Diagnosed w/ Breast cancer - what do I do now?

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I have the same exact issue with scarves, et al.

As for reconstruction... assess the risks first, and take it one step at a time.

This must be so awful for you, i'm so sorry
That's really great that you have a loving and considerate partner because it could make all the difference in how you cope.
I hope everything works out for you in the end... horrible thing to have to deal with

Keep your chin up. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 at the age of 52. The one thing that frustrated me about my mom was she basically was very negative about it, and let it stop her from "living". It's like she's just waiting for it to kill her. Yes anything like this is hard to deal with and all but it's best to keep positive, even if you do in fact get a second opinion that confirms it, take each day as it comes and make the most of it. There is so much more than can be done to treat breast cancer than years ago. I wish you all the luck and that things turn out well for you.

yes, he's one in a million *I told him about your post and it was the first time he smiled in over a week, lol.

Thanks very much for your comments (also to Monsterland and Hale_Bopp as well). I feel for your mother, and yes, it's hard to keep positive. But then again, it's been really difficult for me to get emotional about it, too. After the second opinion I got last week, I finally opted to get the modified radical mastectomy. Maybe it's just the Asperger's, but I've been too busy reading about the surgery & how it's performed, all about this form of cancer and all the physical ramifications of a mastectomy. It's not that I haven't been too concerned about it, but it's no longer near as frightening as I thought I would be. I had the one meltdown after I found out, but since then I've been okay with all of this.

Anyway, the tumor they removed had Invasive Ductal Carcinoma surrounded by a margin of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ, and a clear margin around that. I won't know if it's spread or what stage/grade it is until they pull my sentinel lymph nodes and do the pathology on the breast. I meet with the oncologist again in two more weeks. For now, I'm going in tomorrow afternoon for the surgery (19 May, Wednesday) and I'm pretty sure it's not going to hit me until I wake up and look down. Even then, I've been mentally preparing myself by googling photos of mastectomies (to hopefully lessen some of the initial shock). But lay down and give up? Not me. I'm scared, yes, but I think I'm going to be okay and keep fighting this. I've got too many things left that I want to do before I leave this world and I intend to do most, if not all, of them. These are:

1. Publish this book of photographs that I've been working on for years
2. Go to Europe and spend a month or two just seeing everything I can possibly see, primarily England (where my grandfather emigrated from), France and Italy.
3. Go to Japan and maybe even China.
4. Go on a cruise to Alaska
5. Get my artwork in a real, actual gallery showing.

There's more, but it's sort of boring. I want to see England, at the very minimum.

Anyway, I just wanted to stop back in and thank everyone for their thoughts, comments and advice - it's been a big help. I've been visiting some breast cancer forums over the past few days, peppering them with questions. They get annoyed with me, though, because I'm one of those people who likes ALL the details and I get on the nerves of the resident NTs all too quickly. Fortunately, I did learn a great deal there and I'd recommend breastcancer.org to anyone who might need to find out more information about this subject.

It might be a while before I can type comfortably enough to visit Wrongplanet again, but thanks again & best wishes to all,

Peace,
E333

The very best of luck to you E333!

Go here. This saved my life and saved me from the terrors of the conventional approach.
germannewmedicine.ca
Avoid other sites which can have misinformation. Read the categories in the menu on the left, especially the one GNM Paradigm.
Carolyn