Miss Thomas 1988

Hello Miss Thomas 

I'm sorry you have been diognosed with breast cancer, it is a very scary time ,its the fear of the unknown, and of how you will cope  with everything that you will  have to go through .

Believe me when I say ,if I can do it ,you certainly can,I was petrified hence my name on here Jassoscared.

I didn't have a mastectomy, I had a lumpectomy my tumour was 2cm and cancer had spread to my lymph nodes, so it was stage 2. I had all my lymph nodes removed from under my right arm, as it was my right breast that had the cancer tumour. But I have a friend who had a  breast  removed  ,and reconstructed and belive me she is fine now 6 years on,she showed me her breast reconstruction and I would never have known she had had surgery,it looked incredible, and so natural. So I.can reassure you on that one,I was told by my surgeon when I asked what my breast would look like after my operation for lumpectomy and lymph node removal, I was told Jasmin we will do our best to make it look good ,we are all surgically cosmetically trained,so don't worry.  But of course you do. 

I was diognosed in May 2020, had operation  on June 16th 2021 which went well,had a drain which didn't hurt,stayed in that night, only becsuse im not good with anesthetic. Wore a binding ,it goes across  your breasts and fastens with velcro,it just helps to support your breasts. Was given painkillers, and an excercise sheet , which I did daily,just gentle stretching excercises.  

I started chemotherapy once I was healed,8 sessions in all ,I was soooo nervous, but it was not as bad as I had imagined it would be. I didnt feel sick once. I did have a few side effects  as I continued with the first 4 ,but not anything I couldn't handle,bit of tiredness,  funny taste in mouth but it did go. All food tasted just as it always did  and I was able to eat as per normally would. The first 4 chemotherapy were called EC,and then i changed  to Paxitaxol, I didnt get on so well with this drug ,so I changed to another  Taxol  drug ,which was better  suited to my body.  I did lose all my hair  2 weeks after 2 chemotherapy sessions, which was hard as my hair was long, so I shaved it  all off, as It looked worse with bald patches, and it felt good ,I felt in control  lol. 

I finished the 8 chemotherapy  on December 14th . I started taking letrazole chemotherapy hormone drug ( small tablet) on 27th February 2021 which I will be on for 8yrs, it has given me some pain,but raking paracetamol now and again is helping, i was told my body will get used to it in around 3 months, so hopefully pains will go,if not I can change to Tamoxifen and see if its better. I started Radiotherapy and have 15 to do in all,I've just completed my 7th one today, so 8 more to go. You don't feel.a thing while having Radiotherapy, but you must keep completely still,as you are lined up and must be in same position every time. It is tiring.  Before Radiotherapy starts you will have a ct scan and tattoo dots, I didnt want any tattoo dots, but I agreed to have one ,and I have a pen mark a (  X) which is in between both breasts where your cleavage is,and I have a clear sticky tape over it. 

You need to moisturise your skin on your breast, but all this kind of information will be given to you when you are seen.

Each Radiotherapy session takes around 20mins and you have it everyday Monday/Friday  for however many weeks you're oncologist tells you ,you need. 

I hope this post has answered some of your questions ,and I hope it has helped put your mind at rest.  Always here if you need to chat and help you if I can xxx

[@MissThomas1988]‍ , hi i had right breast mastectomy on 10 th of March and lymph node removed for biopsy. Mastectomy and breast reconstruction at the same time. I spend one night in hospital and went home the following day , lots of painkillers and antibiotics for two weeks. I was not able to eat for few days due nausea from anaesthetic. After five days i went to see my surgeon, they checked the wound and removed drains ( drains was a headache a bit as you carry bottle conected to your body ). Since day 3-4 iam going out for a walk even if its 15 min, drink lots of water and no painkillers since day 4. My treatment plan it's chemotherapy after 4-6 weeks but at the moment iam waiting for pathology report to see if cancer spread to lymph node . My Her 2 is positive so chemotherapy its on a list . I hope i give you clear picture, and in a main while its not so scary or painful how it looks . Lots of rest and positive thoughts ! If you have any questions please be free to ask . Zx

Hi Miss Thomas

You are right, Chemo is indeed a terrifying prospect. Having read many of the awesome stories here, I can see that for some it has been difficult but doable, and for others they find it too much. 

