Breast cancer diagnosis after clear scans

[FekkinFedUp]

Name change, but I've been on here for 10 years.

I had blood from my nipple for a year. Two lots of mammograms and ultrasounds over 5 months showed nothing - not a damn thing. So in June I had a total duct excision for symptom relief. What the surgeon found was stage 2-3 invasive breast cancer. I've been sitting here, through the heatwaves, having to wear a bra and dressings 24/7 for a month, with a wound that won't heal due to the cancer. I also had infection and necrosis and lost half my nipple. I've been unable to do anything except sit here in pain and read, crochet and doom scroll - my ADHD is going mental as it wants and needs to do something!

I'm booked in for a mastectomy and sentinel lymph node removal on Monday 27/7, after being injected with radioactive isotopes and dye (apparently I'll be peeing blue for a while lol). After I've healed I'll need an MRI to check if it's gone, and if I also have cancer in my left breast. That will be followed by radiotherapy and possibly chemo.

To top it all off, my car has decided to give up the ghost now, when I need it most. I've been advised NOT to drive it. So how the heck do I get around? Radiotherapy alone will be 5 days a week for up to 7 weeks. No community transport available in my area (rural), and using public transport will involve taking 6 buses a day with a long walk, whilst fatigued and in pain, every day. If they bother showing up. I'll have to go to my GP surgery for wound checks, and no buses go near there. I can't afford a car - I can barely afford food for the kids.

I'm just so fed up, I really am. Instead of concentrating on recovery, I'm worried sick about not having a car. And the kids are taking this hard - I'm so worried about them. They're both neurodiverse and aren't coping well. The ex is also dissing me every chance he gets, telling the kids thing like: Your mum always wanted cancer'. ffs

I'm a strong person, but I'm scared. I'm really scared. I don't want to do this. And if the cancer is also in my left breast I'll have to go through it all again. I don't know how much more I can take. Tempted to just clock out.

Sorry for the long post, I guess I just needed to get this off my chest.

Where is your other half, their dad or relatives to help you?

I'm single (happily), I have no family except for my kids. Their dad is an abusive arsehole who keeps making disparaging comments about me to the kids. I've always wanted cancer, I'm money grabbing to fund a luxury lifestyle (because I'm trying to raise funds to buy a cheap used car) etc. They know he's an arsehole, but it's still not nice to say that to two neurodivergent children who are terrified of losing their mum.

Oh, and he's also told the kids that he's embarrassed by me having cancer. He's a real prince.

I’ve had ILC three times, invisible on mammograms, though large, and ultrasound. I had two mastectomies and still it came back in the same place. It’s very tricky to deal with and depressing that it’s occult.

Sorry to hear that 🙁. But didn't the mastectomy get rid of the lobules? How did it come back? I've learned so much the past week, and still learning.

Fun fact that I found out last night - did you know that if you have cancer, then from the day you're diagnosed and for the rest of your life, you're classed as disabled? Even if you're in remission.

Sorry you’ve had to join our club. Cancer is classed as a disability under equality law which gives you protection against losing your job for reasons directly related to your cancer (eg for the amount of sick leave you might take).

I’m three years on from diagnosis, I had chemo, lumpectomy with multiple lymph nodes removed, followed by radiotherapy.

I did the breast Cancer Now course afterwards, it’s called Moving Forward. There were more than a dozen of us, and not one woman’s cancer was picked up by routine mammograms. Many of us were too young for routine screening.

it’s so important to check your breasts, know what is normal for you, and follow up anything unusual.

You've got this. It’s scary, but there is an excellent live to live in the other side of treatment.

Sorry you have breast cancer and even worse the way it's been found. I had IDC and extensive DCIS 7 years ago. I had the surgery, chemo and radiotherapy.
Fun fact - the blue dye took about 5 years to disappear completely from the breast area.

How long did the radiotherapy last, and did you have any side effects?
Radiotherapy was, by miles, the easiest part physically and mentally. No side effects at all. The worst part was having to travel quite a distance and I couldn't drive due to a flare up of rheumatoid arthritis. I was lucky that DH could take me. I think your best bet will be hospital transport. At least it can be booked and planned ahead.

The surgery was fine, some pain in my arm afterwards but manageable. The chemo was the hard part but a lot depends on what kind and how fit / resilient you are.

I taught myself to crochet while I was in the pits of chemo.
I found much comfort and support on the long running MN cancer thread. Also a BC Facebook group where I made contact with some local women who became friends I still see now.
Much luck for the treatment.

Thank you.

I’m not technically in remission just yet. I’m 1yr into the 5-7yrs of chemically induced menopause and aromatase inhibitors- aka hormone/endocrine treatment to catch any cancer cells drifting looking to settle in my spine, brain, lungs or ribs (where the secondary breast cancer tends to develop) as it feeds on estrogen.

My 1st year scans were clear but then, like you, they’ve never not been clear it was biopsies that caught it.

Yes this is true, that’s the shadow of it over your life. You’re also higher risk for other cancers so that adds to the health anxiety.

Just a few months ago I was in hospital for surgery because I had some aggressive tissue growth in my vagina and cervix that was randomly bleeding and causing urinogenitury problems. Scans gave no clue, they couldn’t even insert a speculum to do a swab by the time I got to a gynecologist. It ended up being benign - histology lab analysed a sample of what was removed- but I had to go under general anesthesia for it and it was a oh shit not more cancer scare that started last November.