Likely breast cancer after ultrasound - thread 4

[spartanrunnergirl]

Hi all!

Thought I’d start thread 4. I’ll put links to the previous threads below.

Welcome.

The original thread was started after I had a mammogram recall and was told at the ultrasound that it was likely I had breast cancer - before biopsies were taken, and before I was ready to hear that (if you are ever ready to hear that).

Three full threads later we are still sharing support, experiences, and advice. We’ve celebrated breast cancer wins and thrown virtual hugs around those who’ve needed it. (We’ve all needed it 💗)

This is a hugely kind and caring bit of Mumsnet - where we’ve all felt that awful fear waiting for scans, tests, results, or with an early and uncertain breast cancer diagnosis.

You are not alone.

This is the awful club - full of awesome women💗

@dumpedbutnotout

Hi there, as you were at the end of the last thread didnt want you to get overlooked.
Welcome to the club no one really wants to belong to.
Not been long here myself but already feeling the love from awesome women

Thanks for starting the thread. Checking in. Brief recap - found lump end Nov, diagnosed with grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma and had therapeutic mammoplasty end Jan. Node negative oestrogen positive cancer. Now midway through chemo due to high oncotype score. It’s a long road, but grateful to have this thread.

Thanks @Ted27 have read mumsnet for 20+ years but was my first post. Just feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment...

Not sure if I can be on this theead for where I am currently. I have my breast clinic appointment in two days and it’s felt like the longest two weeks of my life. I have a lump/lumpy area. I am terrified. This will be my third referral over the years, but this time it feels different. Every little ache, twinge and cough has me convinced I am dealing with a horrible prognosis.
Dh is struggling as is in the midst of losing his Dad to cancer and still has a lot of trauma from losing his Mum in her 40s to breast cancer.
I’m mid 40s with four dc.

Hi @Stumbleine . Everyone is made to feel welcome on here no matter where you are on the journey. That’s how I have felt as a newbie too
x

@dumpedbutnotout
Very normal to feel overwhelmed.
I have secondary, incurable breast cancer. This week is round 6 of 12 weekly chemo cycles. Im finding it tough now.
I have a PET scan tomorrow so will have an idea within a week if its actually working.

Hi all previous thread here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/cancer/5431579-likely-breast-cancer-after-ultrasound-thread-3?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

@Stumbleineyou are very welcome. It is a very particular terror/fear the waiting stage. Time slows down as you wait to find out what it is. Hopefully it will be benign, and if it’s not you will soon have a plan to begin dealing with it which many of us have found is a better place to be. xx

I thought I’d update on the thread where I am 18 months on from my own diagnosis and starting thread one. I had IDC grade 2 er/pr positive. Bog standard BC and thankfully found early. Lumpectomy/SLNB and three weeks radiotherapy. Now on five years of tamoxifen.

Somedays it feels like a footnote in my life, and I can go a day or two with out thinking about it much beyond a fleeting thought. Other days I am consumed with fear of recurrence and frustration that when cancer treatment ends, cancer treatment and effects of treatment do not end.

I am back to all the things I did before, work, my hobbies, exercise. Also have a wonderful new(ish) partner of 7 months.

The tamoxifen/menopause double whammy hits hard sometimes (I took HRT before diagnosis) and I am forgetful, with aching joints, hot flushes and the rest! I am learning to work with my body, not argue with it!

Had gynae problems associated with tamoxifen last autumn and my oncologist wants me to switch to letrozole but not until next year when I will be fully post menopausal he thinks.

Cancer has taught me the limitless extent of love, from others, and my own ability to love. It has taught me to be more open and vulnerable, to let people in and allow them to care for me and love me. I know better what is really important in life, and whilst I can still get tangled up in nonsense, I can also look up and out and realise nothing much matters, and I am in control of almost nothing.

my favourite quote has become this by Leonard Cohen:

”If you don’t become the ocean you’ll be seasick every day”

SRG x

Thanks so much for starting these threads @spartanrunnergirl, I’d never heard of a diagnosis before biopsy results, so my relief in finding your posts calmed me down immensely.

It’s my pre op assessment tomorrow, so glad it’s all moving at speed now, and agree that the waiting to hear is tough. Wishing everyone as good a week as possible. x

Thank you for the warm welcome.

Welcome @dumpedbutnotout and @dibly 💐, sending strength to you and to others on the thread who recently had diagnoses confirmed or waiting for results.

(My recap: diagnosed early March, age 42, bilateral ER+HER2- grade 3 IDC.) I'm three weeks post lumpectomy/mammoplasty/SNLB now. Margins and lymph nodes were clear thank god and the tumours were 17 and 10mm. I'm borderline for chemo so I'm now waiting for my Oncotest result - all I seem to do is wait for results.

I'm struggling with the uncertainty around my treatment plan and how I'll feel during treatment/how much I'll be able to work. I could go back to work next week but practically I don't know what I can take on. Also I don't know whether to try and squeeze a holiday in at half term as otherwise I might not be able to get away with the kids this summer...

