Hello, i am new here.

[sandra.forbes]

Hello, i am new here too.
I live in New Zealand
I found out 4 weeks ago that i have breast cancer
On thursday i have an Oncologist appointment to tell me, what kind of cancer i have, whether it has spread anywhere else, what kind of chemo i am going to receive and when the treatment starts.
A lot of info for one meeting. I am shaking in my boots.
Sammy

[MumM]

Hello Sandra, Really, really sorry to hear you have breast cancer. Do hope they can catch it in time and that you have a successful outcome. Our family met with the surgeon who recently operated on our daughter after emergency surgery for a perforated bowel due to a cancerous mass but learnt it had spread to other organs. What he told us was such a shock to our family but at least we were all there with our daughter and between us could remember a lot of what was said. The surgeon met us again a few days later to answer our questions and further elaborate on our daughter's surgery. So, I would advise you to take other friends and/or family/whanau with you; to take a list of questions which you can give to the oncologist to answer if you feel unable to do this yourself and I've even heard of people asking the specialist if they can record what they're told so that they can go over it at home in their own time afterwards. Any nervousness on your part is exacerbated when the specialist starts talking and your mind will be very active, thinking "Did he say that?" while you're possibly missing the next bit of what is said. We've to see the oncologist in two weeks time and in the meantime are reading lots of threads on cancer websites like this one to familiarise ourselves with the names of some of the chemotherapy drugs which are used just in case we are offered a choice as is apparently the case in the UK.
The meeting you are having is extremely important so remember its your one chance to stick up for yourself! Good luck - write another post soon and let everyone know how your meeting went. We will all be thinking of you and sending you positive vibes!