Hello  I'm a new user here ,I have read about your diagnosis,and I had breast cancer 16 years ago grade 3 very aggressive back then.i had a lump taken out and chemo and all my nodes taken out under my arm which left me with lymphodema which is a small price to pay for your life .now I have just been dignosed with secondary breast cancer which is gone to my rib and sternum and they told me my  sacrum aswell.i feel very anxious and very depressed as I didn't expect it to come back after all those years I am struggling to be honest with the diagnosis,I have 3 men in my family which I am probably driving mad with worry my 2 sons already suffer from mental health problems and my partner that I have been with for 35 years +don't know how to deal with it as he alo has mental health problems I feel so alone .I currently take ribociclib tabs 40mg and letrozole this is all take and my current hospital says I can have a second opinion which I have asked for to the Marsden. But my oncologist has put doubts in my head saying that they might suggest that I go on another treatment if I am referred  and that is fine  by her. Which makes me think am I on the right treatment for the kind of cancer I have .now I have discovered that I have lumps come up on my neck and my oncologist isn't worried about it .I am so afraid right now and I don't know if any one else has had this happen to them please if you have please let me know .thank you.

Hi Lucylou,  I am so sorry to hear about your diagnosis.  It really is rubbish isn't it.  I had stage 3 lobular breast cancer 12 years ago and had lumpectomy, chemo radiotherapy and tamoxifen/letrazole.  Now I have just been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer with mets in spine, ribs and pelvis.  I am also on Ribociclib and Exemestane (as I did not get on with letrozole) and have a four weekly injection of denosumab which is for the bones.  I think you must be on the right treatment as your diagnosis sounds similar to mine.  It is very worrying about having lumps and pains you wonder if the cancer is spreading.  I just wanted you to know that you are not alone.  Is there a Maggies centre or something similar near to where you live as it is good to talk to a professional.  I am here if you need to chat.  Sending you hugs.

Lee x

Hello Lee thank you for your support  and response. I think that some of these bumps on my neck is a response to some of the side affects of my treatment I was told .so apart from this to be honest I am been referred  to maggies centre which might help me I do hope so ,sometimes I feel so helpless and as I have 2 boys grown up sons I know they have their own lives to live and I don't want to be a burden to them or anyone .I feel anything I say to them is depressing and they always think that I am a negative person.but as I cannot get my head around my diagnosis and the only support I can get is from my Councillor and when I talk to them I come away sometimes feeling worse than when I went there .I am and don't need to feel like this,when I fist was dignosed back in October last year, I had been going to the hospital for 2 years complaining of pain under my ribs as initially I was diagnosed back in 2008 with breast cancer grade 3 had a lump removed and nymph glands removed which left me with lymphodema. Which I am greatfull for to be alive.16 years later I went for 2 years with a rash and pain under my ribs and rash on my breast to the hospital,they done mammograms and a scan on the breast and sent me away saying "everything was fine ,again,I was  in the dark not knowing and not offered a ct scan at all.i feel very upset to know that if I had had a ct scan 2 years ago I wouldn't be in this position now and at this stage of disease and mabey I would have had a chance to be cured. I am just airing my views as I don't want this to happen to anyone else .please if anyone out there don't feel happy with what they have been told or they don't feel right in their body then insist in a second opinion and ypu have a right to have that second opinion. I feel like now I'm helpless and don't trust anyone anymore.thank you for ypur support.

I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis Lee aswell sometimes life can feel unfair .I wish there was a proper cure for that horrible disease for sure the person that gets a cure for that horrible disease will be a god send .I pray that you will get through this as I also pray that I will also.all we all can just do is hope .thank you for your support.hugs back to you.x

Hi, I’ve just read your post and the positive responses from others. I just wanted to add my note of positivity to them.

it is almost 5 years since, following chemo, radio and surgery for oesophageal cancer three years earlier, the cancer  sneaked into a lung.

Since then I have had an immunotherapy infusion of trastuzumab ( Herceptin)- it takes 30 mins every three weeks) and my next one will be number 79!! 

I feel fine and live a normal happy life. My best wishes. John 

Hello John,thank you for your positive response I hope and pray every thing goes all well for ypu.i know they say that there is a light at the end of the tunnel let's hope so.i try and have faith in the doctors but I have some faith but not alot .there is some cure out there for this kind of disease  but I know there is .its finding it is the problem.take care  my friend and good luck with all your treatment.  Regards lucylou.

Thank you Lucylou58.

it seems that those with the greatest difficulties with cancer, like you, also have the greatest capacity to feel for others.

Stories like yours make me feel that what I’ve had and have, are nothing like as hard to deal with as those of others, like you.

it’s hard to know what to say, except that it takes very special people, again like you,  to deal with some of the cancer complexities they face.

Keep on trusting….and feeling for others, which I’m sure you will do…even when the light at the end of the tunnel, feels like an on rushing train. 

Thank you for your reply.i have faith in God as God is our saviour. And the doctors are not God even tho sometimes they play that roll in telling people how long they have to live.we don't know what tmrrow will bring mabey a cure .but mabey hope for some people like myself and there is nothing wrong with hope .if there isn't hope then its time to say goodbye.life is about being happy and having quality of life and being happy with the people who we love and care for.we all know one day we will all leave this earth one way or another but we have to have hope if we don't its a black hole we are looking at .

mental health gets worse for people who know that they have an illness and its incurable.bit treatable but as soon as its time for another pet scan the results seems to take forever and then it's a very worrying time to get back the results thinking in your head has it gone anywhere else ,has it shrunk is it still there have I got to live with this illness for the rest of my life .it all goes inside your head thinking every day night and day.it plays a role and can take its toll on your mental health to the extent where your either live with it and except it or you think about quality of life and bad thoughts come into your head .

I'm sorry for going on but things like this I'm describing as this is wot has happened to me .I'm at the stage where I think about trying to be happy and cope the best way I can or just give up and just throw rhe towel in and literally give up.so I'm at  this stage where I think I'm in the hospital all the time is this how my life is gonna be .I was always a very active person a carer a person who gave not received .only God knows what life will bring for me.thankyou all for your kind words.

i take my hat off to some of you all who has battled with this horrible disease for many years and still a happy person and see the light at the end if the tunnel I just can't see mine right now.god is good mabey we all will get a second chance in our lives .don't know what tmrrow will bring.good luck to everyone ..