Just Diagnosed - waiting is difficult
Im 38 years old and just diagnosed with high grade breast cancer in the "capillary and lymphatic spaces of the dermis and subcutaneous fat." They're talking about Inflammatory Breat Cancer. I'm scheduled to have an MRI tomorrow and then talk with a surgeon. Waiting to get treatment started is so difficult. I just want to get going. It's also hard to know where to go for treatment. Do you go with the local doctors or travel to a more well-known, national hospital? So many questions at this point. I've found these boards to be very helpful so far.
Comments
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Hi,
I'm staying local for my treatment. My local doctors are amazing. Even though I have UCSF and Stanford University less than 30 miles away, I am choosing my local doctors. They are all highly regarded in the area and they also treated my GYN's wife's BC. If they are good enough for my DR, they are good enough for me.
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I think it depends on where you are located and what is available, as well as what you are comfortable with. After doing research, i traveled 4 hours for surgery and treatment at a teaching hospital. There is a lot of information on the boards as far as hospitals and physicians. You may want to ask for a recommendation in your area In a thread. I'm sure you'll receive plenty of info
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Hi Liz, we want to first welcome you to our community here at BCO. We're sorry for what brings you here, but we're glad you found us and we hope you find it to be a place of support and helpful information! As you can already tell, the women and men here are amazing and we hope you can draw the strength you need from them in this difficult moments.
Good luck with MRI, please let us know how it goes! We're here for you.
The Mods
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I agree waiting is the hard part. Even though I am scheduled for surgery in a few days I will still be waiting for test results before we can proceed any further. Take a deep breath, try to enjoy life each day and do something of the wall once a day you have earned it!
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I am new here but was diagnosed at age 40 with stage III infiltrating ductile carcinoma that was high grade. I was terrified and had 3 young children. The waiting is awful. Hang in there because once you get a plan you will feel a little more control and that will help. Treatments are better all the time. I am now 59 and was diagnosed on the other side with a totally different, early caught breast cancer 2 years ago. Different and better treatment this time. I pray you find the right doctors! Treat yourself gently, meditate, buy some beautiful flowers, get a scented soap. Breathe deeply and know there are so many of us out there who have been there and are still here. Lean on your friends and I promise you you will have peaceful days in the future. Eff Cancer!!! -
thank you all so much for your advice and support. I am looking at MD Anderson as well as some places closer to home (Iowa). I will check out the IBC boards. Thank you all so much
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Im so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I was just diagnosed in April and it feels like its been a lifetime. So many questions and so many information. I actually went to three breast surgeons and radiologist in three different states. The best of the best and my local surgeon. At the end of the day I went with who I felt most comfortable with. I gathered all the information I needed about what I had and I asked a lot of questions and listened to what each surgeon had to say. At the end of the day they all had the same choices of treatment, what was most important is how I felt about each treatment and how I felt about the comfort of care with each establishment. Good luck and hang in there. God is Good.
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Liz,
I have IBC. I live a small town and no one had treated a case of IBC in over 20 years. Luckily, I'm only 75 miles from a NCI designated treatment center. I'd urge you to use a NCI center simply because the offer the best care. You can find locations here: www.cancer.gov/research/nci-role/cancer-centers
You might want to create a topic about yourself. I've found my IBC sisters to be incredibly wise, caring, and helpful. I'm sorry you're joining us, but I hope we can be of some use to you.
Best wishes,
bride
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I stayed local for my treatment. We have a very good cancer center here in Newport News, VA..Peninsula Cancer Center. Chemo and radiation done in the same building that we see the oncologists in and follow-up scans and test are done at 2 very close facilities. I can't imagine having to drive any more than 30 minutes or so to treatment when chemo gets going, or everyday for radiation. I also have inflammatory breast cancer. It's very different than most breast cancers, almost in a classification by itself, but thankfully for us they have more information about treatments for it than even 5 years ago. I'd love to hear how things are progressing for you.
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