Hi .

I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer on the 16th July,  officially diagnosed the 23rd July and surgery booked for the 17th August. 

Guess I should tell the story sbout the leading up to the diagnosis first. 

I,m a 50 year old female , started menopause aged 38, periods stopped in 2012 (irrelevant I know!) Anyway a couple of months previously I started getting a itch on the side of my breast , just a itch nothing else . At first I ignored it, I suffer a dry skin condition so itching isn't unusual for me, this itch however started to get worse and it drove me mad, then I'd wake up itching , it got to the point I was making my skin sore.

I'd had 2 reminders about a mammogram so decided to ring and make a appointment figuring if it came back clear I'd go to my G.P , however the hospital called me in for a second mammogram and at that appointment she told me it was cancer but would need to do a biopsy and check some cells in a lymph node as that looked angry , on the 23rd I had the results and confirmed the lymph node was also cancer , so on the 17th August I had surgery to remove the lump and lymph nodes .

The 3rd Sept I was called in for the results and they told me my cancer was bigger than what they thought and upgraded my cancer stage to a 3 , they also told me they had removed all 18 of my nodes and 13 of them also had cancer so  chemo and radiotherapy is needed and a MRI to see if it's spread elsewhere. 

On the 22nd September I have to have another operation because they didn't get clear margins , I,m not looking forward to this .

I,m also confused as to why they wouldn't be doing the MRI before a second surgery. 

I,m not aware of any breast cancers in my family , don't have family or friends to talk to and mainly feel alone .