Hello Paula,
I'm sorry that you are having to deal with this awful disease.

Only a part of your story is similar to mine.  I was also thirty five at the
time of my diagnosis, twenty years ago. My tumor was rather large (4cm.) and
I did have about half of the lymph nodes that were surgically removed be
malignant.  I had a modified radical mastectomy and a year of CMF chemo.  I
then had breast reconstruction with a saline filled implant.

I encourage you to continue to write to this group.  There are a lot of
caring and very imformed folks who write here.

Chemo agents are different these days, so I can't be very specific about
that....but many here have done recent chemo and will encourage and support
you.  They often say, "It wasn't any picnic, but it was doable".  I worked
for the year of my treatment, as a kindergarten teacher---and I think some
others continued with jobs as well.

No question, it's a very, very difficult time.    Sending my very best
wishes for optimum benefit of the chemo and few side effects.

Barb

Howdy, Paula,

Welcome to a great group (though I'm sorry you have need to join us).

I was older than you when diagnosed with BC (45), but we have other
things in common:  I had locally advanced BC in one breast (5 tumors,
largest 3.1 cm), and had a bilateral mastectomy (after a biopsy while on
the operating table revealed that a suspicious area in my other breast
was also malignant).  I had one positive lymph node.  I've chosen not to
have reconstruction.

I had 4 rounds of Adriamycin/Cytoxan chemo, then 4 rounds of Taxol, all
at 3 week intervals, then 6 weeks of radiation.  It was the worst hobby
I ever had, but I think the popular press reports make the treatment
sound worse than it really is for most of us.  I was sicker than most
are these days on the A/C, and I can't say that at any point it was
worse than other bouts of unpleasant illness I've had in the past -- the
schedule was just a little more predictable!

I'm now a little over 3 years past diagnosis/surgery, and so far --
knock wood -- no evidence of disease (NED).

I'm on a breast cancer survivors rowing team, and one of my team-mates
was diagnosed at about your age (I believe she was 34 or 35) . . . and
she was at stage IV, which as you know is usually considered incurable.
 Nonetheless, she's still with us 5 years later, also NED, and doing
just great!

In all honesty, I have to say that treatment may feel like a long haul,
but you'll do fine, one day at a time.  Try to find some ways to pamper
yourself and do enjoyable things to distract yourself from the worry.

<Stern motherly advice mode> You are doing your post-mastectomy
stretching exercises, I hope?  If your doctor didn't give you any to do,
say so, and I'll look for some on the web. </stern motherly advice mode>.

You take care, now, and stay in touch.  If you have questions, this is
the place to ask!

Ann T.
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You might wish to investigate screening for the BCA-1 and BCA-2 genes.
The option for bilateral mastectomy makes sense in your circumstance,
but if you should have one of theses, your risk of ovarian cancer could
be high.  The incidence of the genes is low, even among women who have
breast cancer, but the stakes are high.