Thank goodness you had good news. I'm absolutely terrified. I can hardly cope, I don't know how I can make it to Thursday without a complete break down. I'm in the same situation you were in when you were waiting. I'm 47 mammogram and ultrasound looked suspicious so I had a punch biopsy (4 samples) I was basically told to expect bad news and sent away to wait.

i feel like my health has declined since then. I can barely eat it sleep, I've lost weight, short of breath etc. I was perfectly well when I went for my appointment on Thursday. The wait is torture. I have teenagers and I'm trying to act normal in front of them. My husband is being great but there's nothing he can say or do to help.

 Your message has given me a tiny bit of hope x

Hi Moll72

im so sorry to hear you're going through this horrible time. It's the most scared I had ever been, it was on my mind all the time and like you my anxiety made me a complete wreck. I would wake up in the night scared for my children, read every symptom again and again on different sites and really had resigned myself to having it. I truly believe you will be okay because as soon as you get your results you will have this awful torture over, the chances are you will be one of the many lucky ones like me but if it is the worst case scenario you will have a wonderful team of experts who can help you fight this horrible disease. My auntie has just been diagnosed and she said the waiting was the worst part now she knows she can look at how to fight it, she feels much more positive.

Nothing will take the worry away but not long to wait now, try and keep busy and I found it helpful to have someone to talk to about my fears, have you got someone who can help to reassure you?

wishing you all the luck for Thursday.

sarah

There's probably no right or wrong way to cope with this situation.

Do what you feel helps the most and make sure you keep talking about how you're feeling and what you are worrying about as holding it all in isn't good for anyone !

Hope so much you get a good outcome x

Hi Emma,

I totally agree with all you have said.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thank you Jolamine

I only have a limited experience of all this, but I will help if I can as this site helped me.

Best wishes

Emma

Hi Moll72

How are you doing today, hope you are ok x

Hi there

i feel like crap to be honest . I called my hospital as I was feeling so wobbly. I've basically been told to expect a diagnosis on Thursday. She said the results on ultrasound and mammogram were both 4 (so cancer suspected). She did say it's very encouraging that the lymph nodes look ok. She explained what the possible treatments would be in what order, depending on the actual biopsy results which are still not back. She said that a lady who works with her carried on working through her entire treatment and was fine. (I wouldn't be able to do that because I work with children though)

the results are not actually in yet but she said in her opinion it will most likely be cancer. It's about 2.5cm. She said the benign conditions that mimic cancer on ultrasound etc are extremely rare. 
 

I don't know what to do with myself. I mentioned it to my daughter at the weekend (that it's a possibility) but I've not said anything to my son or my parents who've had so much on their plate already lately. I'm dreading it so much. Everyone we've ever know who've had cancer have died. They are all going to take it really hard 

i 

Hi Moll,

Sorry to hear that you're not feeling so good today. I was in the same position as you when I was first diagnosed. I had lost both parents, a lot of relatives and close friends to cancer and I consulted Dr Google, which was the worst possible thing I could have done. I convinced myself that I was on my way out too.

There is 10 years between my mother's passing and my first diagnosis. You hear how cancer treatments are improving all the time, but I really found evidence of this. There was just no comparison between the diagnosis, treatment and after care which my mum experienced and that which I had. Instead of dying with breast cancer, a number of people are now living with it.

It is always difficult to break the news to family and friends. The more positive you can be when telling them, the better they will take it. How did your daughter react? 

Waiting for results is always one of the hardest parts. Still, Thursday is gradually creeping up.

Don't forget to let us know how you get on.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi Emma,

We all have to start somewhere and, we welcome anyone who can contribute to the forum. You may not feel that you have a lot to offer at the moment, but your experience can be invaluable to a 'newbie', who is at their wits end with worry.

I had great help from others on this forum when I was first diagnosed and this is why I try to help others who are so worried in their early days.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi

I have just seen your message and I am absolutely devastated that the outcome is looking like cancer.

It is difficult to know what to say.

I also have lost family and friends to cancer, although when my mum was being treated for bowel cancer, my friend's mum was also being treated in the same hospital for breast cancer, and whilst my mum passed away, my friend's mum is still going strong and cured 9 years later.  Her treatment was hard and I remember it made her very poorly but it worked... and that was a while ago now so lots will have improved and changed since then.

It sounds as though it has been caught early, which is good.

As far as telling family, it has to be your choice, and what you think is best, but it may be less shocking for them in two stages... like you have told your daughter, then she can get ready for the next news.

I told one sister, but not the other when I was waiting for results, as I knew one would be level headed and the other would not, so you know them best to judge what to do... just do what feels right for you just now.

They will want to support you and this will give you strength.

Have hope that if it is cancer there will be a treatment course ready.

I can understand now why everyone says the waiting is the worst, and it is better to know, so you know what's next.

