I'm not really sure why I'm writing this. I was diagnosed with grade 2 breast cancer on Monday (still waiting HER2 results etc). I'm an (otherwise!) healthy 28 year old. I'm currently feeling so angry and I don't know what to do!! Xx
You certainly dont sound horrible. You sound the same as the rest of us when given a cancer diagnosis.
You are very young to have breast cancer and well done for following your gut to get diagnosed. Follow Dee Doherty or nikki Kirsten on youtube. They are both very young breast cancer warriors.
You don't sound horrible at all. I have just been diagnosed with BC at the age of 30 and I feel incredibly angry. I have a 6 month old baby and I feel overwhelmed with fear and rage in equal measures. Being told your fertility can be affected when you haven't been able to start or complete your family is truly gutting.
If I am offered the chance to harvest my eggs (and I so hope that I am), then I think I will be taking that chance. I want to make my own decisions and not have them made for me. I have already been forced to stop breastfeeding my darling son, which is already one choice made for me by cancer which is one choice too many.
I am also very healthy, young, vegetarian, don't smoke and barely drink, no family history - our odds of this happening were tiny. But it happened anyway.
Where are you up to with your tests and diagnosis? I am waiting for an MRI next week to determine if there has been any spread to my other breast or lymph nodes. All signs looks positive at the moment, but I am nonetheless very scared that there has been spread which will make this harder to treat. I just want the lump out - can't wait for the surgery frankly.
Hi, thanks for your replies and sorry its been a while... its been a wirlwind!
Just been told I've got BRAC2 gene mutation and other issues so recommend double mastectomy. I'm feeling very sorry for myself. I'm 2 rounds into chemo and feeling really well- all things considered. Gutted this is happening.
I hope you're all doing as well as can be. Corona is making everything ten times worse having to be alone! My mum and boyfriend are amazing-I wish they could be with me for appointments. xx
How are you getting on Rosie? How is your little one doing? I've just been told I have BRAC2 so will need a double mastectomy and then my ovaries out etc in a few years once i've had the chance to have children. Hope you're okay x
Good to hear from you and even better to hear that you are feeling okay, all things considered.
I just sent off my gene testing kit earlier this week; odds not looking so great, as my maternal grandmother, my maternal aunt and my mother all has breast cancer.
When's your mastectomy? They will probably schedule it after your chemo is done. How many rounds of chemo do you have left? What were your Her2 results in the end?
V glad to hear that you have great support around you. Stay safe and hugs and kisses to you.
I completely understand your anger! I am also feeling the same. I was diagnosed a month after my 30th birthday. I was diagnosed after finding the lump (which I actually found because of my dog), a few days into lockdown.
Even though I was seen super quick and my Dr was amazing and got me seen quickly, I also found that I kept getting comments like 'Its probably, not cancer as you are so young'.
I was lucky from the day I found the lump to my 1st day of chemo was a month. My scans have shown no signs of spread and the lump has now disappeared halfway through my chemo.
I am currently 1 chemo away from finishing my treatment and then I am having a single mastectomy in September. I have asked for a double, but as I don't have the gene they don't really want to give it to me, but I will be pushing until I get one.
It's hard to accept I have no reason why I have cancer. I am angry and scared and I don't think that will ever go away - but I won't let it defeat me and I won't let it and I won't let this define who I am.
I hope everything goes well with treatment and even though the symptoms are not nice, they are all manageable. You just have to take it one day at a time.
Hi Soph!
Lovely to speak to you... if only through rubbish circumstances. Can you please tell me how your dog helped?! I’m so intrigued!! I would love to know... my (mums dog) knows when I’m upset but I don’t think she can diagnose cancer! Haha.
So good you were seen so quickly. I was upset as it took weeks and weeks of me pushing to be seen. Thank goodness. So unlike me. I guess I just knew? It’s all so weird. I felt the lump so suddenly- but my initial surgeon told me ‘it was possibly there for years’. Given the latest info I have I’m not so sure- so thank gosh i made a fuss. But anyway it all worked out.
