another newbie

mlmjt1 said:

Hi Lisa
Welcome to the boards!! You will find a whole lot of support here. Believe me there always is someone who is going thru the same thing you are or has been thru it previously. I had bilateral mastectomy in may with invasive ductal cancer high stage 2 her 2 positive. I still need reconstruction sometime next year and just finished chemo 3 wks ago. I will need to take herceptin every 3 wks until august and am considering a clinical trial as well. I too am a nurse and do home health. My kids are 19 and 23 so are out of the house and my husband is retired. I work full time, but dont have any home responsibilities.

You have alot more pressure on you with managing all of this with 4 kids, I assume pretty young based on your age. One piece of advice I would give you is this: women in general are caregivers and nurses are especially good in that role, but right now you will not be able to give to anyone if you dont take care of you first. The treatment phase of this will not last forever and you will need to rest, eat drink lots of fluids EXERCISE to stay well. I was lucky that my employer allowed me to work 1/2 days the week after chemo. I was pretty much able to work about 25 hours per week initially then up to 35 to 38 hours per week.

If you need an antidepressant, ask for one and an antianxiety as well. I am on paxil and have xanax prn which I rarely use now. When I first was diagnosed, all I did was cry. I could barely concentrate on patient care cuz my head was not into it at all.

There are lots of young women on this site who are going thru this with young kids. I am sure they will post soon. Meanwhile, please take care of yourself first! and post often, cuz we are all here for you

Hugs
Linda T

outdoorgirl said:

Welcome Lisa,
sorry that you have to be here-but this is a wonderful site that will hopefully prove to be invaluable to you as it is to the rest of us!
You can make it through this-it is a rough road,but you can do this!

Marlene_K said:

Staying positive
I am not an 'old timer' here for sure but there are such amazing women on here. They step up to the plate right away to offer just the right words. I have days when I'm down but very fortunately, for now, it only lasts a day. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in June. I wanted to make all the right choices because it's very important 'how' we deal with it. I had a mastectomy of my left breast on Aug. 27th and the pathology report put me in stage 3a. It turns out my tumor was 7 cm... yeah, HUGE! I started chemo last week and, thank God, for small (or in this case HUGE favors), I haven't experienced any horrible side affects. I plan to beat this, and so will you! It's important to stay positive and don't ever lose it (for more than a day). I really believe we all have to be allowed down time, but it's important to stay focused. What's the point in living if we live in fear? It's just crazy that everyone I talk to in life knows someone that has had breast cancer, and low & behold we seem to be winning the battle. There may not be a 'cure' but they sure have come a LONG way in survival rates. It's unfortunate that you have to be here, Lisa, but you found a fantastic site! Post any questions you might have, and everyone here will do the best they can to point you in the right direction. Remember, you might have cancer, but cancer doesn't have you. Fight to win!

Marcia527 said:

I found this board after
I found this board after treatment. Wishing you the best with the rest of your treatment.