Pink Lizzie 

I had breast cancer july 22 it’s a rollercoaster for sure but very doable , I found keeping things normal helped I carried in working and out my big girl pants on Lippy everyday and fought it you will be ok good luck here to help or chat xx 

Hi PinkLizzie,

I am so sorry to hear that the news wasn't good today, but glad to hear that you are getting your MRI tomorrow and should have the result by next week. The MRI will determine whether it will be better to have our surgery before chemo, or vice versa. I am sure that you must be feeling shell shocked tonight - it always hits us hard. Give yourself some time to let it all sink in and you'll soon be ready to get on with your treatment. I have had 2 bouts of breast cancer and I still lead a full life, 14 years on from diagnosis. I am sure that you will too.

Please keep in touch and remember that we are always here for you

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Sorry to hear your news PinkLizzie, I know it’s hard to get your head around all this ,but things have improved so much from years ago .

I was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer last year ,had mastectomies and chemotherapy,surprising how the time flies with all the appointments too. Take everything they through at you ! I have just had reconstruction and cracking on.   Try and stay positive and good luck xxxx

Well, I've had a couple of days to ponder. Phew! Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond, I do appreciate it.  I have a daughter aged 33 who lives alone and is very independent. I have to tell her but I can't do it yet. I don't want to upset or worry her but I know it will, of course it will. I'm going to leave it until Boxing day so I don't spoil Christmas for her. I was hoping there might be a call this morning following the MRI scan which the technician said might happen after the multi-disciplinary team meeting yesterday so that I had a bit more information for her. Didn't happen. I understand that I'm probably facing about a year of treatment which is daunting. Anyway, I wish you all a peaceful, gentle and loving Christmas and hope next year is better for all of us. xx

It's hard telling your children. I was diagnosed 3 or 4 months ago. We had a long holiday booked the next week, my husband and I. Our 4 children are 18 to 25. The doctor was happy for me to go with antiestrogens as ER positive. Before we went I told my eldest daughter. I thought one of them needed to know. But we agreed not to tell the others rill we got back as they would need comforting and have questions. My eldest was mature enough to understand.

It wasn't easy when we got back. Finding I was also HER-2 receptor positive and waiting for surgery, which went brilliantly. I had a lumpectomy of a 2.4 cm tumour which the surgeon removed via my armpit alongside 4 sentinel lymph nodes.

The wound seemed quite marked to start with, but after healing my breasts still look perfectly normal and no sign of anything with my arms by my sides. Cosmetically I'm overjoyed.

More importantly, all 4 lymph nodes were negative, so I'm still stage 2.

On Thursday I had chemotherapy 1st of 6 cycles over 4 plus months. I hated it, and the side effects were not like I expected. No sickness or even nausea to speak of but considerable tiredness. Most side effects were in the cognitive realm or "chemobrain" I had great confusion which was really upsetting, but then it stopped today after 2 days (felt like a week). 

You have a long journey ahead (mines about halfway through), but you can do it, you find new resources within yourself.

I wish you all the good fortune that I have had, like a great surgical result.

You will make the right decision with your daughter, she's a proper adult now and she adores you I'll bet!