Not sure if I’ve updated here. But I have a high onco score and also BRCA2 meaning the cancer might be more of a pain to get rid of and has a good chance of coming back. I only found out in the last week or two which means my chemo will be much longer and with added drugs. But that’s okay. It’s got to be done. I need to get this right first time as I don’t want to do this again. Having said that... so far so good. I have tolerated my first bit of chemo well. But now heading on to weekly chemo of a difference type with another added drug in every 3rd week so we shall see!
This also means oncologist/geneticists are keen for double mastectomy as I have a high risk of getting it again (they pretend not to endorse it, it’s my choice, but they seem keen and the evidence agrees and so do I). I will likely need ovaries etc out in a few years when I know if I want kids. Luckily I have a fab boyfriend I met in uni and we have been together 9 years almost and he just takes it all in his stride. He is so relaxed sometimes it upsets me but he is just like that. He won’t discuss the future- all he wants is for me to be better now; which is lovely.
I don’t really know what to say to you other than I almost now feel ‘grateful’ that I have a dodgy gene- and it explains my dad’s cancer too. I just worry for family and my little bro. And therefore I feel almost bad that you don’t have a gene.... as it means you don’t have an explanation. I was so angry and confused being one of the handful of women under 30- I’m so fit and healthy! But I have a reason now. Does that sound awful? I have an explanation beyond my control. And you don’t. And i can’t imagine how difficult that must be.
Will you let me know if you mange to get a double mastectomy? I guess if you don’t have the gene then this is just a horrible stroke of luck for you and they don’t feel the need to do mastectomy on the other. Which makes sense but I know the fear. I would feel the same but I guess you have to weigh it all up.
Ps. If the cancer has shrunk to almost nothing- why the need for mastectomy and not just removal of the tissue??
I hope to hear from you soon and best of luck with the final chemo. Fingers crossed you can move on and forget 2020 every happened!
Dee
Xx
Glad to hear you are both cracking on with treatment - I am also pushing for genetic testing but unsure when this will be arranged as very slow so far.
I am doing okay thanks, I had my surgery before chemo and they removed the 2.3cm lump with clear margins. Unfortunately i had one positive lymph node but this was also removed so they are hopeful that the spread is contained. I've been torturing myself with back pain which I'm sure my brain is making 100 times worse - my oncologist has lined up a full body scan for me and if i'm honest I am actually bricking it.
My little boy is doing really well, 10 months now and starting to climb on everything. He's difficult to keep up with, especially when you're in the chemo fog!
Thanks for checking in with me - hope you keep posting update of your progress :)
There is also a genetic component somewhat so if it runs in your family you can get it despite doing everything right. It's not your fault. You can eat well and excercise and get it and someone else has a life of excesses and never gets it.
I do understand you feel so angry and like it's an injustice.
I hope you can beat this. Keep fighting and use that anger to get rid of that monster inside you. Best of luck!
I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis, it's one of the worst things to be told and at your age it's heartbreaking. I am glad that you are on the road to getting yourself sorted out, I put myself off going to the Dr as when I noticed the swelling I saw, I just thought it was a swollen/strained part of the neck, man was I wrong!
I'm a bit like you in the sense of "why has this happened to me" although I'm not as healthy as you sound, I was quite fit and active, having done tough mudder 5 or 6 times, I used to be a kickboxer taking classes up to 4 times a week, and gone on long distance runs. But it is random, it's just our bodies f***ing up, so don't do the "ifs" and "whys", it's not going to help, trust me :)
One thing I've realised whilst being on this site, is that everyone on here is here to get help, whether it's having cancer, waiting for test results/diagnosis or caring for someone with cancer. Or to give help in anyway that they can, so you are not alone and this a great place to find answers or vent frustrations.
