Hi, I would like to hear from anybody who had breast cancer last year, I finished all my treatment in November but still get a lot of pain in my breast, is there anybody with the same.

Hi Azalea

I had breast cancer last year - lumpectomy first then mastectomy in May - Chemo then Radiotherpy finishing just before Xmas. I think it probably depends on the Op. I had Lymph nodes removed and still get pain going from under my arm across the mastectomy scar (right side). I think what we must remember is quite a lot has happened to our bodies and it takes time to settle down. It really must depend on the type of treatment we have. I asked my GP how long it will take for me to be back to 'normal' and he said 6 months to 2 years. I know any ache or pain makes you think but I try to remember all the aches and pains I had before all this happened. Then I just took a couple of painkillers and forgot about it - now I stop and think - natural I think after what we have been through. Were you given the name of a 'breast nurse' whilst you were receiving treatment -  some-one you could contact with any queries about your treatment? Mine was good and told me that even after all treatment was finished I could still call her if I was concerned about anything. I think most breast cancer clinics are the same so perhaps you could try them - just to put your mind at rest. Others on this site have had worse or better times of it but all without doubt will help you if they can. Please try not to worry - easier said than done - check it out if you can - don't think that you might be seeing medical staff unnecessarily - they all have much experience of this - you are not the first and won't be the last to contact them with worries - they were probably heartily fed up with me calling them all the time earlier this year but they never showed it.

All the best

Jan x

Hi All

Good news Mammogram - all clear.   Another step over, and only 5 more herceptins to go.  I told the Consultant about my finger joints aching and he said to try glucosumate tablets, so I will give it a go and let you know if it works.

Thanks to you all for reminding me what I've been through and not to be so impatient.

Azalea - I would say that my breast is only just feeling more normal, and then it got squashed yesterday!  But it is ok today.

Thanks again

Anne

xx

hi anne, and all you lovely people !

Good news on the   mamogram. i am so pleased for you.  I have an mri tomorrow - as i have had neck/upper pain pain for a while but it is not cancer related. Just the thought of checks and doctors makes me squirm now! But I have my oncologist on side to get my tooth fixed, and he has sent a letter to the plastic surgeon as the treated breast is wonky and dippy and smaller than the other. Guess that is one thing - the doctors speed you through when you are on their radar.

Colly, i know exactly how you feel wanting everything to be as it was before, and I had also seen a counsellor like caroline.  Please consider getting some help with one of these lovely people because no matter how good your partner is or your friends, this horrible disease affects you in so many ways and talking to someone who can talk you through and reassure you of your progress makes the most enromous difference. I cannot tell you how much difference it made to me, depression is gone, mood is lifted and i feel so much better.

by the way ladies, meopause and dryness - REPLENS, it is amazing the difference it makes, the hair growth (called FAST) shampoo is definately working.Give it a go!

Love to all

Sara xxxx

hi Girls

Anne, that's brilliant news about the clear mammogram.... I am so pleased for you honey.

I will have to agree with Linda (lil Sis) that counciller made all the difference to me.... I think the main reason being... I was allowed to cry.... I don't mean a few tears, I mean really cried.... in fact on my first appointment I sobbed for the whole hour.... I cried because I had cancer... I cried because I lost both my breasts... because my husband was a cheating scumbag.... for the woman I used to be... for being so sick of being poked and prodded.... for feeling so depressed... In fact i even cried because i felt like crying all the time..... and the counciller told me..."IT WAS NORMAL"... It was so nice to finally let it all out instead of trying to be strong for the kids, for my ex and for everybody else.

My counciller is situated in the same suite of the hospital that they do the chemo in...... so she is very familiar with cancer... in fact she is a cancer counciller.

Ask your doctor or your breast nurse to refer you........ I always swore i would never see a counciller.... Never again.... I would recommend it to anyone because it really helped me.

Do you all realise that Lou and Rose would be so proud of us all..... helping each other.... helping new members..... being a family

We are their legacy.... they helped us, we help others, and they in turn will go on to help other people.

