Breast Cancer Now Forum

Hi Appletree,  it was a different BCN to the one I usually have. They've been completely under resourced this past week so I have somewhat forgiven them fir not getting back to me after leaving message, but can't forgive that particular response!. My own BCN did ring me yesterday after I'd been for an emergency doctors appointment as I was worried about the seroma I've developed. My hospital don't do drains during ops and don't manually drain after unless there's infection. So I just have to be patient and let nature heal. But she did give me a bit more advice on general stuff that hadn't been offered before. I now have my oncologist appointment at Christies next Thursday, so going to gen up as much as I can before I go so I can make the best decision. Thanks again for the advice xx   ... View more

Aww Appletree, thank you so much for such a comprehensive reply! Unfortunately my breast care nurses have not been easy to get hold of during the whole process. I rang again this afternoon and got an answering machine message that due to unforeseen circumstances resources were low and it might be better to contact the GP for non-emergencies. All they told me when I left hospital after surgery was if it got very hot I had to go to A&E and to do my exercises each day. When I went back for my results last Thursday my surgeon said there was fluid build up, itbwas normal but would disappear soon, but to me it's got worse. So guess that's a call tomorrow morning to the surgery as it's got no better today, there's no leakage, but I didn't have a drain, the incisions have healed up and look clean. It's just the whole breast is sore and tight and bruised, it's warm but not hot. The whole chemo thing sounds so complicated but I'll look into these booklets, thank you for pointing me in that direction. Sadly my bcn gave me nothing apart from informing me it's likely I'll be having chemo, it's an 18 week course, 6 treatments every 3 weeks, I may lose my hair and I may not make a tour with my favourite band in December as I may be too tired! Not want I wanted to hear and I burst into tears, to which I was told I should be happy the cancer is gone. Not been too impressed sadly!   As I'm ER+ 5/8 I guess I'm borderline and I still don't know about HER2. Guess I have to wait for the oncologist appointment, but the wait is agonising!   Thanks again for your comments and advice, most appreciated xx ... View more

Hi all, very new to forums and normally quite private so please bear with me. I was diagnosed in June and had a WLE with nipple duct and sentinel node removal on the 13th July. I've been very scared as my mum succumbed to bc 11 years ago, but have been assured that things have changed significantly since then. I had my results last Thursday and was told that I had the 30mm tumour removed and had clear margins, the surgeon also found a 2mm tumour in the nipple duct, but now all is clear and the three lymph nodes she removed were also all clear. Which was great news until she said I may still benefit from chemo. The oncologist is on holiday so it may be a couple of weeks before I know the outcome, all I do know is I was grade 3 and ER5 PR0. They didn't have the HER2 results back then. I seem to have been recovering ok but did some travelling in a car this weekend and am now in a fair amount of pain with what I think is seroma. Is this normal? I've been faithfully doing my exercises but the past couple of days it's all been feeling tight again. I also have another question as I can't seem to get a definitive answer and waiting for the oncologist is driving me nuts! Are there different levels of chemo? Mine is I'm guessing just preventative, so am I likely to have a milder treatment or is it all the same? Sorry for first long post, just a bit scared and confused! Thanks for reading ... View more