Hello :)

I'm really sorry to hear about your diagnosis, it's a shock isn't it?

I'm 33 and have three small children. I went to the doctors after I found a small lump in my right breast in January and they also referred me to rapid diagnostics in breast care at the hospital. I waited about three weeks but on the actual day the consultant had a feel and said that it felt like a benign lump, common in my age group, but would sent me for an ultrasound anyway. The lady doing the ultrasound said she was unsure what it was and also found a lymph node was swollen (I had my second covid jab 6 days before and I think this is why it was swollen), but it worried her enough to take a biopsy of the lump and also the lymph node. She also placed a clip in at the time. I prepared myself for the worst over the next ten days and when I went in for the results she said the cells had come back cancerous, but the lymph node was clear. 

The diagnosis from the biopsy was grade 2 DCIS (Ductal carcinoma in situ), and they said I would need surgery,  radiotherapy and 5 years of tamoxifen which blocks your eosteogen (mine was positive to oestrogen).
Surgery to remove the lump and some lymph nodes was two weeks later and a lot less awful than I thought. 
 

However, when the results came back they said that it had come back grade 3 and therefore I would need chemotherapy. I was really upset about this as I had got used to the idea of everything else but not chemo. 

I'm having my first round of chemo this Friday which I'm quite nervous about but in good spirits.

I know yours might be a little bit different to mine but I found waiting for answers the absolute worst and tried to find someone similar to me on here without much luck. I'm happy to answer any questions if I can that might help :) 

Really hope you are doing ok 

sarah xx

Thank you for your response Sarah, much appreciated. It makes it easier to know that others are going through this too. I'll have my fingers crossed that you chemo goes ok.

For me I think it's the waiting to know what's next that is making me so scared. I'm generally a positive person, but this has just knocked me for six.

I'm clinging onto the fact that the consultant said it was treatable, just really want to know what I'm dealing with and have a plan.

I'm due back for the biopsy results at the end of next week, which seems like a lifetime away.

thank you,

H

Hi Ladies

I have been where you are as has my sister and my mum and believe it or not we don't have the BRAC gene! My sister and I had same-stage 3-lymph nodes involved-my sister had more- we both had surgery/chemo/radiotherapy.All I can say is we both felt a lot better once treatment plan was started and you can 'get on with it'. My sister did well and she is past the 20 year mark with no recurrence and I am 6 years past with no recurrence.It's a hard road but u can do it.live to you both xx

No problem, and thank you.

I know waiting is really hard. All I know about treatment is if they think they can remove it and it's small enough, surgery seems to be around two weeks after diagnosis, but if it's large then sometimes they will do chemo before surgery aiming to reduce the size.

It really does depend on what they find from the biopsies though, and it seems that most people's are quite individual from what I've read along the way. Treatment is tailored to your unique results. 

After surgery they usually wait around 4 weeks to start further treatment (chemo or radio) to allow you to recover.

xx

Thank you alibongo. That's really lovely to hear! I'm feeling a lot better since I have a plan in place, and always been a positive person. Not really ready to start feeling rubbish but I'm glad it's starting and I can see the end of the road (hopefully!!)

sarah xx

You will have very good and  very down days.I found the first morning after chemo when I was in my own I had a huge wobble and thought I can't do this!Like it all came tumbling down on me-I wasn't really ill from the first round of chemo but just felt overwhelmed-have to say though that the district nurses who visited me and the oncologist etc all really help you stay positive-make sure you reach out for help too.

Thank you. I did say at my pre chemo chat today that I would be happy for the councillors to call me because although I'm a really positive person I struggle when I'm not busy. I usually work long days at the hospital and was in my final year at university so I've gone from doing A LOT to next week nothing at all and I think I might struggle with feeling low at this point. Will take all the support I can get :). 
 

Did you get all the side effects? The aches, pains, sickness, loss of appetite, sore skin? 
 

xx

I had FEC-T regime which although I lost my hair and was tired I didn't really feel too awful- they have great anti sickness drugs -I only threw up once! Mainly headaches.when I went onto the T part of chemo (taxotere) I did get every side effect going- inc losing nails eyelashes-eyebrows etc-and weirdly I really couldn't have cared less! You learn to embrace the new you! I was very tired by the end of treatment-again you learn to pace yourself.My taxotere dose was reduced to 80% in the end  . I must say though my sister had exactly the same treatment regime as me and really sailed through in comparison-it really is different for everyone.I just told myself if it's doing that to me then it's definitely killing the cancer cells! All the best to you xx

Hi

I'm so sorry to hear what you are going through and I have to say I'm in a similar situation only on the left side where I found a lump just before Easter. I had my initial appointment last week with several biopsies taken after a mammogram/ultrasound as the found another lump and some calcification (but I'm not really sure what that means) the consultant told me the lump I had found was extremely hard and she didn't like the look of it and depending on the pattern of the calcification would see if anything had spread. I've been going out of my mind and had a phone call today asking me to come in for my results at 8.30am on Monday next week. I am 44 with 2 girls age 8 and 13 I keep thinking I'm coping ok but then losing my temper or being really irritable and then tearful. My husband is being supportive but he is really worried too. I just seem to have no patience with the girls either at the moment and the seem to be playing me up more than usual and then i feel so bad for being grumpy with them.  I just want to know what I'm dealing with especially as the consultant has already prepared me the outcome might not be good. I am also wondering what happens at the results appointment?

I hope that you don't have too long to wait for your results, sending you all my best wishes.

X

Thank you so much for sharing this. Although it's awful that you, your mum and sister have all been through this, I suppose in one way you all understand what the others are going through and can support each other.

it's so good to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I'm trying to stay positive (my husband has been out and bought every 'superfood' going to try and stop it spreading - I'm up for trying anything and at least he's being practical!)

thank you