Thank you for the warm welcome. That sounds tough @Ted27, hope the PET scan shows it's doing what it should. I'm having weekly Paclitaxel & 3 weekly Carboplatin & Pembrolizumab for 12 weeks, then 3 rounds of ET before surgery.

Hi I just dropped by to whinge really . I know I’m not even at the stages that some of you are at but I’m really getting frustrated at the lack of communication from the hospital. I’m sure it’s because there’s no more to tell me since last Friday but this wait is killing me . The sense of urgency when I first went in on the 14th April made it feel so numbingly real. The fact that everything from mri ct and blood was marked as urgent did make me fear the worst and now nothing ! … I still do fear the worst but I just feel more angry now that until I know what this is I can’t move forward with anything … sorry rant over !

Hi all, just checking in. My lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node whatsit are next week.
Everything feels pretty unreal at the moment!

This sounds similar to mine, only I have surgery then et.
Im not sure im ready to join a thread. Im still indenial, yet not i guess. You all appear very supportive.
I am early 30s. Diagnosed late march. Grade 3, stage 2 triple negative breast cancer. No spread, but staged 2 due to tumour size. Ive had 1 round of chemo and next one tomorrow :(

Feel free to whinge away, it does sound really frustrating. Have you got an appointment or date for your results yet? My breast surgeon was really good in that she would book appointments optimistically assuming that results would be back in time. They weren't always, but it made things more efficient on occasions when they were, plus I wasn't left hanging with no communication for days/weeks on end. My oncologist seems to have the opposite approach unfortunately, so my first appointment is not for another 2.5 weeks because the Oncotest results will definitely be back by then.

Thanks @Switchd, no appointment although the breast care nurse told me last Friday that they have requested an appointment with the surgeon but nothing since . I do appreciate yesterday was a bank holiday

I’m glad I’ve found this! I have an appointment at the hospital tomorrow for a lump that my GP found two weeks ago. I’ve been trying to mentally block worry out until then. I’ve also recently been diagnosed with quite a life-altering autoimmune disease so it’s all a bit much!

Good luck with everything today @Menoooo🤞🏼

Hi all hope you are all doing well this evening x

@dibly I am a couple of weeks ahead of you but sounds very similar. Diagnosed with invasive lobular breast cancer on 2/4 and had lumpectomy a week last Monday 27/4 , radiotherapy to follow and then hormone blockers for 5 years . To be honest it’s the last which frightens me the most .

I feel bad that I posted on this thread when waiting for results but then ran away , I am the sort of person who usually researches everything to death but this has me beat and I have struggled to read anything or at least only in small chunks.

I cannot fault the care I have had everyone has been so caring and efficient and it has happened so fast which is good , but also somewhat overwhelming . I have struggled with ‘imposter syndrome’ for want of a better word and feel bad that if one more person tells me that I am lucky ( so know I am relatively ) I might just combust. On the one hand you have to play it down as early stage, very treatable etc but then on the other it’s cancer and I should be taking it easy !

Just at the moment I am tired and sore ( more so than I expected ) scared of what comes next and fed up with the exhaustion, for some reason I thought would be fine and I would be back to normal in a fortnight and I hate feeling like I am making a fuss but honestly the surgery has really knocked the stuffing out of me .

sorry this was a bit of a spiel but struggling a bit today . I in awe of so many
of the posters on this thread .

My brain is too chemo-ed for individual replies but hello to all new people and I hope you can move on from the hideous waiting period soon. Sending strength. If a diagnosis comes I hope this thread is helpful. It has been great for me.

Chemo has been more of a mental struggle than a physical one for me. But I’m also tired and grumpy. Trying to focus on supporting my kid through GCSEs. Taking it day by day week by week.

Previous poster and now a lurker cheering you all on. @spartanrunnergirl that long post has brought a tear to my eye.

I was dx’d with hormone positive bc almost 2 years ago after a mammogram recall. I had 3 ops to get clearance, last one a mastectomy /reconstruction. My dad died three days after my initial lumpectomy. It was the shittest of times. I got through 16 rounds of chemo with my compatriots on this thread. Getting my life back together for what works for me now on the other side (for now, I realise that’s a lucky statement to make). Now on hormone inhibitors, Ribocyclib (tablet chemo) and zol infusions. Had a couple of scary scares but been well supported. Like other posters, my darling dog, who got me through tough times, died just before Christmas.

Sending love and strength to you all.

I completely understand this. My surgery (mastectomy) was on 9th and I was surprised at the underarm pain and numbness and general tiredness I felt. The good news is now nearly a month post surgery this ( pain and tiredness) is improving. I am still tired but not as much. Having said that I worked for 3 hours on Tuesday and needed a 2 hr nap in the afternoon!
I see the oncologist tomorrow to find out my treatment plan regards chemo/radiotherapy and drugs. It still seems a long road and bumpy road ahead.
Virtual hugs that everyone going through this.