Just diagnosed 4/7/16

hi 040716stillme, welcome to the best club you never wanted to join. This time is so scary, when you have a little information and a lot of fear. Please stay off the internet except for here, where you will find safe and reliable information and support.

If it helps, my stats are similar to yours, and I'm NED (no evidence of disease) at six years out. Everyone's situations and decisions are unique but I went with bilateral mx due to family history.

BTW, if you can swing it, bring a trusted someone to med appts with you. The info can come fast and your brain can be stuck in first gear from when the doc said cancer. Good luck next week! ((hugs))

I also just got diagnosed with ductal carcinoma ... I am 38 years old and have No history of breast cancer in my family. I have decided to have bilateral masectomy with reconstruction surgery afterwords. It's all very overwhelming but I am very confident with my doctors and trust them 100%... I have a ton of support ....I go for my surgery in two week

Am glad you have surgery set up already. You have a journey ahead of you so you will.need to.weigh lots of options, Especially reconstruction. Stay strong !!

Hi,

I just got the call too. 9mm invasive ductal carcinoma, HER2+, ER+, PgR+, Ki-67 28%. I see a surgeon today and wish I had a video to watch. I find myself comforting others too. Weird how my "mothering" kicks in. I just turned 45. I am scared to death and find some strange peace in connecting with you.

Light

Breathe it is scary in the beginning. Once you get what I call your fight plan it is easier. You know what you are going to have get ready for and you can pace yourself based on that. I will say it is hard for me to realize I was where you are 7 years ago. I had double MX with no reconstruction and have not doubted that choice since then. I learned I was stronger than I ever knew.

I don't get on here much these days; but did want to pop in to just tell you there are so many of here who have made to the other side. Also the hardest thing for me after surgery was asking for help. Give yourself permission to ask...it is not a sign of weakness.

hi,

Just chirping in to echo what lovegolf said, be kind and generous with yourself, adjust your expectations, choose what you really want to give your energy to and take anything else that is not neccesairy out of your ' to do list', if you manage extra then fine, bonus, if you don't that absolutely fine too.ncut yourself plenty of slack and only good self talk. Basically be as good, kind, patient and generous with yourself as any mum is with their child and you will be doing ok. And never think twice about asking for some help. It's lovely all round and help loving people around you feel they have been able to contribute to your well being which is a good feeling.

Take care!

Shiny

Shiny, great words of advice. I agree. Things need to change. No more burning the candle at both ends.

Harvest moon- do you have a surgery and tentative treatment plan yet

Hi everyone

I was DX on April 7th. Last year i went for my first mammogram and got called back and they took some more pics of my right breast and told me to wait. I then got called in a room and they said you have calcifications and they are normal and we don't even need to take another look at it or ultrasound. That was it...was told alot of women have them very normal not to worry so i didn't...1 year later I go in for my mammogram and decide to do a 3D just so they will have more pics and i got called back and this time it was a diagnostic mammogram. I went and had it and was told to wait then they took me to the same room but the tech gave me a hug and a doctor came in. I'm like oh no what's going on?? The doctor explained that my calcifications have grown/spread and they need to do a biopsy. Came back DCIS and my mass is pretty large takes up almost half my breast and its right up to the nipple.

I now have a great BS, i love her! She has recommended since it's so large and takes up half my breast to have skin sparing mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. I went and met with a well known PS here in Houston and hes great as well. So i'm now waiting on my gene testing to come back I'm ES+ and PS+. i've decided along with my PS to do the DIEP flap reconstruction and i'm now trying to decide on a uni or bi mastectomy! very stressed and confused and just dont want to make the wrong decision. My doctors will do what i want and are very helpful but I want this to be my decision. but how in the world do you make this kind of decision? I feel that knowing me I would worry every single time i had to have a mammo on the other side if they take 1. I don't want to live with so much worry now i know even if they take both i will still worry but maybe not as much??

my surgery is either May 12th or May 19th will find out for sure Tuesday.

thank you all for your stories and it's a blessing to be able to be heard by such wonderful strong women

hi Bird-of-light,

I understand what you mean about tired of talking about it or telling new people so it's made me want to stay home which is so not me! I feel tired alll the time now even if i sleep well so i'm just guessing it's stress. I now feel so guilty of my friends who have gone through this and i wasn't more "helpful" i guess it's true you just don't understand until you go through it.

I should have said at first i didn't' love my PS like my BS but he has done one of my friends and he is so well known because of how well of a surgeon he is. So, i just keep in mind hes good and hes not going to be my BFF..lol i've heard he takes a while to get used to. hope that helps...i'm going by how well hes known instead of how much i like him and my BC speaks so highly of him!