Looking for thoughts on coping.  I have IDC of the right breast.  I did chemo first and then on September 29 I had a modified radical mastectomy of the right breast with axillary disection.  The surgery went really well with good clean margins.  Then of 27 nodes only 4 were cancer.  I'm thankful for that.

I will have radiation so I did not have reconstruction. I'm looking at living with one  breast for at least 6 months maybe more.  I am a large breasted woman (DD)  I do not have a prostheses yet so I am using a foam form right now.  I can't get comfortable and get the two sides to look equal.  This causes my to panic and I have a lot of axiety about going out in public.

Any thoughts on coping?  Does anyone else find they have axiety atacts when in public?

 I find coping much easier as the chemo treatments go on.  I cried for the longest during the first weeks after the treatment.  It is such a powerful drug and and do such terrible things to your body.  I was classed as stage 3A.  i had my right breast removed and 18 lymph nodes removed 8 of which were cancerous. i have one more chemo treatment of cy.and adriamycin combo.  then i go to 4 more treatments of taxol.  taxol doesn't make you sick.  Then i have 35 visits to radiation. i don't understand how women can work. i have no energy.  i rarely sleep, even though my doctor gives me 10mg. of ambian every night. my mouth stays broken out the second week after treatment.  how does anyone have energy??

I prostheses would make you feel alot better, you will feel more balanced.  the right kind of weight that is fitted for you will be alot better.  i try to keep my mind off myself as much as possible, which is hard.   i knit and crochet to NIN (Newborns in Need). it is an agency that gives to poor people with newborns.  I send mine to the appalachian area in east tennesee.  Praying and mediation helps the most.  I do it everyday.

I have often asked how some women are able to work through it all.  I did my chemo before surgery when I was the strongest and it knocked me out for four months.  I cried all the time from the side effects of the steroids you take to prevent side effect of the chemo.  ( I took dexomethedone)  I did the same A/c 4 cycles and then Taxol 4 cycles.  When you get ready to do taxol, be prepaired.  I had a reaction on the second treatment.  When they opened the drip to 200/hr I instantly started feeling sick to my stomach, my heart started racing and my pressure dropped.  Then the room started to go black.  It was anafilactic shock.  They had to stop treatment and wait three days before trying again.  THen I would take start taking dex the day before and double up on all the pretreatment mend so that my body would accept the taxol.  I made it through but the the side effects are very different from A/c.  I had muscle pain but not so much of the head fog.  Hope it goes well for you.

I am coping a lot better now. I start radiation in two weeks.  Soon it will be a thing of the past.  I can't wait for it to be done.