Cancer Support Thread 97: support for those diagnosed and going through treatment

[LiliJilliBobs]

Cancer support thread 97: support for those newly diagnosed and /or undergoing treatment…..
Thread 96 is pretty full - here’s a new one

I’m the same as you @AlwaysALargeSauvignonBlanc .”only I’m maybe a couple of weeks ahead. Had my MRI last week and it’s a Lumpectomy for me, praying that my lymph nodes are clear.
Also I have lobular cancer which is difficult to find as it grows in lines and not a lump, really hoping once the lumpectomy is done that there are no stray cancer cells in the margins, otherwise I’ll be back in for more surgery. I’m much more positive now that I have a treatment plan. Original mammo was 3rd April, feel like it’s been a long wait. I’ve struggled massively with worry, stress & overthinking

@LiliJilliBobs sounds similar timings. I was diagnosed on 3rd April but then needed lymph node biopsy, 2 weeks wait for results before wle and full axillary clearance, 2 weeks wait for results then re-excision due to not getting clear margins. Feel like I’m 3 months in and getting nowhere fast yet !

@AlwaysALargeSauvignonBlanc so you’re a couple of steps ahead of me, by the sounds of things. Hope from the re-excision that you now have clear margins.
My surgery is scheduled for the end of next week, then it’s a two week wait for the results. The waiting is the hardest thing to deal with, but I’m very grateful that I’m now on track with treatment.

It’s been confirmed I’ll have a mastectomy as the 2nd biopsy showed DCIS in another area. I don’t want an implant so will have removal and then can always do reconstruction later if I want to. Said to take 8 weeks off work which I thought was a lot.

First appointment at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre this afternoon. Really not looking forward to travelling into Liverpool city centre every day for five weeks! That's without even taking into account the effect of intensive radiotherapy . . .

@Jilllybean if you go by car you can get free parking nearby. Hopefully they’ve given you details - can’t recall off the top of my head but do remember talking to staff on front desk to get it sorted.

@SummerShimmer sorry to hear that but best to be safe. I needed a few weeks to get over the tiredness after mine. Pain control was excellent.

Hi everyone,

My head is a bit battered after recent weeks but in a nutshell I’ve been diagnosed with grade 3 stage 3 triple negative breast cancer.

My right breast had long been problematic, very sensitive and prone to random stab by pains, overly painful if I knocked it etc.

I was diagnosed with my first cyst in 2013 when I was 40. They told me after the mammogram that I had dense breast tissue and drained it off. That left me with a much smaller lump that stayed roughly the same until 2019 when it seemed to creep up on me that it seemed larger again.

Jan 2020 diagnosed as fibroadenoma, nothing to worry about. It started to feel a bit ‘different’ around autumn 2021 but given my history and a lot going on in my life at that time it was spring 22 before I went back to the GP. Usual 2WP, mammogram, US and told it was normal dense ‘active’ (!?) breast tissue.

Started to feel different again summer 23 but just as I was about to call the GP I got my first 50+ scheduled mammogram and thought great, that cuts out the middle man.

Results were all normal, nothing of concern.

Winter 24 it feels different again, life gets in the way, I tell myself it’s always been nothing.

The weeks fly by, GP appointment in April back on the 2WP.

Mammogram, US, biopsies from breast and armpit, told there and then ‘It’s not looking good, high chance of cancer’.

And here I am.

G3 S3 TNBC, cancer in LN biopsies, several enlarged, something high on mid breastbone, a few tiny nodules on lung behind the affected breast.

My breast/lump has been raging since the mammogram in May which was excruciating. Hot, red, stabbing pains, itchy.

Chemo and immunotherapy starts in 10 days.

Please can I join the club here?

@PonyPrancing welcome and sorry that you find yourself so overqualified for the position. You have certainly been through the mill just to get to a diagnosis. You must have so many questions. Have they been back over the previous mammograms? My second BC was a triple negative and popped up just six months after a normal mammogram in 2022. I asked for a review and sat down with the radiologist who looked at all my mammograms. For me the cancers do show up on the mammogram but only after I have felt a lump. We decided regular examination was my best protection rather than more X-rays. Happily I responded well to chemotherapy and am now three years on and keeping well. Are you having a PICC line fitted? It’s such a shocking time while it all sinks in. Have you had to stop work? Take care of yourself, having a “battered head” is an understatement.

Hi, new here! I have anal cancer, squamous cell. I was diagnosed last may, went thru chemo radiation and was given a tentative all clear in feb, ahead of another PET scan. They found another tumour abd lymph node. Fast forward a few weeks with horrible miscommunication which I’ll be complaining about, I’m now scheduled for an APR (bowel resection) with a stoma. The surgery is on July 16. 2-4 weeks in HDU, 10 hour operation. They say 3 months off work, and 6 full recovery. I’m actually doing ok, despite being in a lot of pain. The tumour is pressing right on my tailbone and bladder, so part of tailbone needs to be removed too, so there will be a plastic surgeon at the op to build a new pelvic floor using muscle from my thigh. My husband is being unbelievably amazing, my girls (13 & 9) are too. I’m just out of hospital as they Had to admit me to get pain under control. The road ahead is long. My fanily and friends are totally wonderful too, so I’m very lucky. I’m just really worried I’m in denial about the whole situation!!

