Hi Td51,

A vey warm welcome to our forum. I am so sorry to hear that your Mum died in August this year and that you were diagnosed with breast cancer the same month. That must have been a very hard time for you. Your consultant and his/her team wouldn't have advised you to have chemo, if they didn't feel that this would be the best treatment for you. I lost my mum to secondary breast cancer too and know what you mean about treatments destroying people. However, it does sound as if your mum's experience was particularly severe.

This is always a very difficult decision and one that only you can make. With the stage of your cancer and with lymph node involvement, this does sound like the best option. Few of us escape cancer treatment, without some after effects of treatment. I have had 2 bouts of breast cancer myself and have had more than my share of additional challenges. Despite these, I still manage to live a busy and fulfilling life, some 14 years down the line.

There are different types of chemo and some have more side-effects than others. Please talk to your team tomorrow and tell them your concerns. Here's hooping that they can help to reassure you that you are doing the right thing.

If you do decide to go ahead, I hope that it goes well for you.

Please keep in touch and let us know what you decide to do. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx