1. < Breast Cancer

Really Hard Days ...

Posted by angiemal @angiemal, Jun 28 6:06pm

I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer Stage 2 , almost three months ago. I had my surgery and I´m about to start Radiotherapy while wating for the Oncotype results to define if I´m going to need chemo or not...

Only thinking in the scenario of loosing all my hair , having everyone wondering if I have cancer and the hardest part communicating my child that is 8 years old that her mother is sick is making me cry like a baby. How do you handle this? I ´m trying to tackle one step at the time as I don´t know yet if I´m going to receive chemo or not but I´m really worried about it ....

Any advice would be helpful... thanks for reading!

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kathy88 | @kathy88 | Jul 4 7:39pm

All my doctors were women

REPLY
aprilradek | @aprilradek | Jul 5 2:15pm

Hi there...How are you doing?

I don't have breast cancer, I have lung cancer. The hardest part initially for me was telling my daughter and Mom.

I started treatment in June 2023- I am still going through treatment.
The way I cope is by thinking about my current treatment, not the treatment that may or may not be needed. Just concentrate on the radiotherapy for now. My daughter is older than yours. Be honest with your daughter don't give her the details. Use the cancer word it is okay. Lots of us have cancer. Tell her you have a great doctor and are getting treatment then see if she has questions. Have faith in your doctors and tell her you are getting the best care (you are) and will be fine. You will be okay. I am not saying it isn't hard we all know it is. I cried in my car a lot during the first 6 months. Support groups like this one- or in-person help. Keep us posted.

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1 reply
angiemal | @angiemal | Jul 5 3:10pm
In reply to @aprilradek "Hi there...How are you doing? I don't have breast cancer, I have lung cancer. The hardest..." + (show)
@aprilradek

Hi there...How are you doing?

I don't have breast cancer, I have lung cancer. The hardest part initially for me was telling my daughter and Mom.

I started treatment in June 2023- I am still going through treatment.
The way I cope is by thinking about my current treatment, not the treatment that may or may not be needed. Just concentrate on the radiotherapy for now. My daughter is older than yours. Be honest with your daughter don't give her the details. Use the cancer word it is okay. Lots of us have cancer. Tell her you have a great doctor and are getting treatment then see if she has questions. Have faith in your doctors and tell her you are getting the best care (you are) and will be fine. You will be okay. I am not saying it isn't hard we all know it is. I cried in my car a lot during the first 6 months. Support groups like this one- or in-person help. Keep us posted.

Jump to this post

@aprilradek thanks for your words. You are right , these days I have tried to focus in the present moment and that is helping a lot.
I’m thinking that the final destination of this journey is a life cancer free and I’m not going to let Cancer create fear for the future.

REPLY
rococo325 | @rococo325 | Jul 7 3:09pm
In reply to @angiemal "Hi ! Thanks for taking the time to answer. How did you manage to be ready..." + (show)
@angiemal

Hi ! Thanks for taking the time to answer. How did you manage to be ready for chemo?.

I don´t live in U.S , I´m from Colombia so the tests results could take even longer , that´s why my oncologist told me to begin with Radiotherapy and Tamoxifen . I will have 5 sessions next week. Hopefully that would be all that I need.

Jump to this post

You said, "I had my surgery" Did you have a double mastectomy, Lumpectomy...? Is this ductal
breast cancer?
I really think you should get all the diagnostics your are waiting for before you just do something that is treatment (radiotherapy) that is irreversible. I am saying this because, you said you have 5 sessions and "hopefully" that's it. So it sounds like the condensed treatment called Hypofractionated Radiation which is what I had to my arm pit in late Dec2022. It's done some damage to the tissue (necrosis), including my upper left lung has some sclerosis. Make sure the technicians are experienced , I had two (the radiologist was not there) that were disagreeing on what was either the placement or duration or... in ftont of me in the dark.
I am pretty bummed about this and think that is why there is some of this damage. I think it's best to get ALL yr questions answered , get all diagnostics, stats on yr cancer and even get a 2nd opinion. I didn't have the experiences I've had now, and have been fighting this disease off & on for 12 years. It is not easy I know to keep Drs. wating or yourself.... and I had young children at the time and it was difficult to decide what to communicate, & I still am not burdening them with my current status.... Hope you get the best careful care possible!!

