Hi Vappejuice,

A very warm welcome to our forum. I am sorry to hear that you have been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Do you know what type or grade it is? I am hoping that it is early stage if you have only been advised to have radiotherapy post-op.

I just wanted to give you a little reassurance. I have had 2 bouts of breast cancer in the past 10 years. The first time, I was totally exhausted all the time and had convinced myself that it had spread via my lymph nodes. I discovered that all of my lymph nodes were clear. The second bout came a year later and, again I convinced myself that it was secondary. Fortunately, it was a seond primary and still hadn't spread. This time I had a double mastectmy and, I haven't looked back since. To start with, I had difficulty sleeping at night, but dozed constantly throughout the day. It took me 4 years for that extreme fatigue to lessen.

It is normal procedure to send the tissue removed in the lumpectomy to pathology to ensure that a wide enough margin has been achieved and that this reduces the chance of any re-growth. If it is not wide enough, then you will need another operation. If a wide enough margin has been achieved, then you don't need to have any further surgery. We all feel nervous at this stage, but you'll find the strength to get through it.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx