Will you lot please stop - I've only been away for a few days and can't keep up.
I will read properly and post more tomorrow, but just wanted to say hello to LGF from me too. So sad to see this sodding disease has hit someone else, this place really does help though.
I was diagnosed last March, Grade 3, and it was in my nodes too. Had mastectomy, then chemo and rads. Might cheer you a bit to hear but I'm pretty much back to normal now, so that's less than a year.
Quick couple of thoughts on things you mentioned. First on work (so this to Figgy too, hello Figgy!) - I think there's a lot to be said for carrying on, so keeping your options open. You can always back out if it's too much. Nobody'll will think less of you if you suddenly can't carry on, but it might just be a good distraction from all the treatment. I worked until mid rads, when a job finished and I just decided I'd take a break - easier for me probably, as I'm freelance and work from home. Was a bit mad at times, but it did help my sanity.
On telling the kids, I only have one, a boy who was 5 when I was diagnosed, but thought I'd quickly say how we found it as your children are such similar ages. I fretted about it a lot, but throughout, he's honestly seemed pretty oblivious to it all. He only really noticed when I was tired and then he'd get frustrated as I couldn't run around with him. Having said that, I still did manage to race around a fair amount through chemo. Once you start, you'll see a pattern and then can predict which days you'll feel worst on. My DH or friends, just used to just take him out on those days, so all I had to do was be vaguely sane and jolly for breakfast and tea/ bedtime and he barely noticed anything was wrong - far harder for you I know, as you have three to sort. Once you're onto rads, the end's very much in sight. In the end I didn't tell DS anything about them, as he was at school for every appointment and I was well enough for him not to notice.
In terms of what we told him, this might or might not help, but I told him I had some nasty cells inside my breast. That lots of women get them - to normalise it, I told him it was 1 in 9 women, but I think they're saying 1 in 8 now - that if we leave the bad cells there they'd make me ill, but that it's brilliant we found them, as now the doctors can take them out. That the annoying thing is that as the bad cells are inside, I'd need an operation to get them out (I had mastectomy before chemo), and then I'd have to take some medicine just to make sure they'd gone. Also, that the medicine could make me a bit ill at times and maybe make me lose my hair. He totally accepted it as boring but necessary, which was a relief and thought my bald patch (I kept some hair as used the Cold cap), was very funny.
Blimey, what a ramble.. Hope it makes some sense LGF, am typing fast. Will read and post hellos to all tomorrow, but should really sort out the backlog of work e-mails now. Might do a quick detour to fridge before I start. 