Hi, I’m new to this forum and just wanted to share my story and reach out to others in a similar situation.

I was diagnosed with ductal breast cancer, grade 3, that is oestrogen receptor positive in November and was told that the lump was approximately 11mm.  I had a lumpectomy at the beginning of the month and two sentinel nodes were removed during surgery also.  I had my results last week and there were three tumours and non-invasive cancer cells (DCIS) totalling 47mm, which is much larger than first thought.  Margins were not achieved and cancer was present in both nodes, which means I need another operation to remove some more tissue and, hopefully, achieve the margins and remove all of my axilla lymph nodes.  The op is planned for the end of February.

Since my diagnosis, I’ve gone through every emotion possible but I’m trying to stay positive and strong.  I’ve explored having a mastectomy but my consultant doesn’t think it’s necessary at this time as I have a lot of breast tissue so it should be possible to achieve the margins.  I am struggling with not knowing what is best but wanting to trust in my consultant.  My mum died from secondary breast cancer when she was just a little younger than I am now (she was 54, I am 57) and it was only two years from diagnosis of primary cancer to her death.  It’s hard not to draw comparisons and worry that things may progress quickly although I know that things have moved on in the past 30 years.

I’ve reached out to the breast cancer nurses at my hospital and they have helped to reassure me but I still have lots of thoughts running through my head, especially when I wake half way through the night.  I have an appointment on Thursday for pre-op counselling where they will tell me exactly what will happen during the operation and this is also an opportunity to ask more questions.  My first op was done as day surgery and I recovered well but this time I will need to remain in hospital overnight and will be discharged with a drain, so I’m expecting a slightly longer recovery period.

The hardest period is the three week wait for results and waiting for the next plan to be put in place.  It is so much easier when I know the next step.