Finding out my mother has secondary breast cancer.

Hello, my name is Corinne, my mum has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and she had a scan the day after and yesterday we were told it has spread to her brain, I’ve never felt so low in all my life and really don’t know how to cope at all, it’s been such a shock to us all and I’ve never felt so alone, I have so many questions that I would like to ask but yet I don’t want to know the answers to, has any one else been through this? Or going through this? My mum starts radiotherapy next week till Christmas Eve and then hopefully should start chemo is there anything I should prepare or expect hope to hear from someone x

  • Hi Corinne

    My Darling i am so sorry to read your post and I have been exactly where you are. 

    You are not alone, not is the slighest we are all here for you - although I remember those feelings and so understand them. 

    For one, I feel we have to talk - whether that be to friends, family, us here, - it doesnt matter please dont bottle things up. 

    I had been though the exact thing - scared to ask, more scared to hear the answers... it depends on you....honestly I liked to know it meant I could plan, prepare,support my mum, be stronger for my brothers etc... not everyone is the same though

    Im very new here so I dont know how  we would do it but I would read your questions and tel you where to find the best answers (depending on the questions)..... 

    I wish i could give you a huge hug xxx

     

     

  • Hi Corrine. It's not easy to hear that our beloved mums have to cope with cancer and all the treatments that go along with it. When my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, but she didn't act too bothered about it in the slightest, so the rest of us tried not to be worried either. She had a lumpectomy and then radiation treatment for the month of December 2016. She claimed that the radiation wasn't hard at all. But she definitely was tired out from it. She never did chemo so I don't know what to expect.

    I hope your mum gets good care and doesn't suffer too many side effects. 

    All the best

  • Hello confussed, 

    Thank you so much for replying to me, I’m glad to find someone who has been through a similar thing to me even though I wish no one would have to go through this, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, I’m kind of at the stage at the moment where I feel I can’t really talk to my family and ask them the questions that I would of asked as I don’t want to upset them more and other than my mum I don’t have any brothers or sisters and my father is not around so it’s always just been myself and my mum and that just makes me even more upset just thinking about that last night I didn’t sleep at all, my mind seems to be in overthinking mode and it’s horrible, I must of cried a river in one night. 

    I’m new here to but willing to take the support I could get. 

    Hugs to you too, thank you for being there for me and replying x

  • Hello serepine8 

    Thank you for replying to me, I’m glad your mum didn’t have to many symptoms from it and thought it was ok, it must of been so hard for you and I honestly don’t even know what to expect or who to turn to. 

    Did you have much support? 

    Thank you x

  • Hi. From what I understand, radiation can be quite different for many people. Your mum might not have too much in the way of symtpoms. My mums oncologist also said that depending on what kind of breast cancer it was that there are certain types of chemo that are much easier for the body to tolerate in terms of not having severe symtoms. My mum didn't want chemo, and they hadn't suggested it to her anyway. 

    I accompanied my mother to all of her radiation appointments, and we got through it. 

    It's hard watching our loved ones battle diseases that's for sure. But all we can do is just offer our support to them and be there for them. My mother and I didn't spend too much time discussing her various problems. It was depressing, and she was very anxious about what the future was going to bring her. Instead, we spent our time talking about politics, movies, my extra curricular activites. She loved talking about things that took her mind off her problems. In away, this was probably therapeutic for both of us. 

    It's hard to reach out to friends for support and you might find that you don't really want to socialize much. It can be very easy to feel like isolating. I hope you have some good people in your life that do reach out to you. Even if it's just going out to see a movie or a coffee. 

    Sorry, I hope I didn't ramble on too much! All the best