What was your age and what initial symptoms did you experience at onset?

My friend was 65 yrs old when in March 2017 she noticed her armpit seemed swollen and tender and the adventure started going for petscan, mris, ctscans, etc.  Then the biopsys and finally the confirmation.  Chemo started lst week of Dec 2017 for 4 month 6 hard treatments and into 8 months of remission.  She had no time to really digest the situation. Now it seems there is something in the hip bone and L2 lumbar, she will be going to Stanford Palo Alto CA for evaluation and medical recommendations. Cancer is very invasive and reaps you completely.  She has been told she has a good chance because she doesn't wait to have exams done and makes decisions on the spot.  Stress is inevitable, but keep optimistic,  laugh alot and keep very busy.  Eat extremely healthy organic if possible,  smoothies and supplements.  No meat and no sugar.

I had absolutely no signs/symptoms. I blew off routine mammos for several years & finally just decided to get it done. 

Suspicious micro calcifications, no bid issues occurs with aging right? 98% chance of it being nothing. Had mammo assisted biopsies done... 2 hrs laying on a table on my tummy. I wasn’t concerned at all. 

3 days later got the call, I have Breast Cancer IDC stage 1A, 2mm tumor,grade 2, progesterone & estrogen +, not HER 2.... because of it breaking out of ducts moving forward & backwards from nipple... I would lose more than half my breast with a lumpectomy. I will be having a mastectomy in ten days with lymph nodes biopsies. 

I pray & hope it is not in my lymph nodes or else where... I do  not want to have radiation & do not think my body will withstand chemo  

Here I am ... 

Do not skip out on your routine screenings... even if you are completely void of signs/symptoms... look at me, there is NOT always a sign or symptom... I am facing a mastectomy & NO lump to be felt... all from micro calcifications!!!! 

@SwomaNWarrior1018 You are right! It is so important to not brush off your visits and routine screenings! I was diagnosed very young and like you had no sumptoms or signs... I threw up a few days before being actually diagnosed and was feeling ill and it would not subside, and that is why I scheduled an appointment, but besides that I had no symptoms. This is what ultimately led me up to making an appt.

I have severe anxiety and depression. I dont seem to be able to accomplish tasks even as small as putting clothes away

 Breast cancer 1b, no chemo, only radiation 70 years old. Double mastectomy. I am so afraid. At night I feel ok but in morning I wake up totally fearful. My psychiatrist is trying me on meds.  Tried setraline. Effexor, fetzima, now a group of  drugs ( lomotrigine, seaquel, prilosec and lithium) they do not seem to work. I am extremely nervous and cant seem to get myself going even though all my drs said it is gone and it pronably wont come back. It's like I am sitting here just waiting for it to come back I dont want to live my life like this  if I have 10 or 5 years left I want them to be productive. So many survivors I know are doing well.   Anyone with some good advice. Thank you

@HawaiianLau Hi, my name is Sara and I just found out I have breast cancer on April 2, this year.  I will be having a mastectomy on May 8, and I will also have to have chemo and radiation.  I am terrified. I have good days and bad days.  I have anxiety and get really stressed out at times.  I am a christian and get a lot of support and prayers from the women in my Bible study and faith is so important, and hope.  I do take librium, 10 mg when the anxiety gets overwhelming and I can't stop crying, and it helps too.  I have a hard time getting going in the morning too, as I have some other issues with cramps and I.B.S. symptoms for the first 2-3 hours every morning.  I have arthritis and fibermyalgia.  I have heard that chemo can make you hurt all over, so that makes me wonder if it will be worse because of that.  I know I should just take it one day at a time, but sometimes it is hard.  So much fear of the unknown, and being afraid of more bad news.  But we have to remember to live in the moment, no-one  knows what the next minute holds in store for any of us, healthy people, with no illnesses die everyday, and people with cancer survive every day, too.  Just focus on now, I try to remind myself of that quite often.  Sara

Thank You Sera, i am trying tms.. transcrainal magnetic stimulation. It is supposed to reset your brain. The meds didnt do it. You said it so eloquently, exactly whats happening to me. I was always calm cool and collected. I have been working for that for 2 years. Something must be wrong with my brain that i cant relax. The TMS blasts a magnet to your skull. I too do bible study and pray quite a lot. Cry, i can not cry since 10 years ago. My bible study is going to be over in 2 weeks, i have to find something to keep me calm for the summer. I have so many friends who had bc and they did fine. I ask them how to get that calm inner peace and they get mad and dont see me. So i only have 2 friends who call. I mostly go to seen doctors. I really hate it. My psyc said i should not go to support meetings i should go out and enjoy my life. He is absolutely right. How do i do it. I am retired. I have not been doing much in these 2 years except cook a. Little but today i cleaned off my kitchen counter. I have some problems with my daughter in law and it has been going on for a long time but i didnt know, i always believe people. I found out she has been trlling me stories about how she can't bring the kids over and it was lie. I dont even know what she has been doijg. Shevis beautiful very educated but she said she does not want to tell me anything cause i would feel bad. So maybe what the doctors say is correct it may be more than bc. They said bc was the tipping point. I would like tonhave more communication. I am in hawaii. My email is kathy.lau@gmail.com if you want to write, i send youbprayers. Love to you and prayerds to all if us. Amen kathy

I'm 45 and found a lump in my right breast while doing a random and few-and-far-between self breast exam April 12. Now, I'm a week past my first chemo treatment, with more to follow every 3 wks for about 6 mos. Because of my age and lack of breast cancer history I'm going to have genetics testing to see if I carry a marker that makes me more susceptible to breast cancer in the other. Humor is my defense mechanism but it's hard to find any.

Hello everyone, I am restarting this discussion as this tends to be a very important concern and topic for those with breast cancer, especially those with concerns around being diagnosed. 

Please share your experience:

What was your age when you first experienced warning signs / onset?

What were the initial warning signs / symptoms at onset that made you seek medical advice?

Is there anything you would recommend to others?

Hi my mom showed me a lump on her breast in 2017 since then it has grown out of her chest wall she refuses treatment but i managed to get a video of her chest and sent it to a cancer doctor and it now has turned into fungating breast cancer i dont know what stage she is in but it is bleeding, pussing and she is in pain. In the past 2 weeks she is complaining of pain in her back to the point she can't bend over she sits on a heatimg pad everday but it's just getting worse and she is starting to look very pale i amso scared for her 

 

I went to 4 doctors that happened to be men during a year. I mentioned that one of my breasts had become much larger than the other. The response from all of them was that often women have different-sized breasts. I said that mine had not. They said not to worry about it.

On my annual Gynecological exam with a woman doctor, she sent me immediately for a mammogram where I found out I had breast cancer.

I had a lumpectomy (stage 2) with Internal Radiation, Chemo, and am on meds for 5-10 years. I wish I would have known a year earlier.