Please help me...I am feeling lost

Hi C: 

I'm curious: what did your breast surgeon say about your difficulty swallowing? He/she must have offered some explaining-away. Also did you have a chance to talk to your family doc about the swallowing problem before becoming a BC patient?

Murphy, waiting does make one absolutely crazy. Have you had any scans besides breast ones? Having clear MRIs and CT scans at the beginning of my diagnosis helped me squash the feeling/fear of the cancer being everywhere.

Have you seen your primary care doctor for the throat thing? I know that reflux can cause that difficult to swallow/something is there sensation, and may be the only symptom of the reflux.

Kendra

Some Ativan each night helped me in the beginning. Seriously. I too was 43when diagnosed, with a teenaged daughter. In some ways it gets easier, especially when you start to have more clear answers as to where you do or don't have cancer, as best as your doctors can tell. For me, having a plan in place for treatment helped. I had a clear PET scan after chemo and a clear pathology report after surgery, and both of those helped put my mind more at ease. It's still not completely at ease, however, and I don't know if it ever gets to that point or not.

I felt like I had a lump in my throat but that was after dx. There is a thread on here somewhere that mentions Globulus hystericus - generally it is caused by major anxiety. It certainly was in my case. Did you have a lot of anxiety before dx? My PCP predicted it would go away as I recovered emotionally and it did. Best of luck

Username-

We want to welcome you to our community, and tell you how very sorry we are for the experience you had during your biopsy! It's already a scary situation to be in, and then to not have trust in your doctors only compounds the fear and confusion. We would suggest calling the doctor's office tomorrow and asking to speak with someone. Hopefully you're able to get some answers as to why that happened.

We hope your results come back benign, and we'll be thinking of you!

The Mods

Hi,I am also 43, with a 6 year old and was diagnosed in April. Currently finishing up chemo then surgery in September.

I remember the day I was diagnosed sitting around the table with my family and my sister's family asking myself and them how I am going to get the strength to go through the coming months. It seemed every scan, every biopsy, every phone call was bad news and I was breaking down, lost all confidence. Every morning I'd wake up sometimes crying, wishing this wasn't real. It was especially hard to be around my son because I had to think about "what ifs". One thing that happened quickly was that I felt very close to my husband and knew I wanted and could rely on him for support, making appointments, dealing with insurance, researching etc. The strength came gradually with time, more info about size and type, spread (although it took a while for me to want to hear and learn about survival statistics), and when a treatment plan was in place and starting with chemo, as horrible as it is. I started getting my bearings back. I also started psycho therapy, acupuncture treatments and saw a nutritionist which together helped me more gain more sense of control. I wanted to join a cancer support group but didn't find one close by that I felt comfortable with. Please don't be too hard on yourself and pressure yourself to be strong. What we have to face and go through is so so difficult and can leave us feeling separated. I have found this forum to be very helpful, informative and supportive. I am very happy I found it. It is my go-to place when something's up. You will gain strength in due time and on days when you don't feel all that strong let your family and friends help you. It's not always easy. Also, check out his movie that is available on iTunes, it's called "WHAT THE F@#- IS CANCER And Why Does Everybody Have It?" It is made by a young women who was diagnosed I believe at 38 and wanted to make a movie about BC that she wished she had when she was diagnosed. I found it to be inspiring.

Hugs

Hello, I just wanted to send some prayers your way. I was just diagnosed last Friday with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma and the anxiety is just horrible. Just wanted to send you my prayers and wish you the very best!

Murphy, swallowing difficulties should be evaluated by a Ears, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doc. The ENT doc  will do their thing. Once everything that they treat is ruled out, an evaluation by a GI doc for gastric reflux could be considered if swallowing is still an issue.