Hi Em,

I'm glad to hear that your surgery is behind you and that your margins were clear. I'm sure that you were gutted to get upgraded from a 2 to a 3 and thus needing chemo. I hope that your oncology appointment on Wednesday went well and that you now have a better idea of your treatment plan. You should find things much easier to cope with, now that you know what is happening and can start to move forward with treatment.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on with it all.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hello jolamine, thanks for your message. I am a bit gutted about the chemo but to be honest more shocked by the hormone therapy he recommended. He wants to do zoladex to completely shut down my ovaries and letrazole for 10 years. This seems so severe and aggressive for a small stage 1 cancer, I was only expecting tamoxifen. I feel very upset about the prospect of full menopause at 35 and concerned about the implications of having no estrogen on bones etc. The whole treatment plan just sounds like such a lot for what I was initially told was a very good prognosis cancer xx

Hi Em,

I can understand how you feel about the hormone therapy. They will normally treat your bones at the same time to stop them from deteriorating. It does sound like a lot, but put your trust in your care team. They know what they’re doing.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Jolamine do you know if it’s normal that the doctors say I’m stage 1 no spread purely based on the lymph nodes under my arm being clear? I haven’t had any other scans on the rest of my body and I just can’t shake some of the symptoms I have had since I was first diagnosed, mainly the tight chest. I know it probably is just anxiety like everyone is telling me but I don’t understand how can they be sure it hasn’t spread? 
xx

Hi Em,

I am not a doctor, but as I understand it, the scan that you had will have shown your cancer and the lymph nodes under your arm. If the cancer had spread, it would have spread via these lymph nodes, so if nothing is showing there, you are likely to be clear. It is 14 years ago since I was diagnosed with my first bout of breast cancer. At that time, I had all of the symptoms that you mention, but they all disappeared, as soon as I had surgery. Most of us imagine all sorts of additional symptoms at this stage, but they usually settle with time. When you had surgery, any breast tissue removed was sent to pathology, to check that there was no sign of spread, so you should be able to rest, assured that there is nothing else there.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thanks Jolamine, the doctors and nurses have all told me the same that if the lymph nodes are clear it hasn’t spread. I know I’m being silly, I am just having a hard time believing it for some reason. Maybe my anxiety will settle when I start chemo xx

Hi Em,

You're not being silly at all. I expect that your anxiety will settle once you start chemo, but if not, they will do a test after you've had some chemo, to see how well it is working. This will take another look at your lymph nodes and should reassure you that there has been no spread.

Kind regards,

 Jolamine xx

Hi Em

I just got told yesterday that I need a mastectomy and booked in for 7th May. I'm 57 and I only found it coz of routine mammogram.  The Dcis I have is pre cancerous and a small area of invasive.  I am in shock and a little scared but it's been caught early and I'm not going to die so if I look at it like that losing a breast is a small pric e to pay

The breast nurse at the clinic yesterday was lovely and talked me through the op and macmillan are going to try and get me a grant for new mastectomy bras.  I will get a prosthetic boob 6 weeks after surgery.

I'm here if you need to talk

Hello, thanks for your message. Mine is half DCIS and half invasive cells. I just struggle so much to believe it’s stage 1 and I caught it this early myself (I’m way below the age for routine mammograms), no amount of reassurance is helping my anxiety. I find it hard to believe i’d be that lucky I suppose, when others especially young women get much worse news. 
Glad to hear yours has been caught early, will you be having further treatment after surgery? x