Calling all ladies in their 20's

Amanda-
It doesn't hurt much now,but I can definitly feel like it is popped. My doctor doesn't have any openings available to see me till then.
I know its completely different. No drains and I can go home the same day. I just don't want to go to class while my incisions aren't healed and I have to do lab practicals or anything. Not sure how I feel about that either. I'm just nervous about this whole exchange. I still can't imagine what my boobs would look like after. I'm gotten so used to seeing the tissue expanders. Still not used to them being so hard.My friend barely hugged me and she said I squashed her boobs haha!

On another note, how are you healing and feeling?

Rosaa-

Welcome back!? I just turned 22. I have the tissue expanders in after my mastectomy. I'm going for my implant reconstruction exchange soon.



Wow but at least you'll be there to give her advice? And it's not cancerous for hers so that's good. Bad that she found out but "better sooner than later" though hope all goes well!! Wish her good luck!

Hi ladies!



I was diagnosed when I was 25. I found the lump when I was 24 and deployed to Afghanistan. Because of my age and size of the lump, they told me it was just a cyst. About three months later, I went for my annual and my gyno told me it was just a cyst again even though the lump had grown. Unfortunately it took my lymph nodes swelling up to make the docs realize that something was wrong. I finally had a biopsy and they told me that I had stage IIIc breast cancer. My tumor was almost six cm which sucks because I'm so small chested anyway. I went through six rounds of chemo and herceptin treatments in between. Thankfully, the chemo worked it's wonders and got rid of the tumor. Now I only have one lymph node that is still cancerous. They are removing it next week when i have my double mastectomy. The great thing about it is that the Marine Corps is going to pay to give me brand new boobs

Hi I was just diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 27. I'm scared and a little lost. I know I will be losing both my breast. Now I've been told it has spread to the lymph nodes. And it just all seems to be happening so fast. I started a blog for the same reason this one Started. That young people like me need guidance. All my info is for women over 50. Everyone so far has just looked at me with that "holy crap how sad face"

hey

big hugs to you dear kathythong , Hope your reconstruction will go well Mine will be end of March I opt for Diep flap . Fingers crosses .

Brit: Welcome sister, wish u recover soon just think that u will lose a battle ( breast) to win the war. just be strong stay positive . Shit Happens but also fade away  

Hello!

Oh my gosh what a breath of fresh air. I am 28! i was just diagnosed 3 weeks ago and have been ona hellish rollercoaster ride since. Like a few of you that I have readposts- my PCP as well as my breast specialist also thought my lump was a fibroadenoma.... so when the lumpectomy results came back and had cancer cells it was a suprise to us all. I have had two surgeries and a slew of tests and blood word done. I feel like a pin cushion. I am currently recovering from my latest surgery and I am lucky- all my tests are negetive for now. 

I have been able to deal with this except the baby part. I am DEVESTATED. my husband and I were trying to concieve when this all happened and I had been ready to have kids for a while now so this is just.. i am having a very hard time accepting it. 

My husband and I have been meeting with a fertility doctor to freeze my eggs. Then I will have radiation and get on that blasted tamoxifen. I hate it!!!!!! i dont want to wait 2-5 years. i am so so sad. i have been desperate to talk to someone my own age about this. so I am so thankful to find this.

I’m not looking for sympathy, empathy, a pity party, a shoulder to cry on, or gifts. I’m looking to step into your heart and express what I’ve been through. I’m here to Empower, Educate, and Inspire YOU. Its wasn’t easy, its wasn’t cute, its wasn’t fancy, its wasn’t fabulous, its wasn’t HEALTHY. There were dark days, there were sad days, there were many days I couldn’t get out the bed. There were days I thought I wouldn’t make it, days I thought I couldn’t take it. Days I looked at my son and felt bad I couldn’t be the mom I once was. Days I worried about if I would see the next day, would I see him grow? Days I worried if I would ever pursue my career. What about the day I woke up with no hair? The day I lost my eyelashes, eyebrows. The day I went to surgery and feared I wouldn’t wake. 16 rounds of chemo, 32 doses of radiation, 5 months of physical therapy. The nausea, the puking. The day I didn’t feel attractive. The days I went through pre-menopause. The day I realized I would never do a cartwheel again. Days I walked around with drain bulb bags connected to my body. The stiches, the incisions. Days I cried. More and more days of crying. PAIN! So all this awareness I’m doing, it ain’t for nothing. Believe me, It's for SOMETHING. SOMEBODY. IT'S FOR YOU! It’s because you are beautiful. It’s because you are simply you. We need You. Your family needs you. I need you...I need you to be proactive. Please, be conscious of your body. Don’t ignore it. Had I ignored mine, I promise you, my social media pages would have been full of RIP messages. My intent to be an advocate for breast cancer awareness is because...because I don’t want to see you or your friends and loved ones go through what I've been through. This is for you. It was already a test for me