Keep strong, will be thinking about you x

Thank you so much for your words weewitchie. Xx

Hi Moll

I hope you are ok x

Hi Moll

I hope you are ok x

Hi there, thank you for your message Emma.

im kind of ok thanks. I was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. It is hormone responsive which is a good thing apparently. The lymph nodes appear to be ok but they will remove the first two I think she said. I was expecting worse news in the end, after that awful week of waiting, so it's the best bad news I could have got really. 

So, The plan is surgery, but not for another 6-10 weeks which is a bit of a pain as obviously I want to get on with it all. And hopefully 'just' tamoxifen after.  I'm focusing on that being the plan. Hopefully I will avoid chemo & I will possibly avoid radiotherapy too as I am going for a masectomy. I've just been reading up on tamoxifen and so many women have horrendous symptoms on it. Oh well, I will just go with it and hope that I'm one of the few that seem to say that it's not that bad. Xx

Hi

It does sound as if it has at least been caught early and hopefully the lymth nodes will be clear.

The wait for the surgery is long, I hope its just 6 weeks not 10, as obviously your going to be worried all that time and will just want the opperation done as quick as possible, so that you can concentrate on the follow up treatment.

I hope you have been given reassurance that the wait will not make any difference; you would think if they needed to act quickly they would !

How have your family taken the news, it obviously impacts everyone around you and I hope you all getting plenty of support xx

The family have been great because fortunately  I've been able to deliver the news in quite a positive way. The hospital were incredibly encouraging and I was able to pass on a lot of good, positive information. It could have been a lot worse.

My first question was is that a chance it can spread if I have to wait that long and I was very reassured that it wouldn't. If it was more urgent I'm sure I'd have been in there next week xx

That's great, as although the news wasn't the best, like you said, it wasn't the worst, and it sounds like a very positive outlook, once the treatment is done.  Keeping positive will keep you well !!

Will you be able to carry on working, as I remember you were concerned that working with children, you may not be able to during the treatment? xx

I have been told to work up until surgery. They said that women who carry on as normal as possible tend to recover better from their surgery (psychologically I guess they mean... it's preferable to moping around waiting for the day to come) 

once surgery is done they said I'd need about three months off to recover. I was quite shocked by that. I don't mind being off work at all, I was just surprised that it would take that long. 
 

I mentioned catching bugs and things from the children in the meantime (coronavirus even!) and I was told that having cancer alone isn't a bigger risk factor. Having chemo & working with the children wouldn't be an option because of reduced immunity but hopefully I will be able to wok with hormone treatment xx

I guess carrying on is best if you can manage it, stress is exhausting !

Hopefully the shock of everything that has happened will lessen and knowing what is planned must help.

Everyone being more consious of germ spreading at the mo is positive :) if there's more hand washing going on that can only be a good thing !!

Having the 3 months off will be good to give you time to heal in body and mind...

I hope you are feeling better in yourself now you know what is happening xx

Hi Moll,

I am so sorry to hear that your results indicate breast cancer. Did they tell you what type of breast cancer? If you have to have cancer, this is about as good as it gets. Grade 1 is usually slow growing and, the fact that it is hormone responsive is encouraging. You won't be certain about the lymph nodes until samples are sent to pathology after your operation.

I know that you are anxious to get your surgery over and done with as soon as possible, but please don't worry about the time scale. This is fairly normal timing and, your care team wouldn't leave you that long if they felt that it might hamper your recovery. All of the hormone therapies have their side-effects. Some people have severe side-effects whilst others just sail through. If it becomes unbearable, you can always change to a different type of treatment.

You will begin to feel better now as you move forward to treatment. I am glad to hear that you are able to tell the family positively. Your approach makes all the difference as to how family and friends cope with it. I found it easier to deal with once I knew what was happening. Your work should be a good distraction as you wait for surgery. Different people react differently to treatment and some take longer to recover from surgery than others. However, I think that you'll be glad to have 3 months to recuperate.

Here's hoping that you are on the right track now.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thank you both.

There was so much info to take on board yesterday. I came away with a folder full of stuff. 
 

It's stage 1 but grade 2.

no evidence of lymph node involvement so far (on imaging or examination) but she said they'll remove a node or two to double check 
 

hormone responsive but something else (protein?) negative which she said are both good things. 
 

Yes I'm thinking that surely they would have had me in quicker for surgery if it was necessary. I asked about the chance of it spreading but they seemed confident that it wouldn't. At the time I was reassured by that but now I'm stressing a bit just incase mine is different and it does!

I can't help but thinking that every twinge, headache, cramp or whatever is a sign that it's already spread somewhere but I said that and was told that's a very natural reaction and most people feel the same. I just need to chill out and go with the flow 

i will definitely appreciate having three months off work.. then it will summer holidays so that's even better xx

And yes I'm feeling so much better than I was this time last week thank you x

Hi Moll,

Most people seem to discover all sorts of extra pains and niggles and immediately think the same as you. This is perfectly normal, but scary nonetheless. Fortunately, most breast cancers are not associated with pain.

There is always a lot to take in at your results appointment. This is why I advise people to take someone with them, as two heads remember more than one.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx