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I finished chemo at the end of oct. I have a lovely buzz cut going on my head...im quite happy how fast my hair is growing back. I have eyebrows, and my eyelashes are coming in nicely. The problem I have is that i have a lot of facial hair growing aswell. Not just on my upper lip, but along the side of my face. Im a bit freaked out to be honest. Im starting tamoxafin tomorrow, and im nervous enough about that. I dont want to look like wolf girl Im afraid to wax it or use cream incase it makes it worse.

Does anybody else suffer with anxiety and sadness? I wonder if its the tamoxifen? I go through days of worrying about everything and feeling really anxious - then I wake up one morning feeling all positive again! I've been on taxoxifen for two years now and wonder if I can cope with three more years of this. I'm 55

Hi there, Anyone any advice for returning to work after breast cancer. I shall be shortly, after being off work for almost 2 yrs. I am terrified, is this normal. Did any one feel the same? Do you regret it or is it the best thing you could do. Please let me know , if you can. Hugs to all you very brave people out there. Huggybear xx

I am sitting here in the midst of post-school mahem & going mad with tinwhistles and guitars being practiced in the background but God love them all, my head is soooo far away that I feel like I'm in the middle of a serious brain mush. I went to my GP 11th January who suspected an auld cyst & forwarded me the the Breast Clinic for an aspiration. I wasn't expecting to get an appointment for a few weeks so was very pleasantly surprised to get a letter a few days later giving me a date for 20 January & highly praised the efficiency of the normally chaotic health service we have! I toddled in to the appointment alone as I was absolutey convinced it was a measly cyst. I delighted in having a yummy young doctor run his hands over my breasts who could feel the small lump I was talking about; the consultant then came in & then did the same thing all over again & made mention of it probably being a benign thingy thingy & sent me off for a mammogram (mildly uncomfortable), ultrasound (could have fallen asleep it was so boring:)) & core biopsy (again uncomfortable but nothing to scream about). Back to the doctor who told me that they not only saw the lump but found another one and they were concerned that it was more serious than a cyst. At this stage I lost my hearing as I heard very little of the consultancy after that, except mention of something being on a scale of 4/5, maybe surgery but nothing could be decided until the pathology results come back. Have to wait until 3rd of February which is my next appointment. Have worked every day since then to keep my mind off it but it's the inability to sleep at night & constant swinging between telling myself that most likely I have nothing to worry about, to thinking I have breast cancer and worrying about all the implications of that, not just medically, but with my family, work, friends, life in general. I suppose I am reaching out to anyone or everyone to firstly give me peace of mind and secondly to pray to whoever you pray to for my results to come back negative.

Hi I was diagnosed in November with stage II invasice ductal carcinoma, Her2 positive. I had a lumpectomy at the begining of December and removal of 3 lymph nodes. I am node negative. I am fully recovered and my question is how long is it normally from surgery to start of Chemo ? The waiting is driving me nuts.

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone has had this test done? I know it's quite new in Ireland and I'd love to get some information about it before I commit - it's really expensive and I'm just afraid that I'll be wasting my money. Some advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks x I probably should have included that it's a genome test that takes a sample of your tumour after surgery and examines how well your cancer will respond to chemo, i have a grade 3 node negative estrogen receptive breast cancer. I've just turned 33 and am very worried that my chemo treatment will leave me infertile. My oncologist says there's a 20% chance of this happening balanced against a 5% chance of the cancer not recurring if I opt to have the chemo. I'm just concerned that for me personally the risks involved don't outweigh the benefits of chemo, but maybe I'm being naive about things. My greatest fear is the issue of infertility afterwards, a one in five chance of this happening really terrifies me in addition to the whole process of chemo itself. If anyone had any information re: fertility post-chemo I would greatly appreciate them sharing it with me as I'm weary of looking up websites and books and getting completely overloaded with so much information that my head is fried. I'd love to get some insight from someone who has been there and can possibly relate. thanking you in advance, H

Hi Ladies For those of you who had a unilateral mastectomy with immediate or delayed reconstruction, did you opt to do anything with your 'good' side??? I had lat dorsi reconstruction last August. Surgery went well and I am all recovered. Am thrilled with the results and so glad I got it done . While the results are really quite good, new foob sits a little higher than my own boob. Volume is pretty much the same (am a 34D cup). In a bra you would never notice the difference however when I am in my birthday suit it is quite noticeable. I was with Mr Plastics (aka Brian Kneafsey) in Beaumont in Nov and we spoke about nipple reconstruction however he sent me away to think about whether I wanted a little lift on the other side. I was back a Beaumont this afternoon and met with one of Mr Plastic's colleagues to tell them I wanted to leave well enough alone on the good side, that I had had enough surgeries however the Doc (a lady) was trying to convince me to get a lift done to achieve better symmetry. So I am all confused now and am hoping some of ye who had these dilemmas and / or surgeries can share with me how you might have made your decisions. Thanks in advance LindyLu

Hi, I have had a lot of problems with infection in my right breast since my double mastectomy in September. At my visit last week to my surgeon, I told him I have finally had enough of constant antibiotics and we decided to remove the tissue expander that has come out of 'the pocket' and dropped low on my chest and slightly under my armpit. I got a call earlier today from his secretary to say I have to be in the Mater Private next Mon afternoon for surgery next Tues am. If the breast looks free of infection, he will try to create or repair the pocket and insert a new expander. If its not, he will just remove the existing one and we will look at my options when things heal up a bit. To be honest, I am freaking out a bit now. We had pencilled in next week but I thought my surgery would be in the public hospital so I thought bed availability would be an issue and it might not go ahead. Now its suddenly all go and very real! Also, I had a scary experience in the private hospital last year involving a reaction to morphine so I'm a bit nervous about returning there. Has anyone any advice on how to calm down? And also what pain relief options there are to morphine? Has anyone ever had the spinal block and how did you find it? Were you unable to walk and stuck in bed with it? For how long? Deep breaths, deep breaths. Flo.

Hi there. The option of having an immediate breast reconstruction was put to me last week when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the course of my few days since, I have heard of loads of women who have had delayed reconstruction but I haven't come across anyone who had immediate reconstruction. Is there anyone out there reading this that either had immediate reconstruction or knows of someone who had it?

Hi, Had mastectomy to left breast in May 2009. Now feeling ready to go for recon surgery. Had seen Caitriona Lawlor before my surgery and decided not to have same time mastectomy and reconstruction. I had hoped to have my recon done this summer, suits better in terms of recovery, my kids, work etc. But ..... just my luck Dr. Lawlor will be on maternity. Has anyone out there used any other surgeons, in Vincent's or Blackrock Clinic...or Beacon? Caitriona is happy to refer me to someone else if I can't wait till she gets back. I had my heart set on this summer.....would appreciate any advice or recommendations. Oh and my main option is LD flap ... or the Diep thing, but expanders no good for me after radiotherapy. Thanks, Lucky star