Hi ladies. It's been about 8 months since I last posted. After I went back to work full time, things got very busy quickly, but I've recently been reminded to step back and to get more rest. Next month it will be 2 years since my diagnosis. In August, 3 years since my molar pregnancy miscarriage. Both of which required chemo. I felt like my energy was coming back last summer as I had started running and training for a 10k. I still have my moments (17 months post last chemo) where I feel exhausted for days on end and I get achy joints (comes and goes). I'm currently on Tamoxifen (been on it for 17 months).

I belong to a local young women's group where I live and we recently lost someone who had been diagnosed early 2012 (she was a wonderful person and did everything right, but just had extremely bad luck to have it come back in her liver just a few months after she finished chemo and double mastectomy). It has really shaken me up. I was depressed for weeks and I keep being paranoid about every ache and pain and the fatigue I've experienced. It goes to show that you can be doing just fine and still have your moments.

For those of you ladies who have a hard time with pregnant women/friends, I still struggle with this, but it has improved. I was 28 when diagnosed and 30 now. We froze embryos, but our fertility specialist would like to see us try naturally for #1 (if we take a break from Tamoxifen) and save the 9 embryos for #2 (if possible). We will take it one at a time. I would love 2 children, but will feel blessed if we end up with just one after everything I've been through. Hearing that we would need to wait another 5 years after I'd already been delayed nearly a year due to the molar pregnancy was devastating. But time does fly if you try not to focus on it. We have been strongly considering taking a break from Tamoxifen at 2 years to try to have a baby, because I don't think we'll have much of a chance to have 2 children otherwise. After my friend passed away, I started to rethink things, but have since decided to wait until the 2 year mark to make any decisions (that will be in mid-October).

It's been difficult emotionally since my friend passed away and I realized I hadn't been coming online to check in and wanted to see how all of the ladies on here are doing as well as to give encouragement to the newbies. There is a lot we can't control, but there are things we can do right as well. My personal opinion is that I don't want to have any regrets that I didn't do more to take care of myself and prevent recurrence. If we want to take a break at 2 years, this means that I need to exercise (which can be tough when things ache), eat well (no or little added sugars, high vegetable/fruit diet, low dairy/animal products), reduce environmental toxins where possible, get plenty of rest, reduce stress, and take the Tamoxifen until we're ready to take the break. We've been eliminating products from our home over time as well to reduce the toxins around us. There is a website: www.ewg.org that grades common household products and we started tossing the ones with a D or F grade (regardless of how much was left). We are trying to stay with grades A & B. The same website also has a section for skindeep and it ranks products such as soaps, lotions, hair products, etc from 0-10 with 10 being the most toxic. This gives me the feeling that I have some control over reducing my chances of recurrence. Not sure what the rest of you ladies are doing, but please share if you have any lifestyle changes that you think may benefit us all.

Sorry for the long post and for not addressing each of you individually. I did go back and read all of the posts since I last visited and was sad to see some of you as young as 22/23. I thought it was bad enough at 28. But turning 30 felt like a victory to me, which I'm sure you all understand. I have always been a birthday person and others used to say, "just wait till you get older". Well, I'll never be sad to turn 40, 50, 60, 70+! I now have the ammo to respond and say, I'll be happy to turn 60 because it means I'm still here 32 years after diagnosis! Good night ladies and I'll check back soon.

Hi MMM. I'm so happy you're doing well physically post treatment, but very sorry to hear about your dad. I can't imagine how you must feel, but I'm sure it's a difficult time for you as well. I think everything hits harder after what we've experienced, but these are also the reminders to be grateful to be here because others are not so lucky.

As for energy, it takes time to get the energy levels back and even still, you can have your low energy moments that hit harder than they would have pre-cancer. I have had a tough time emotionally, but had my 4 month onc check-up today and feel better about a lot of the concerns I had.

