41 years old just diagnosed with breast cancer

Can you share details of what stage breast cancer you have?
Are you planning to have lumpectomy or mastectomy?

I was diagnosed with stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma. Mayo was my 3rd choice and where I had a mastectomy.
Mayo performed an onco type dx, received a score and treatment options. Choose 4 rounds of chemo and 5 yrs of hormone treatment, Tamoxifen. I am on year 2 of Tamoxifen.

Male breast cancer has been an interesting experience.

I’m 45, and I was diagnosed at 43. My main advice is to stay grounded in the information you have right now. Don’t let your mind drift to worst-case scenarios. If you’ve just been diagnosed, you’ll go through a series of tests to determine the specific type of breast cancer you have, and that “last name” is what defines the treatment you’ll follow.
Surround yourself with the people you love. You need support right now. You need a safe space to express your emotions, a place where you can cry if you need to, without hearing things like “Don’t cry” or “You need to be strong.” I also sought the help of a therapist, who supported me and helped me put things into perspective.

I know the emotions you are going through now and I sympathize. I was diagnosed at age48 with DCIS followed by a mastectomy. I joined a support group where other women gave me invaluable information. I read books about breast cancer and tried to stay informed, including about my options for treatment. I am now 79 and was diagnosed with ILC 18 months ago for which I had a lumpectomy and radiation. At this point in life I’m concentrating on quality of life by exercising and eating well. As someone said, stay close to the ones who love you, keep informed and be with doctors you trust. I send you a big hug.

I am so sorry to hear that you too have been diagnosed with this terrible disease. As others have already stated, a lot of treatment options will be depending on what stage and type of breast cancer you have. Did they do any additional diagnostics yet to determine the stage and subtype?

I am 41 years old now, I was diagnosed at 38 with stage 4 ER+, HER2-negative breast cancer. By the time I was diagnosed, it was already metastasized to my bones. It was a pretty crazy couple of months navigating through the whole process of what to do about it all. I had no insurance so on top of it all, I had to deal with trying to qualify for medicaid. I was switching through all these different doctors between the out of pocket ones, the ones who were with a local program that could help pay for some treatment and then finally qualifying for medicaid and switching over to all of their in network doctors. I kept hearing different things of what the treatment would be, based on which group I was with. Two were going to remove the breast straight away, one was going to just start me on meds and see how they worked. I ended up staying with the ones who wanted to just do medications and try to shrink the tumor. They basically said if the meds can keep it as is, that would be considered a win. If it would shrink that would be even better and it did end up shrinking away completely in my breast. Unfortunately the cancer in my bones is not something that can be cured but the treatment keeps it at bay, for 3 years now.

My treatment is CDK4 6 inhibitor Abemaciclib (Verzenio), aromatase inhibitor Exemestane (Aromasin), GnRH agonist Leuprolide Acetate (Lupron Depot), bisphosphonate Zoledronic Acid (Zometa), along with pain management for the nerve pain and bone pain for the bone mets. I was also prescribed calcium plus vitamin D.

If you have any questions along your journey, there are many wonderful people here who are always willing to share their own experiences and shed light on things. I am very thankful for this support group, it's been a huge help to me as I deal with the struggles along the way.

You are young, as I was at age 43, when I was first diagnosed with Breast cancer. I'm now 76. I decided on a mastectomy, a good thing since another tumor was found after that. I went through 6 months of chemo, CAF, had no radiation or reconstruction, & I refused to go on the new drug Tamoxifen that was at the time untested in premenopausal women. The chemo threw me into menopause & I was quite depressed with the whole thing and having 4 childdren, three of them under 10. I prayed to live to see them grown. But I kept working at my half-time job, teaching Kdg., where the fun and distraction of the little ones helped me out of my depression. After chemo, my periods came back & I felt normal again. I focused on exercise and eating healthy. (Dr. didn't want me to have periods again) Menopause occurred naturally at age 50.
I had yearly mammos through the next 30 years, and didn't have a recurrence in all that time. 3 years ago I had a tiny new tumor in the other breast, followed by only lumpectomy. But the Breast MRI picked up a mass within my chest wall.....they're calling it a recurrence of the very first tumor, which was above it, but not metastasis. So it appears it was growing slowly all that time, but not spreading. So now I have to deal with some drugs to shrink it & maybe treatment with Proton radiation to get it. BUT, I am so grateful that I had all those years raising my kids, by having the chemo & surgery when I was young and strong. I wish you courage in your treatment, and success with your docs at a really good nationally recognized treatment center. Hugs to you! ~Patty the Jardinera