Wishing you lots of hugs and postive thoughts for tomorrow xxxxxSally

Thanks so much Sally xx

You're bound to be nervous.  I've been through this - just had my last chemo today (FEC-75 x 4) and moving onto radiotherapy and herceptin, followed by hormone tablets after, because mine was triple positive but they did manage to remove everything with the lumpectomy.  Fingers crossed they've got all yours.  I understand that only 20% of breast cancers are HER-2 positive, so I wasn't expecting my result & I did get very upset about it when I heard.  However, I will say I was terrified of the first chemo, and it went fine.  I felt a bit unwell during it, but not much and after the first day or two, I've just been very tired. I've had some late side effects, the my nurse said I've been unusually unlucky.  It hasn't been nearly as bad as I imagined.  I have always been a positive person too (not so much at the moment!), but ALL of us are anxious at the point you're at.  Big hugs.  You can cope with whatever comes.

Hope it went OK.  Thinking of you x

Hi banksy

Thanks for your message.  Wow well it's all go....The lump was 38mm not the 15mm we thought so on weds I'll find out what percentage was cancer and what was pre  cancer....Not that it makes any difference to me..... and if I'm herceptin positive.  Then I'll see oncologist, have chemo, radiotherapy and hormone...How similar are we !!   It has finally hit me after 7 weeks of blasé and I'm so scared of chemo BUT I will find my positive vibes again I just need help in facing this first step.  Hope yr ok.... Love the name big fan lol, hugs Linda xxx

Hi nicrey,

Thanks hun, will take you up on that hugs xxx

Had a pre-chemo hair cut.....just short not shaved off lol....Also boob is stage 2 and lymph nodes stage 3..... Xx

Love and hugs.  I've done a long post about how to survive this (surviving FEC).  I'll updae on the radio & herceptin as I get to it in the hope it'll help you.  I was honestly terrified when I was at the same stage as you, but that has gone better.  It will pass, if slowly.  There may well be all sorts of difficulties you didn't expect (the psychological ones have been the worst for me, because I expected the physical thing to be worse than it was, but didn't expect the psychological ones.  I've spoken to a lot of people now who've been through it who say they're a different person at the end.  Luckily, they've all said 'better').  When I first talked to my oncologist about chemo, she wanted to put me on FEC-T.  If they haven't told you how strongly HER-2 positive you are, ask.  I was moderate (4%) and so we eventually agreed FEC-75, which has been better, even though I've not always reacted as well to it as I gather most people do. If it's 6%, you might be better on FEC-T.  Do you know if your lymph galnds & margins were clear?  Once your first chemo is over and you know what to expect, it won't be so bad.  I recommend keeping a daily diary of how you feel physically, firstly because you can use it to get your team to adjust your steroids etc if they need to, but also because it helps you to compare what you were like in the previous cycle - the first cycle will set the pattern.  In my case, I got really tense muscles around day 4, which also meant I couldn't sleep during the night and was really ratty.  It helps to be able to warn those around you & reassures you that anything you feel will get better.  Good luck & keep posting xx Gill 

Oh! Just seen the lymph status you posted later.  Keep positive.  My friend had the same and actually had avery  large number of  lymph nodes removed.  It was about 10 years ago and she's fine now.