My onc left to move out of state, so I had to switch and today was my first appointment with my new onc (I had met her once before for genetic testing as that's her specialty). While my previous onc did not want me to take a break to have a baby, my new onc said that she was okay with it. There's always a risk associated with stopping Tamoxifen early, but felt like it was a small one for me as long as I'm symptom free. So, I'll see how I feel at 2 years, which is just another 7 months away. There's also new research about Tamoxifen that suggests 10 years is better than 5. But it was really refreshing that she understand that waiting 10 years would be asking for too much and she said it was too premature to have that discussion anyways. Personally, I'll deal with Tamoxifen for the 10 years, especially if I can have the two children (or even just one) that we always wanted. One step at a time I guess.

Hi ladies!

I haven't posted here in ages, have been busy with work, life, marriage, running & generally getting on with living my life!

I was diagnosed in 2009 & am almost 4 years out now. I'm doing great! I don't come on here as much as I previously did as I tend to read the sad stories about recurrences etc & they can get me down. Its important to get back to living my life in the present & stop worrying about what may happen!!



I'm taking a tamoxifen holiday to see about trying to conceive naturally. Was on it for 3 years. Would love to start a family. All my friends are either pregnant or have children & I definitely have the maternal urge!!



I hope each of you are doing well. For those undergoing treatment, please know it gets much easier & BC treatment will soon be a distant memory

Xx

Seems like everyone still going through a lot..

@SWERP-
I hope your path results come back good!

@kk11-
I'm doing well, and you?

Hello all,

I am 29, and was diagnosed on December10, 2012. My cancer was triple negative, and I tested negative for gene. I had a sentinel node biopsy, they found micro mets in 1/3 nodes. I did four rounds of adriamyacin/cytoxan and 4 rounds of taxol every other week. Finished chemo on April 4. After going back and forth for a long time, I decided to have a bmx and TEs. I had that on April 22. I am a little over a week post-op and am feeling pretty good. Just have a lot of tightness. I get my drains out tomorrow (yay!). My path report showed clear margins, and I hope to have clear scans soon and officially be cancer free.  I wanted to share my story with my fellow 20 somethings. I am married with a 10 year old step-daughter, 3 year old son, and 10 month old daughter. I had my daughter last June, my dad passed away 2 weeks later, and 6 months later I was diagnosed with breast cancer. So it has been a very strange year. I feel a lot of guilt for possibly passing this to my daughter, but I am blessed to have her. Taking care of my kids and knowing I have to be here for them and helped me get through this whole experience. I also had and aquaintance who was recent young breast cancer survivor. She helped me so much, and is now a dear friend. I used these boards for advice, or just to read other's stories. Anyway, I am here for any questions, advice. I turn 30 in July, and hope to leave my 20's cancer free.

Erika

CAN anyone tell me how appropriate is a TE reconstruction With a cabin crew position ????

Hi everyone,

I found my first lump when I was 15 or 16 and lost of ultrasounds and needle biopsies but all came back as benign. Since i was so young the said not to worry about it and to come back next year or if i felt like it was bigger or more painful. By the time I was 18 I was tired of being poke and prodded and since everything kept coming back as benign I didn't go back until I was 21. That is when the new doctor I was going to told me I fibrous tissue in my breast and a few cyst but it was nothing to worry about. At 23 I went back to the doctor because I couldn't take the pain anymore and after another ultra sound that doctor also told me that it was just fibrous tissue. Luckily my boyfriend was extremely supportive and admit that I get it taken out, which may have saved my life. One month after I turn 24, which just happened to be the day after Christmas, I had a lumpectomy in my left breast. Two weeks post op, expecting the same old news of begin cysts or fibrous tissue, I went in for my check up alone. When my doctor came in and asked if I brought anyone with me which she had never done before I knew something was different, that's when I was told that I had breast cancer. For some reason I didn't feel sad or overwhelmed almost like I already knew somehow. I think it was a lot harder to tell my family especially my mom and boyfriend and see them cry then to hear it myself. After what seemed like endless tests and MRIs my doctor told me I had more left in my left breast and what could be more in my lower right breast. She told me that in her opinion my only choice was a double mastectomy that I had on March 22. I'm currently in my final stages with my tissue expanders and can't wait to exchange these rocks for some nice softer implants. At this point I have decided not to do chemo and to try to get back to a normal life as soon as possible. I'm so glad to hear from people my age