please help me.

I know how you feel. I was Stage 2 IDC....2.1 CM tumor.. I didnt want to gamble with the lumpectomy. I went mastectomy on my right side just 6 days ago and I am confident I made the right choice. If you are triple +... ER+/PR+ HER2+... Stay away from soy is what I was told and that was it. Stage 2 is early, YOU WILL BE FINE! If you have more than one lump, a mastectomy might be the right choice... I also did not want the radiation in my body so by having the mastectomy, I avoided it.... One less treatment. Radiation has too many horor stories for me... but it is also an individual choice. Get another opinion if you can. It may help with your decision. Eat healthier and drink lots of water, stay away from sugars.. but then again, thats something we should always be doing. Good Luck! You will do great!

connie28:  About 7 months ago, I was in the position you're in now. Feeling overwhelmed and scared and not sure where to turn.  Do get your hands on a good breast book (I liked Dr. Susan Love's too), but there are many others. There's also a lot of good information right here at the breastcancer.org site - click on the home button at the very top of this page and it will lead you to a goldmine.   

The ladies here are tremendously helpful, but remember that we all have different cancers and different experiences, so what seems reasonable to one person may not be appropriate for you.   Put together a list of questions for your doctors and write down the answers (better yet, have someone go with you to the appointment to listen in and take notes).  Your docs will be forming a treatment plan with your particualr disgnosis in mind.  Hopefully you will feel comfortable with them, and if not, go for a second opinion. 

The mastectomy vs lumpectomy is a loaded question and you will find a wide range of views here.  In the end, make the decision you are most comfortable with.  I can tell you that just because you have more than one tumour (multi-focal), it doesn't rule out lumpectomy at all, if the tumours are close to each other and the amount of tissue removed will leave a cosmetically acceptable result.  My BS surgeon ordered an MRI before doing mine just to make sure there weren't other sateliite lesions beyond the excision site.  Also, a mastectomy does not rule out radiation.  While not common, if the tumour runs deep against the chest wall, or you have 4 or more nodes involved, you will likely be referred to radiation anyway.       

Green tea is known to be good for your health.  If you are interested in pursuing diet matters further, you might want to check out the Alternative, Compelmentary and Holistic forum on this site.  But do check with your doctor, especially while you go through chemo.  If there's a nutrition centre at your hospital, they can be very helpful too. As for chocolat, I hadn't heard that.  It is high in fat, which isn't good, but dark chocolate has anti-oxidents and protein which can be good.  Most things in moderation, I think.  An occasional piece of chocolate isn't going to kill you, and is good for the soul.

Good luck with your journey.  You will feel better once you have more answers. 

You and your doctor will decide what is the best treatment for you personally. I had the same treatment you have mentioned having and all is going great after almost one year. A wise person once told me to stop worrying so much about death. Heck we all die sometime, don't waste the time you have worrying about it. Your doctor should discuss survival rates amongst people with your type and stage cancer. Yes it will be higher than your none cancer peers but you may be pleasantly surprised that it may not be that much higher. Focus on the good as much as possible but prepare for the what if.

Pink Hugs! You will find tons of help here on this site. Check forums with other ladies going through the same treatment as you as being part of a group can be very helpful.

Hi Connie and welcome to the club.  You've joined an amazing group of soldiers here and you are in very good company.  Already you've received some excellent advice and I hope that you listen and remind yourself to take one step at a time.  You must try your best to act brave and strong (and who knows...you may start to even feel that way) for your daughters right now as they will take their lead from you.  If they get overly worried, it will make you more upset and the stress will make your ability to fight comprised.  So, you see...you are already doing a LOT of good by just trying to stay calm and take one step at a time.  Remeber to breathe. 

You may laugh when I tell you that when I was first diagnosed I started to plan for my funeral and was thinking of what songs I wanted played and who should come and what kind of flowers I wanted...you name it.  I was a total basket case.  I'm so glad my kids don't live at home and didn't see me go through that phase.  Someone on this site really helped me calm down and take things slowly...just like I'm saying to you now.  Trust me...it really does help.  Keep your chin up, soldier. 

Connie28

I think everyone of us would save that we were all terrified when we were told we had cancer.  I immediately began to research online and at bookstores to find out as much information as I could.  I felt the more I knew the better I was prepared to ask questions and get the knowledge I needed.  Dr. Love's Breast book for recommended to me as well.

I am still a newbie myself and find the knowledge of the ladies who are on this journey too to be both inspiring and educational and, most importantly, a great emotional support. 

Connie-

Lizzy is not ahead of you!  Lizzy is putting on a brave face to help you!   I am scared as well but when I really read these posts and absorb the words of the women who have gone before us, I am comforted.  Also Melissa Etheridge was on "The View" this morning and she was talking about her bald days and saying "look at me now, if you water it, it definitely grows!" 

