts are most common in the 40 to 50 age range (perimenopause), and tend to diminish/disappear after menopause, when all the hormone changes that can trigger them resolve. Are you seeing a permament consultant, or does it tend to be a different person everytime you are referred ?   ... View more

Oh, I'm sorry, everything has moved on a good deal - I suppose, and this is small comfort, it is at least clear for you after the Oncotype. I wish you the absolute best of fortune in a smooth passage through chemo, how many rounds will it be - 6 ? There are plenty of threads here where the chemo ladies support each other.   x ... View more

 Eeyore - yep the sore throat is from the tubes 😞 Is there not a District Nurse visiting you daily until its removal time for the drain ? ... View more

Hi Rachel, Having just completed perimenopause and now into full menopause I can tell you that breast pain can certainly be due to to hormone changes. I had pain in my left side, it came and went though over the cycle (the cycle was erratic by this point and could be as short as 8 days or as long as 60 days). Breast tenderness/pain is a listed symptom of perimenopause and menopause, due to the messing around of Oestrogen and Progesterone and can strike some women quite strongly. The difficulty about being in your position is that you don't have a base-line for 'normal' from monthly breast examinations. So, even if you did do a check now, unless there was something really obvious, it would be hard for you to know if there had been changes. Having HA makes it hard to be logical about aspects of self-care, I understand, but it does sound like it might be a good idea to get a quick once over from the surgery nurse or a GP as they would know what they were looking for/feeling for. I wonder also if its worth discussing with them some way to help you to make it possible to do manual checks ? Any early changes are so treatable and its better to not hide your head in the sand about it - when it could make such a massive difference to you to know early. As someone with HA , could you rationalise that it would be a massive positive to find something early rather than how scary it would be to find it late ? Breast awareness is so important, particularly the older people get. The drill is that any breast changes should be checked and whilst I agree it doesn't sound sinister that its a pain that comes and goes and seems to move around the breast - you'll surely feel so much better in yourself having a quite 'all clear' from the surgery. It wouldn't be sensible to just assume that its hormonal changes causing benign pain. You've been here before, you know that odd pains can occur, and you were courageous enough last time to go and seek and opinion - time for another one 🙂 ... View more

Hey Kaylea, Blind-sided - I'll say ! How strange to have two such differing views from your health professionals. I can't answer about your chemo question, nor did I have the same general results as you, but I would say that as you've had two quite diverse opinions that another conversation and explanation is merited. I hope you have some replies here to give further input into your decision-making process, but if not then it might be worth ringing the website helpline and finding out if anyone there can give some more opinions/thoughts ? ... View more

I'm sure a 'light breakfast before 7 am' would include a cup or two of tea Eeyore. 🙂 Nobody has breakfast without tea or coffee, do they ? Hoping tomorrow goes really well for you, and you will be feeling so much better after its all done - a massive weight lifted. ... View more

Thats the really strange thing isn't it, and Adoptedmanc put it so well below - you don't feel ill, therefore everything that follows in terms of surgery and treatment is aimed and making sure that you don't get ill in the future. Its fortunate that with such early diagnoses people don't get generally get to the 'really ill' stage before seeking medical assistance (in ye olden days of course this was far too late), thus making much of BC so treatable and with treatments that can affect you negatively. However, it doesn't change the psychology of the diagnosis, no matter how 'not ill' you felt 😉 ... View more

I relate ! (Disclaimer - this is not a post designed to make women worry about tamoxifen, or to encourage people to not try it as many cope with it fine and have minimal side effects! I would never want anything I say here to be something that affects anybody taking a medication prescribed in their cancer treatment.) I was exceedingly unwell on Tamoxifen, I had every physical possible side effected listed and many more besides - I was like an old woman, I still have the list here in the back of my diary and it staggers me to read it now. I even had urinary incontinence, muscles that were spasming and raised BP - but as I say, the list was a long one ! The worst part was my mental state, I was desperately and concerningly depressed after a number of weeks. I would say, I had no quality of life to speak of. I had previously had a post-natal hormonal psychosis and therefore it wasn't out of the ball-park that I was going to be suspectible to problems with tamoxifen and infact any hormone changes. For a number of weeks a few letters went back and forth to the hospital from my GP and everyone pushed for me to continue with it, citing the high grade of cancer etc. After seeing my oncologist a few weeks later, she removed me from tamoxifen and said that if I was to re-take it it would be under the gaze of mental health services as it affected me so badly and I was simply desperate, it was as if I was having a full body oestrogen depletion. (I'm not under the care of mental health services by the way, and hadn't been since my post-natal experience) So, I would say, that there are some women - luckily the minority - who have a very very intolerably, infact unbearably, hard time on hormone related medication.  Anything you take is your choice, and only you can weigh up and it seems you are being practical and know yourself and what is real and not real. I came up against a few medics who simply could not grasp how I was feeling and were about treating the body only and not the mind, until the final oncologist who understood my level of response to the drug. The guidance I had was that I had to weigh up the balance - and decide what is a better life for you. In one way for me it was easy, I was living no life on tamoxifen, but of course the fear of not taking it was also overwhelming and that is something I have had to live with since stopping it. I would have an open an honest conversation with your oncologist, and state your concerns and thoughts just as you have here. My experience was quite a few years ago now, and there may be different guidance, possibilites in treatments, things to alleviate symptoms - lots of things that might possibly be different. I know that some women decide to be treated with anti-depressants and still take tamoxifen, some try evening primrose and a few other herbal things which have been lost from my memory 😉 Talk through the stats, the possibilities, get their perspective on the risk - of course we don't know which women tamoxifen works for and which it doesn't so there are always grey areas in any conversation about it. Ask them - is there anything else I could try ? Sorry, no solutions from me here, but total empathy !   ... View more

