I found a lump at the beginning of May after I had some pain on the side of my left breast. I booked to see the doctor and she referred me but was pretty sure it was just a cyst (so was I). My appointment day arrived and saw a lovely Chinese doctor who asked me what changes I had noticed. I'm 40 now so things are heading south so I tried to explain this that my right breast - being right handed - was always perkier than the left but roles have now reversed, she didn't really understand until I took my bra off and said "I understand what you mean" lol, did make me laugh.
She was sure that it was just a cyst as well, so far so good. I was sent through for a mammogram and ultrasound but that's when things changed. I had a very quick look at the mammogram as I walked in and thought that the "cyst" was rather bright, then the doctor said that a biopsy was needed as the lump and 2 lump nodes looked suspect. My appointment was booked for 10 days later for the results but in the mean time I just played it down as I didn't want to worry anyone unnecessarily.
That day finally arrived 3 weeks ago and was told that there was cancer in the lump and lump nodes, well me being me, I just took it in my stride. I can't do anything about it, it's there I did nothing to cause it so I'm going to use my energy to get through this!
I phoned my husband and mum and was surprised how upbeat I was about it, that determination is set with me that I have a husband and 2 children that still need me and most importantly I need them but something inside of me is not going to let me cave in.
I had all the scans and blood tests and my treatment plan is 6 cycles of t-fec, surgery, radiotherapy and possibly 10 years of tamoxifen and after all this I will be healthy and see my kids grow up. I even promised my boys (9 & 6 yrs old) that they can shave my hair off which they are so excited about lol.
Last Thursday I had my first tax and after a reaction to it I felt incredibly spaced out and tired, but after a couple of days I felt ok apart from an incredibly achy back and steroid side effect! I suffer with IBS so the bloating is really not doing me any favours as its putting pressure on an achy back as well. I can't sleep, food and drink have no taste what so ever but these are minimal compared to what's to come or what others have dealt with.
The next coming weeks will be interesting so I can only hope that my side effects will not get any worse, I can only believe that mind over matter will help me in some way. Another 5 cycles seem such a long way off but hopefully it will come round quick and I can start to "repair"