Thanks for sharing your story, Ronnie. I'm sorry you're experiencing so much pain. Early days for me, but I'm likely to have a bowel resection too.

I've just got a stoma (colostomy) ready for the intensive radiotherapy, then it will be major surgery and an ileostomy. A bit scary at first, learning to manage the bag, but it's actually quite straightforward. Everyone is so calm and helpful.

Isn't it wonderful that the modern NHS is able to sort us out?

Thank you @TopOfTheCliff

I don’t know how it works to go back over previous mammograms as this was across three different counties over the years. Do they all get filed under my GP records sort of thing?

I’m not looking to blame or anything just trying to get my head around it. Thinking I’d done the right thing getting old lumpy checked fairly regularly and it still came to this.

I’m sorry to read you’ve been through this twice but also glad that you have responded well to the treatment.

I will be having a PICC line. And I’ve been referred for a wig fitting this week.

Unfortunately/fortunately 🤔 this has happened while I was taking a couple of months break between live in carer jobs. I thought I’d give myself a good break, travel around catching up with friends and family etc, before looking for my next position. This also means I’m sort of homeless at the same time. Currently with a friend but it’s not an option to be here through treatment of a year or more.

I have some savings that I thought would be just enough to pay a years rent and CT but it turns out I was sadly mistaken. Unless I take a tiny “studio flat’. Most of these seem to have two cupboards, a sink, room for a single bed, nowhere for a washer etc. My stuff is all in storage and I’m living out of a suitcase. I’m finding this harder to deal with than the blooming diagnosis is many ways. Crazy how the brain works.

Oh well, it’s a better position than many so I’m trying to count my blessings and keep hoping something comes up.

Sending love and best wishes to everyone here ❤️💐

Have you started chemotherapy yet @PonyPrancing ? It’s good to get underway after all the talk. You just have to tick off each one and advance slowly along the squares on the board. Before you know it it will be done.

Good luck for tomorrow @RonnIeAl77 let us know how you get on.

@Jilllybean it is amazing to be on the cancer treatment conveyor. I was a HCP for 37 years before my diagnosis and was touched at how kind and caring everybody was when I started treatment. I hadn’t expected it. Hope you are getting on okay with the radiotherapy.

I’m bored today as I sliced my finger tip off with a spiralizer and now have to wait for it to heal. Idiot! But in the scheme of things that’s a minor blip so I am not complaining. At least going through cancer treatment makes the rest of life seem quite easy!

Hope you are recovering well post surgery @LiliJilliBobs. Do you have your results appointment scheduled ?

Yes it’s this Thursday

I wanted a mastectomy 17 years ago but my consultant said it wasn’t needed. I’m now on the waiting list for an evening-up operation and I mentioned to the consultant that I’d originally asked for a mastectomy. He said I hadn’t needed one, as evidenced by the fact I was standing in front of him 17 years later. I was also told my cancer was lobular, but it turned out to be ductal.

Surgery day for me, single mastectomy with SNB. I feel nothing so I’m sure I’ll be a gibberish wreck later as things only tend to hit me in the moment.

Good luck for today @LiliJilliBobs

Good luck today @LiliJilliBobs and @SummerShimmer I went through the same a year ago, plus chemo. I’m out the other side and away in the Mediterranean for the first time since surgery. Your turns will come. Xx

dancingwhilstfacingthemusic
thank you so much xx
Been reading so many posts on other platforms where people with LBC have been advised by their surgeons to have a double mastectomy. I was actively discouraged and more or less told I was having a lumpectomy by my surgeon. This is all so scary x

Good luck today SummerShimmer
I'm sure it’ll go well, it’ll be over before you know it xxx

Good luck with your surgery @SummerShimmer 🍀
Good luck for your results @LiliJilliBobs 🍀

I had my first Oncology appointment yesterday. I'll be starting 3 x EC and 3 x Docetaxel in the next 2 weeks. Hopefully finished end of October if all goes to plan before radio and all the other endless stuff

Op was fine, home by 5:30 and have woken this morning with no pain at all although my ribs below that side are sore to touch. I was very pleased I could still sleep on my non-op side with no discomfort so alternated with that and my back all night. There’s sufficient padding under the dressing that with my bra on you can’t really tell one is missing at the mo.

Hope your results were ok @LiliJilliBobs .

So pleased you got on so well. Look after yourself @SummerShimmer.