We are only dotted lines to each other.  Everything will work out...you will see.  I don't know about you but I just turned 40 and there was a song in my late teen years "Don't worry, be happy" and we need to sing that every day!
Liz

Connie - I was diagnosed 4/20/10, just a week after you.  I am having lumpectomy with sentinel node biopsy on Tuesday.  This web site provided a lot of information to me in the beginning and then I discovered the discussion forums.  I've been encouraged and learned new things by being on here the last few days. I've continued to work even though my head is spinning and my mind is going 1000 different directions.  I am hoping that by this time next week, I will have more definitive answers to my type of cancer, my stage, my prognosis and my treatment.  Then I think I'll be able to settle down a little bit and get on with whatever I need to do to kick this thing.  At least that's how I think it will go.  It's the unknown that is getting the best of me.  Whether it's good or bad or in between, once I know the facts, I believe I can deal with them better.  So, hang in there.  Many good thoughts, hugs and prayers coming your way.

 Sherry

Sending my hugs and prayers to all!  I remember the day I received the new.  News NO ONE should hear.

This site is excellent.

Sherrie-

I am sorry to hear of your diagnosis.  I was a few days before you.   The more detail and more information you get about your dx can only help but don't forget to not get too caught up in the details.   We all have breast cancer.   Workout, eat right and don't think that more information about our dx can help each of us because the entire medical community at large does not seem to be able to solve this puzzle.   Just keep truckin' and don't let it get to you.  Easier said than done...I know.

There is such a wealth of information on this board.  I can't tell you how much that helps.  There are so many decisions and issues to contend with emotionally and mentally not to mention the dx itself and the plans that have to be made about dealing with it all, pre and post-surgery, it is draining and complicated.  Outside from the day-to-day struggles of this,information to help you frame your choices and deal with the turmoil can be found here. 

Welcome to this dubious club-

Liz

Hi Connie and Sherry

I am six months into this and I promise you it does get easier as time goes by. You will not be so overwhelmed all the time.  The first thing I had to do was take one thing at a time, figure out what I was going to do then go to the next thing.  When you get too far ahead it makes you a little crazy. My faith and surrounding myself with friends who prayed for me, encouraged me, and some friends who have gone through BC helped me tremendously.  I was on the Internet reading all  I could to learn  about this disease.  I wanted to have some knowledge and not just take everything I heard from the doctors as fact, I wanted to know for myself, and I wanted to learn about all the options out there.  I wouldn't let them rush me into making decisions, which they tried to do.  I had to slow down to get my head on straight. Stay on a good healthy diet, low sugar, whole grains, eat  lots of vegetables and fruit, vitamins, drink lots of water, exercise, pray. I switched to all organic, because of the hormone issue in meat and dairy and I juice raw vegetables (no pesticides) Put all good things into your body and let God and the doctors do the rest. This is not a death sentence, there are so many survivors out there and a lot of them are right here on this website. Blessings to all of you.

Connie!  -

I am so glad to hear from you!  I am glad step 1 is over.  I was wondering where you have been and am so glad you posted. I was praying for you for sure.

I am sorry to hear about your home in Nashville.   More to this point, if all of us could think of 5 people we know who could not handle this type of dx as well all do and who might very well fall apart, leads me to believe it is no accident that "we" are the ones who get this disease.   We are strong, and although we put our brave faces on in these discussions, and we put our entertainment face on for our visitors so as to not scare them away and to be *strong* for them (I know we all deal with this!) we **can** deal with this disease.   We support each other and I pick up, from nearly every woman who has given me priceless information, details and support since my dx that we are collectively a strong lot.  

The medical community, at large, needs to know more about this disease.   I think we, the chosen subjects, are in some way helpful to that end.   I know this all sounds a bit convoluted and perhaps ethereal but it makes me wonder.  Connie, much to your credit no less, is in the beginning stages of liberating yourself from this dx and your dream home is subjected to floods and **still** you are on this board announcing you feel blessed.   We are all blessed to be getting care for this disease and in helping all others who are here with us and have to join us.  Most importantly, we are blessed to have each other. 

I also hope through my bmx the medical community can learn something about my other breast and about the nature of my cancer and, in a sense, it is sort of like altruistic form of non-organ donating!   Serioulsy, though, I hope they are pipelining information they learn from us and that this can help other women similiarly situated. 

Sherry-they will fix you up and at least it is being caught early.  Don't forget, the very reason there are survivors is because of catching it early.   I do, however, agree it is an awful lot to deal with in 3 weeks.  I am going in exactly 1 month to the day of dx.  I do encourage you, if need be, to seriously consider your next steps and if you need a few more days, take it.   Mull this over a bit.  Someone from this board sent me a very helpful questionnaire and if you want to PM me your non-bc.org email I will forward it to you.  It is very informative and there is a quiz so that perhaps you can better discern exactly what you feel about all of this and seperate those feelings from your reactions to the information that, like all of us, is rolling in faster than you can process especially in the initial phase.  Please PM me as I think this doc will help you. 

Sherrie and Connie-best wishes. 

Liz

Sherry-

Click on my screenname, where it appears in blue in the left column, on these discussion boards.  That will bring you to my profile and there are 3 options, again in blue, to the right at the top of my profile page and one of those options is "send a private message" and that is how it is done

Along the top margin of this site to the left, under the breastcancer.org insignia, there is a blue box and in white letters it says "forum index" and to the extreme right on that same bar is another blue box and in white letters it says "private messages."  That is where you can read both what you have sent and received.

Hope this helps..sorry so late to respond...Idol and Glee!