I once had a phone call from a friend, who's wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer, saying she really needed to talk to somebodywho understood.... so I rang her.... after 90 minutes of talking we were saying our goodbye and she told me how much my phone call had helped her... so I told her that it had helped me too..... and she said she didn't understand how it could help me..... so I said, "Because now there is a reason.... If I was able to help you, then there is a reason to me having the cancer"

Think about it..... when you first get diagnosed, you think WHY ME?...... helping somebody else deal with the same puts it into perspective a bit dont you think?

take care all

Love always

Caz xxxxxxxxxxxxx

p.s..... The wedding last week was brilliant, we had such a laugh. xxx

Caroline,

Simply beautiful - couldnt have put it better myself! 

just called by to see how you all are, no news from Tony

love sara xxxx

hi all hope al is well

just had fantastic week in Italy with my lovely family xx i too hoping all well with everyone miss hearing from our Tony hope all ok xxxx xxx

love and hugs xxxnina

Hi girls/Tony, hope you are all fine and dandy, Caz if speaking to a councillor helped then thats great, I know people who swear by it and you have been through loads with your ex, and between that and your mastectomy you must have felt so down. Nina glad you had a great holiday, I'm off to Cabo Roig on 25th with my 9 girl cousins (who are all sisters) my aunt has 9 girls and 4 boys, ranging from 54 down to 34, when I was a little girl i thought my aunt was fat, but she was just always pregnant, Irish catholic, so she obviously didnt believe in contraception, anyway we were all brought up together and I cant wait to get away and have some fun, I had a choice of going to salou with John and his son to go to theme parks, water parks and Barcelona football stadium to watch a game, or to lie at a pool at a villa with my 9 cousins lol.

I'm doing great, feeling very positive about life and trying to eat healthily and get my swimming done 3 times a week but its only been twice a week recently, my little puppy Lilly has also been keeping me busy with house training and lots of walks, but at least shes sleeping till 7.30 instead of 4am (which wasnt good). Ive cut my hours down in work and now only do 9-3 mon-fri which is great, I dont feel as tired because of that. We really need to set a date and all meet up, when suits everybody? why dont you all decide when you cant go and we'll work it from there?

Anyway its 9am, just back from walking Lilly, I'm back in bed with laptop and I might even go back to sleep for an hour then Ive got an afternoon of shopping for some holiday clothes with my friend and a bit of lunch too.

Take care Col xxx

Just popping by to say Hi and hope you are all okay....we all seem to be coming out of a bit of a dark spell although still not totally perfect ay....

Much Love

T xx

Well Ladies and Tony ( where are you ) Just popped in to say that Chemo and operation Tumor and lymph nodes  out of the way.... Find out on 26th the pathology results Then onto Radiotherepy ITs been a long hard year But I hope it wll be worth it. Hope all you loverly ladies ( n Tony) are all doing great xxxxxxxxxxx Take care all

Well Ladies and Tony ( where are you ) Just popped in to say that Chemo and operation Tumor and lymph nodes  out of the way.... Find out on 26th the pathology results Then onto Radiotherepy ITs been a long hard year But I hope it wll be worth it. Hope all you loverly ladies ( n Tony) are all doing great xxxxxxxxxxx Take care all

hi, i have not got breast cancer, but my mom has and she has had in the last 4 weeks a lump removed then her full breast.  Could someone please help me, i need help.  i know that i do not feel  what she is goin through, but even each time, i try to talk to her about it, she shuts up and anythin that goes wrong, she goes off the deep end and throws things around, is this normal.  Help.

dear dear Hopful

you r in the right place to chat anytime xxx she will b very confused as u will. but we have all been there xx tell us a bit about yourself , try and get u mum to read thru some of these old posts we have come such long way xx it is so hard on u all. she is just going thru the angry guilty feelings .how old r u ? please let us help u xxxx

big big hugs please know u r not alone xx u can also chat to her cancer nurse as she can xxx

love nina xxxxxxxxx

Hi Holpful,

Yes honey it is normal..... it is a very confusing time for your mum.... and for you, I know..... Your mum's first priority will be to protect you.... so her frustration comes out as anger...... She would rather you think of her as angry rather than scared.... and believe me babe, she will be scared to death.

