Diagnosed breast cancer today - can someone hold my hand?

[elportodelgato]

Diagnosed today, after what I thought was a fairly routine check last week. Biopsy and CT scan show cancer in one breast and has spread to nearby lymph nodes, but not anywhere else. Looking at surgery within a few weeks and then chemo etc.

I have literally no experience of this, no one in my family has gone through this. DH and I are both in bits and need to find a way to a) rearrange the holiday of a lifetime which we were due to go on in a fortnight and b) somehow tell the DC who are 3 and 6

I am veering between crying uncontrollably and being strangely calm, just need someone to talk to who has been through this, anyone please?

[mrsrhodgilbert]

Hi wakeUp, sorry to hear about your mum. I was on a cancer thread with elporto several years ago. I may be wrong but I think she posted last year or maybe earlier that she had had a recurrence and was asking about a particular treatment. She disappeared again very quickly, that’s not to say she isn’t safe and well still.

If it helps I have just completed five years of treatment and I am well and getting on with life. You’ll find out that breast cancer comes in many forms, the type your mum has will come with a full treatment plan and outcomes today are very positive. It’s an incredibly scary time though. I found the charity Breast Cancer Care to be fantastic, they have nurses on the helpline, I think family members can call too. Or your mum could join the cancer thread on here, it saved my sanity.

[WakeUpFromYourDreamAndScream]

I know this is a very old thread but I have read it from start to finish after doing a search looking for some positive stories after my DM was diagnosed with breast cancer yesterday. Just wondering how you're doing @elportodelgato

[weebarra]

Yes, spero, I very much had the opposite problem but the oncologist said that was less common. I was all stocked up with dried fruit and everything!

[ROUNDandROUNDINCIRCILESMORETHA]

So sorry to hear your news. My nan had bc three times. I cannot imagine how you are feeling. Sending hugs xx

[Spero]

That's really good news and makes it much more manageable. I found the first month of treatment really hard because it was so new but it got easier and it was over really quite quickly.

My one top tip and sorry if this is TMI is watch out for constipation and chemo! they gave me different drugs to try as it effects people differently, some have the opposite problem to constipation! but I found the drugs they gave me didn't have any impact, but what really helped was taking senokot (spelling?) the day I had chemo and for a few days after.

Hopefully by the second session you will have worked out how your body is responding and you can alleviate any side effects.

My treatment finished this time last year! and already it seems like a very dim and distant memory.

[mintyneb]

Elporto, that's fantastic news :). What a great nurse you've got to phone and let you know the results.

So pleased you can focus now on - just - the beast cancer and get it beaten. I'll be with you all the way on the long road to recovery.

Good luck with the appointment tomorrow. Hopefully it will just be a summary of all they've told you to date with more details on the treatment plan.

I will be thinking of you

[StillProcrastinating]

Great news, hurrah! Hope you can enjoy the sunshine this weekend and relax a bit :-)

[LOLeater]

Worried lurker here too - fantastic news! You dance girl!

[hoobypickypicky]

There are tears of joy here at the hooby house. I'm so very, very happy to read this. That light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger and brighter all the time sweetie. Just keep focusing on it.

xxxx Hooby

[wtffgs]

[Nelsonwasonce]

elporto delighted to hear your news! . Another one who has been silently rooting for you. Your BCN is ace for cutting your worrying hours as short as possible. Best of luck with your op,before you know it you will be on the road to recovery

[elportodelgato]

Thank you thank you all, it has been a bit of an afternoon! Never thought I'd be so delighted to have breast cancer, but as one of my best friends said today on the phone: by Friday morning you will have had it cut out, then it's treatment and the road to wellness again. I know I have a LOT ahead of me to deal with, but it somehow seems much more manageable. Perhaps this is why our brains catastrophise and go to the worst case scenario, to help us deal better with the less awful facts when we get them.

The support I have had here in my darkest moments over the last 2 weeks has been totally amazing, scuse language but I fucking love mn for all of you holding my hand, even at 5am when I have been sweating and panicking.

[mrsrhodgilbert]

That's fantastic news elporto, I have tears in my eyes for you. How wonderful of her to call. It's manageable now, not that it wouldn't have been, but less complicated. Hope the cake was good! You can do this and hopefully you'll get to Australia before too long.

[smee]

Yay, yay!! Brilliant news. I nearly told you my BCN did similar (i.e. called pre-appointment to say scans were clear), but didn't want you to get more paranoid if yours didn't! You can do this now. It hasn't spread and you've got it in good time. Just get through the treatment and life can carry on. I'm so, so pleased for you.

[weebarra]

I am so so so pleased for you! Just time to get on with the treatment now!

[sholarxx]

Sorry to hear about what's happened hun and I hope you do feel better very soon which I'm sure you will. I hope you don't mind me asking but did you find a lump in your armpits. As Ive been a little scared as my glands have been up and down for over a week now. Feeling a little scared as my breast feel a little tender too x

[HaveYouTriedARewardChart]

Hooray! So glad to read that.

[fresh]

Another worried lurker here. That's brilliant news, now you really do know what you're dealing with. Sending you lots of good thoughts and

[ImperialBlether]

That is fantastic news! I've lurked on here and been really worried for you. I'm so glad it's not as bad as you'd feared.

[elportodelgato]

Ok ok, drum roll please....

My nurse just called: my liver is CLEAR! She said she wouldn't normally give results over the phone but because it was good news she didn't want me waiting another day. She said that they have really gone over me with a fine tooth comb and the 2 lesions on the liver are normal benign cysts, and there is some minor bone deterioration on the spine but that's just me getting older.

I never thought I would say this but THANK GOD I only have breast cancer. Off to eat a big bit of cake and do a little dance round my lounge

Xxx

[gingeroots]

oh golly ,thinking of you over here in SE London . It's so ghastly what you're going through now .
In similar circs last year I endlessly listened to Richard Thompson's Mock Tudor and read Lee Childs and C J Box . And paced .

I remember feeling like I was going to my execution when I went for results and before the op .

No help at all ,I know . But thinking of you .

Sending hugs and + +

[elportodelgato]

Thanks Easy, I know I should be grateful that I've only had 2 weeks of tests and waiting, I know lots of people have a lot longer to wait, your experience sounds really really hard.

I think I will go out after lunch and have a walk in the sunshine before collecting DD1 from school at 2pm, I hope it will clear my head a little.

[elportodelgato]

Hi smee, I am trying to do the mindfulness meditations twice a day, though tbh I am not sure if they're helping. At the moment, the only song I have in my head is 'Survivor'! Which I suppose is positive at least.

Appointment is 2pm tomorrow, but DH and I will go for lunch first - my mum is collecting the DC at 11.30am

[EasyToEatTiger]

It's a horrible time for you. Can you do something really kind for yourself today? I bought some expensive shoes, something I would never normally do. For me, endless tests with results of yes, no, don't know. That went on for months and months. Then every test was thrown at me. You are not alone.