r/BreastCancerSurvivors

Hello, I was diagnosed with IDC ER+ PR+ HER2- stage one, grade 1, node negative in July 2025 when I was 43. I had a DMX at the end of August. Flat closure, no radiation or chemo, on Tamoxifen since January. Anyway, things have been going okay, but for the last three days I've been having pain, tightness, numbness and itchiness on the right side of my chest (that's the side that had the tumors and 7 lymph nodes removed). I am getting extremely paranoid...I have been managing scary thoughts pretty well, but this has gotten me a bit anxious. Any advice/words of wisdom. Has anyone experienced this many months after surgery? Thank you so much in advance 💖

So I just had my post op appt after my dmx and sentinel node removal. Doc is recommending a full lymph node removal. Anyone have this? Or just did radiation? Looking for input. Thanks!

Hi there. I’ve recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. I have a lumpectomy scheduled for next week.

What have others used/had handy for the recovery phase?

How long did you have to recover before you felt ready to return to work?

(I’m going through this cancer journey without my mom, and I’m struggling.)

Buongiorno

Sto cercando testimonianze di donne TNBC stadio IV che dopo Prc stanno facendo solo immunoterapia con PEMBROLIZUMAB. Per quanto tempo siete rimaste nead prima che il cancro tornasse?

Vi ringrazio tutte anticipatamente io attualmente sono al quinto mese solo con immunoterapia, per ora pare che vada tutto bene incrociamo le dita perche duri il piiu a lungo possibile

Hi survivors. My incredible mother in law, 69, was just diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma and is trying to navigate the many unknowns that come along with said diagnosis.

She works full time still and we live in a remote town where she’s too scared to share her news for fear of it affecting her work, but wants to hear more personal experiences people have had with recovery. We are not looking for medical advice, but would love to hear pros and cons of your reconstruction. She’s debating DIEP of the one breast she’d have a mastectomy on (she’s a very slight person and we don’t know if she’d have enough fat…,) or doing reconstruction with implant at the time of surgery to remove the cancer affected breast.

If you had either of those procedures done, what was recovery like? Pros and cons? Any and all insights welcome. 🙏

Had double mastectomy in September 2025. After a weekend of gardening, pulling weeds and a Pilates class, my under arm has gotten very puffy and swollen. Hurts to touch

I went to plastic surgeon today for a regular check up, and he told me to go to my oncologist surgeon to check the lump out. Has anyone experienced this before?

When I was making that appointment, the nurse said “I’m not stressed, but I understand why you’re stressed.” I am very stressed. If this had happened to anyone before please let me know what the end results were/things you did to bring the puffy/swollenness down

I had my exchange surgery March 23.
So I’m almost two months out. I have very little body fat so couldn’t do Diep flap. However, the plastic surgeon I had did liposuction on the insides of my thighs (which didn’t have much fat) and a little on the hips. My thighs were excruciatingly painful for a month. And blackened with bruises.. I was unaware of how severe this would be. But the biggest disappointment right now is the implants have ripples in them. The placement is nice and symmetry, but the fat that was harvested from my legs, and put around the breast implants to fill in, etc, must have dissolved or spread out because all of the fullness has dissipated and the ripples in the implants are just all too present. Is this just something most women have to expect who don’t have much body fat that have this surgery?
I’m not sure if I’m setting my expectations too high or?

Laura

Did 16 rounds of chemo and just had my DMX Monday. Got my pathology report and I’m kinda spiraling a bit. Can anyone in my situation or similar explain what comes next?

ER strongly positive (81–90%)
HER2 negative
PR negative
Ki-67 ~30% (moderate-to-fast growth)
Cancer in lymph nodes (3 out of 6 nodes)
Small residual tumor in breast (pT1c)
RCB-II (moderate amount of cancer left after chemo)

I (42F) have recently been diagnosed with Invasive ductal cancer, measuring around 2.5cm with no obvious lymph node involvement so far but i read you can only tell during surgery. (ER+/PR+) and HER2-negative, Ki-67 of 30% My doctors recommended a single mastectomy, with chemotherapy and hormone therapy being considered to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Im am scared. I havent been sleeping. I cry all the time. I have a 5 year old and i need more life. I want to see him grow up. This has been a shock. I never smoked, dont drink etc etc I feel so helpless. Im the only carer to my child. I struggled with infertility and had my baby through ivf. I was so happy before this.

I dont know how to cope anymore. I guess i just needed to write this down.