Hi, I’m Jessie and I have breast cancer - sounds like the sort of thing you greet people with once you’ve been diagnosed.
Let me tell you a bit about myself…
My name is Jessie, I’m 32 years old and live in the West Midlands. I’ve been married to H now for 8 years (we are one of those meet your soul mate at school and get married stories) and 18 months ago I gave birth to our beautiful son, Oscar (who we call Ozzy all of the time so he probably doesn’t realise his name is Oscar haha). We have a little cavapoo called Eric who we adopted last October - he’s crazy.
so here’s my cancer story so far…
On the 28th April I found a small lump in my right breast while doing my monthly check in the shower. I wasn’t worried as I thought ‘it’s probably just a cyst’ - who finds they have breast cancer at 32? That’s something you worry about when you are over 50, surely. So I booked an appointment at my Doctors just to make sure. They saw me the following Tuesday and she confirmed there was a lump there. She said in women of my age they are usually cysts but would refer me to the breast clinic at the hospital. My appointment to see the breast team at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford came through for the 23rd May so I finished work early and met my husband at the hospital. There I met the consultant who said he wanted an ultrasound and a mammogram so off I went for those and then a biopsy and another mammogram after they put these little metal things in my booby - at this point I knew something was off. Once back in the waiting room, the breast cancer specialist nurse called me to meet the consultant again. This time I knew something wasn’t right as she was calling me through. And there in that warm hospital room the words “I’m sorry it’s not good news” were delivered to me. I cried - lots. How at 32 could this be happening!! I’m going to die and my son won’t remember me!!
I was then taken to another room to talk to the breast cancer nurse but I don’t think a single thing went in.
Then over the next couple of days I had to break the news to the rest of the family. That was horrible. I decided that I wanted to go to work even though they said that a sick note would be with my Dr to use but I felt like I wanted some normality so I completed the last 3 days of term and felt better as I wasn’t constantly thinking about cancer.
Then there was the half term holiday which would usually be a great time but with more free time than usual my mind was going wild. We still continued to be a ‘normal’ family though and do lots of days out with Ozzy. I smiled and played with him but the whole time I felt sick. I would put him to bed and then have my break down. I would be sat in the bath and cry, be walking the dog and cry but to me it was important to not cry around Ozzy as I didn’t want him to know that Mommy was sad. It’s also been very important to me to keep a positive mindset. Yes I’ve cried and sometimes had the dark thoughts but on the whole I’ve remained positive and I think it really helps.
On the 8th June I had my appointment with my consultant to discuss treatment. Everything was moving very quickly but that week I had to wait to get to that appointment was the longest wait of my life!
The plan of action…
I’m booked in for a lumpectomy on the 21st June (my pre-op is on the 14th) and up to 4 nodes will also be removed. I will have radio treatment but as my HER2 result wasn’t back they couldn’t say if I would have chemo, that will be decided later on. As my cancer is hormone receptive, I will be on a hormone suppressant for a minimum of 5 years. Due to my age, they put me in contact with the fertility clinic who had the awkward news of telling me I’m not eligible for funding so would have to go down the private route. It’s not something I’m looking at in the future as the idea of becoming pregnant when we know this cancer is feeding off my hormones is petrifying. What if it comes back?!? And we are so lucky to already have our perfect little boy.
So that’s my story so far.