Hi Deb, Well, firstly, its kinda of hard to process things as quickly as you are expecting. You are still in the stage of active treatment, you are still reeling with the diagnosis and still not that far from surgery. Secondly, A cancer diagnosis is a big thing, it affects people, it doesn't matter the type of BC, or how advanced or how easy or hard to treat or the treatment plan or or or..... - there are still many psychological hurdles for every individual and still many 'what ifs' and unknowns swirling in your head. It all feels surreal doesn't it at times, the big 'C' word in combination with yourself - but given time you will work it out. So, my first tip is to give more time to allow things to progress. Moody, emotional and lethargic are certainly words that could sum up the response for many people who had a similar 'effectively treatable' diagnosis 😉 I think you are expecting it to all fall into place very quickly and certainly when I was at the point you are now I was still very up-in-the-air. Even by the first anniversary of diagnosis there were still significant BC thoughts and the 'new normal' (as they call life after the diagnosis) was troubling at times.   I would also recommend that you consider asking your BCN to put you forward for cancer specific counselling (NHS do it) if you are struggling with the emotions surrounding the 'experience', it is something that can help many people. There are also courses run by BC Now, called 'moving forwards', aimed at people after active treatment have finished. There is a reason these are needed - because generally coming to terms with things is hard and moving forwards can be a stumbling place for many. Do consider these courses for when your treatment has ended. x ... View more

You've been on Tamoxifen for 15 years ????   If you do a forum search for 'Tamoxifen and tinnitus' there are certainly a number of posts that come up, I haven't read any of the threads but in the absence of anybody replying to you directly, who has this problem right now, there is certainly material to be looking at there. ... View more

Love and strength to you too Maggie x ... View more

Hey Lops, Yep - nobody wants to be here - but so many do find themselves here and fortunately it can give such a strong sense of hope at a time when you do feel numb and scared to find so many thousands in the same position, and much further along on recovery to yourself  (My bio - diagnosed 6 years ago at 47 years old with primary BC and doing just fine). I'm sorry that you are finding yourself where you are now, and indeed all sorts of feelings and thoughts must be whirring in your mind day and night - but it WILL all become clearer I promise once the initial biopsy results are in and your consultants start talking about the treatment plan for your individual cancer type. You are entering a world of different terminologies and (what are to you now) alien concepts, but as you take each step slowly one at time, everything drops into place. There is nothing you can do now, but go through the painful waiting game and be aware that there is lots of support out there for those diagnosed; local groups, helpline numbers, pamphlets a-plenty, a breast cancer nurse, a dedicated team to help you navigate the situation.....and of course any friends and family that you want to involve in this process.   It is quite normal to feel as if the world as has stopped spinning, shell-shocked, at this point - it won't carry on feeling this shocking. Please do ask any questions that arise in the next few weeks and months, somebody is always around here to help out. I would recommend taking somebody with you to your next appointment, and have them write a few bullet points of what is discussed - as your mind can go a bit blank afterwards.   Take care x ... View more

Oh Eyeore,   I 'get it' I really really do. I was absolutely dreadful leading up to my surgery - I was more scared of the surgery than the cancer. I was the same as you, had never had surgery and was certain I'd never make it through. I'm not going to go into everything that scared me at the time, but to touch on it - I also had a phobia of any medication and it was overwhelming. I talked to the anaesthetist a couple of weeks before and realised that they are literally THE most skilled medics you can imagine, they do longer and more training than anyone else in the hospital. Every single part of your health and body is monitored every second of the procedure and I tell you this, if you had any risk they foresaw now, you'd not even be being offered this surgery. They don't lose people in surgery (well they do - but they are those who aren't very very sick people before they even go in for some emergency procedure and have various serious comorbidites and are at risk already) , especially not for these non-bodily-invasive types where none of your organs are affected. I asked my anaethetist about what if something 'goes wrong' like a reaction to the medication, and they say they have everything there they need to deal with it immediately and it had never occurred that the situation hasn't been reversed in those rare circumstances. It is surprisingly common to be scared of the surgery, and I think talking through to your BCN and being honest about your fears tomorrow, would give you a more calm few days leading up to it. I talked to another mastectomy lady about her exact same fears a few months ago (in real life) and she is now healing well and its all behind her. I presume they have given you information about what to expect on the day - if you are staying overnight or not. Most people are day surgery cases it seems now, unless your surgery is done later in the day and they need to monitor you after discharge time. Someone said to me - in all honesty you are at far higher risk driving to the hospital for the surgery. When do you have your every bodily function monitored carefully by various highly skilled specialists in usual everyday life ? Ask away and I'll say what I know - but bear in mind that different hospitals and trusts do things slightly differently..... ... View more

Hiyer, I'm glad you have an answer and its definitely not anything 'sinister'. The pressure from a more swollen breast can definitely cause some odd changes, and I recall having to buy a bra of a different size to be comfortable (band and cup size were larger for that one side, in comparison to the other for quite some time). ... View more