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1 reply
angiemal | @angiemal | Jul 8 9:07am
In reply to @rococo325 "You said, "I had my surgery" Did you have a double mastectomy, Lumpectomy...? Is this ductal..." + (show)
@rococo325

You said, "I had my surgery" Did you have a double mastectomy, Lumpectomy...? Is this ductal
breast cancer?
I really think you should get all the diagnostics your are waiting for before you just do something that is treatment (radiotherapy) that is irreversible. I am saying this because, you said you have 5 sessions and "hopefully" that's it. So it sounds like the condensed treatment called Hypofractionated Radiation which is what I had to my arm pit in late Dec2022. It's done some damage to the tissue (necrosis), including my upper left lung has some sclerosis. Make sure the technicians are experienced , I had two (the radiologist was not there) that were disagreeing on what was either the placement or duration or... in ftont of me in the dark.
I am pretty bummed about this and think that is why there is some of this damage. I think it's best to get ALL yr questions answered , get all diagnostics, stats on yr cancer and even get a 2nd opinion. I didn't have the experiences I've had now, and have been fighting this disease off & on for 12 years. It is not easy I know to keep Drs. wating or yourself.... and I had young children at the time and it was difficult to decide what to communicate, & I still am not burdening them with my current status.... Hope you get the best careful care possible!!

Jump to this post

Yes I have a Lumpectomy , I have a ductal breast cancer Luminal A in Stage 2. I had the opinion of 3 different oncologyst and 2 of them agreed that I have to wait for the results of the Oncotype and meanwhile I can go with the Hypofractionated Radiation which I finished last week. 5 days - 7 minutes each session. And I´m with Tamoxifen one month ago.
The other one wanted to start chemoteraphy right away for my age (43) , Ki67 30% and the size of the tumor (5 cm) . After they removed the tumor , it turns out to be much larger than the images where showing (1.5 cm) , however the limits of the tissue that they removed were clean and the lymph nodes were clean as well.
It seems that the results of the oncotype will come early this week , so I´m waiting to see what are the next steps. Trying to keep in my mind positive thoughts that I repeat to myself during meditation and I don´t let go my mind to future scenarios . That is helping me a lot.

REPLY
1 reply
rococo325 | @rococo325 | Jul 8 2:05pm
In reply to @angiemal "Yes I have a Lumpectomy , I have a ductal breast cancer Luminal A in Stage..." + (show)
@angiemal

Yes I have a Lumpectomy , I have a ductal breast cancer Luminal A in Stage 2. I had the opinion of 3 different oncologyst and 2 of them agreed that I have to wait for the results of the Oncotype and meanwhile I can go with the Hypofractionated Radiation which I finished last week. 5 days - 7 minutes each session. And I´m with Tamoxifen one month ago.
The other one wanted to start chemoteraphy right away for my age (43) , Ki67 30% and the size of the tumor (5 cm) . After they removed the tumor , it turns out to be much larger than the images where showing (1.5 cm) , however the limits of the tissue that they removed were clean and the lymph nodes were clean as well.
It seems that the results of the oncotype will come early this week , so I´m waiting to see what are the next steps. Trying to keep in my mind positive thoughts that I repeat to myself during meditation and I don´t let go my mind to future scenarios . That is helping me a lot.

Jump to this post

Your treatment so far sounds like this was a good conclusion and the wait and see oncotype score will be carefully analyzed to weigh the necessity of Chemo right now or just to monitor closely your progress with Tamoxifen. Best to you and yr family!

REPLY
angiemal | @angiemal | Jul 11 10:22am

Well the Oncotype came and it seems that I´m not receiving benefit from chemo! . However the doctors still want to review the pathology again as the tumor size makes them doubtful . It seems that hormonal therapy makes more sense in my case so they are going to block my ovaries, and I´ll be officially in menopause . I´m 43 years old , obviously is not an ideal situation but again I need to accept this journey as my main goal is avoid recurrence and live a long and happy life.

I really apprecciate all the words that I have received from this group.

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