You haven't told us how old you are..... a lot of us on here have children, my own are 21 (son) and 15 (daughter) and they had their own personal battles dealing with my having cancer..... Cancer doesn't just affect the person that gets it but the whole family too... If you would like to add me on facebook and want me to put you in touxh with one of my children to see if they can help you cope, then please add me  caroline bennett (picture of me in an off the shoulder top)

But you will always be welcome on this site, and we will all help you as much as we can.... You may even be able to get you mum to come on here too... it really helps having other people to talk to that "really" understand what you're going through cos they have been there themselves.

Please keep coming on here and talking to us.... i know from personal experience.... it really does help

Tony.... its lovely to hear from you babe.... I do hope things are on the up for you..... We have all been in that horrible dark place... all I can do is hold out my hand and help to guide you

Love  always

Caz xxxxxxxxxx

Hi everyone,

I posted yesterday on pain after  lampectomy but also I would like to let you know that I got quite good results yesterday when I saw my consultant. Margins taken out 7mm and the lypmh nodes are clear. I had agresive type of c. I feel much better now ,I can hope that maybe I can beat this.

Thank you all for your support without you all I dont think I would have managed to stay strong. The fight is not over yet, on Friday I will have op to close my wound and they want to start with chemo asap.

I hope you lovely people are ok and let us know what is happening with you

Love M xx

ps

Hi Holpful, I agree with Caroline, maybe your mum can join in, there are so many people with different experiences there is alway someone who has been through similar thing. When I was told I got c I feelt angry, hurt the feelings were all over the place. Once I was in the car i just screamed. The worse bit was  waiting. Once I was told what will happen I felt like I have some control and this site has helped me a lot. Please dont research the internet because that will not help you  it could upset you. This is the place were all questions can be asked and for sure there will be people who will answer and help as much as they can.

Please replay and let us know how you doing

M xxx

Hiya Holpful I can only agree with what everybody else has already said, try and get your mum to come on and talk to us, she must be so frightened as will you be too, honestly we are all just normal women who have been through the ups and downs of breast cancer and the treatment that goes along with it.

Anne great news re mammogram xxx

Evening to you all,

I just wanted to say hi and hope you are all ok. I had my drain taken out today, wow what a relief to be without the tube and the bottle. On Monday the 1st of August I have the meeting about the treatment, At the moment I am not scared but the thought of the chemo makes me nervous. If anyone has had the lumpectomy would you be kind and let me know how long after you were experiencing a pain in your breast.

Thank you and love to all you fighters

Mx

Caz,

What lovely words and ones that make me feel so much better...We all here of people saying we/I am here for you and can't quite work out how they can understand. However I know that our group on here know exactly what the score is and have a better understanding to what we are going though.

You are truly amazing with all that you are and have gone through so your words mean even more knowing that you still have time to fit little me in!

Much Love

T xxxx

Hi

I am after some advice and i throught that this would be the place to come.I had my masectomy the spring before last and then chemo and now i am on Tamoxifen and Zoledex injections.However the menapause does not seem to be showing up.I was worried about getting pregnant (althrogh my periods have stopped)and so the doctor did a blood test to see if i am still fertile and i amI am stage 4 althrogh it is in remission at the moment but if i am honest i know i will end up back on chemo again so if i want a histerectomy or just have the eggs taken out i should probably crack on but frankly if the menapause will come in a few months anyway i would rather avoid more operations.I was wondering how long it took for other people before the hot flushes kicked off.thank you for listening

Hello you lovely people... I have just come down of cloud 9 I am free of this damn awful disease. Got my resulys on tuesday.

I would like to thank you all for being here and let you know reading other peoples stories have helped me thro the months and stages of cancer.

Hi Spirits

That is just wonderfullllllll news, I am so happy for you.It makes me feel better and with more hope now.

Thank you for letting us know.

M x