Only you can decide whether the balance of outcome probabilities makes Chemo a good choice for you. Everyone's diagnosis and treatment plan is different from the perspective of age, type of surgery and lymph node involvement and follow on treatment. 

 To be honest you will only have true picture of what Chemo  will mean for you once you have tried it, but you have to do what feels right  for you. 
 

I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Grade 3 invasive ductal  carcinoma of the  breast in Dec 2020. Age 73.  The surgery ( lumpectomy) was a breeze in day care. The  sentinel nodes and margins of the tumour were clear. I had no post op pain of any significance , used no painkillers and healed well. Apart from a bit of retching for a couple of hours post operatively, I didn't need any help at home. A kind friend made a beautiful soft  quilted cushion for me to wear under my arm to stop any  rubbing, and another to wear under the seatbelt in the car. The worst thing was driving over bumps in the road. 
 

Within 6 weeks I started Chemo. 

A week on from round 1 of Chemo and Herceptin, I have pretty much decided to come to a halt. After an admission to A&E I've thought about it carefully.  The effects have been unbearable on my body. I cannot even begin to imagine doing this three times more. And I am, in general,  not a quitter. I'll not expand on this- the side effects are well documented in information you will be given. 
 

But that is my story, my reality. Yours  may be quite different and you may have a very different journey. Whatever you do,I wish you the best of all  possible outcomes.    

Hi MissThomas 1988

First of all I am so sorry that you have to go through this difficult time. I was diagnosed with triple positive breast cancer in January, I was also 32 at the time (now 33) and have 2 small children, 6 years and 2 years old.

My treatment plan is 3 rounds of EC chemo, then another 3 rounds of chemo using drugs to target the HER2. Then lumpectomy (although im hoping for mastectomy). Not sure if radiotherapy is on the cards for me but I will be on hormone therapy for at least 5 years. 

I have currently had 2 rounds of EC chemotherapy (my latest session was on Monday). Everyone reacts completely differently on chemo, so I can only share my experience and hopefully put your mind at ease a little bit.

I am currently using the cold cap, although I did lose quite a lot of hair on my crown in the shower yesterday and unfortunately the rest of my hair (which is extremely long and ridiculously thick) became all matted and tangled. My mum came round and spend 5 hours trying to tease the knots out but unfortunately lost a lot of hair and in the end had to to cut a big chunk of good hair away, so im 2 minds at the moment about whether to just bite the bullet and shave it.

As for the actual side effects I have experienced, they have not been as bad as I thought, although rough quite different between the 2 sessions I've had. My 1st session I was extremely fatigued and basically slept for 3 days, but I didn't go off food which was fantastic as it gave me a bit more energy as the week went on. I only had slight nausea for 1 day but I use Gin Gin sweets to help with that. After the 1st 3 days I just felt quite light headed for a while (about 4 days). Then I came round and felt like my 'normal' self.

After my second session on Monday I have felt slightly worse, but only a bit. I haven't been eating as much as I should which has made me feel weak and I've had nausea on and off since Tuesday. Just feel very drained and weak at the moment, trying so hard to get a bit of enery back but feel a bit like im having an outer body experience most of the time.

All I did before I started chemotherapy was plan for the worse and hoped for the best, if it wasn't for my hair matting up yesterday I would probably be in slightly better spirits bit hey ho, it is was it is and what will be will be. Hair grows back and it's not the end of the world. What matters is we all stay strong and support each other through this! We will beat cancer!

If you want to ask any questions just let me know.

All the best

Amy x