The next thing I had to do was tell my family. The first person to find out I had Cancer was my Dad. My mother rang him as we were walking out of the Breast Clinic. Dad had dropped us off at the hospital before my appointment and had gone up to my Aunt's (his sister) house to wait while we were at the clinic as she lived not too far away. He then came back down to the hospital to collect us and brought us up to my Aunt House. When we got to her house I rang my two bothers to tell them the news, they both live abroad and my mother's sister. I also rang my cousins who I am close to to let them know my diagnosis.
I have to say it wasn't a total shock when I found out I had Breast Cancer as I suspected it from when they found the lump under my armpit. However I wasn't going to let the cancer define me and I was determined that I was going to get better whatever it took.
After we got home I found it hard to settle so to keep myself busy I read leaflets on the CT and Nuclear bone scan I was to have on the following Monday. I also read all of the other stuff that Rose had given me to find out what it was going to be like to go through Cancer treatment. Over the next few day I went through various emotions. Sometimes I felt scared, tearful and angry that I had Breast Cancer. I wondered why me. I kept myself busy by doing the things that I love like reading, walking my dog Chien and playing games on my ipad. I've decided to stay with my parent while I'm undergoing treatment as I don't drive.
Monday 13thth September 2020 - Day of my scans
The first scan I had was the CT Scan. First of all I had to drink a litre of water with a dye that they use to show up the organs in your body. I thought that It would taste horrible, but it didn't. I had to drink the water over an hour and half, so I brought my Kindle to read while I was waiting for the scan. Once the 90 minutes was up I was brought into the scan room and lay down on the scan bed. They injected an dye into my arm to show up my organs and any cancer cells that might be in them. Once they had finished the CT Scan someone brought me down to the radiology department to have my bone scan.
The Bone scan - This scan look at what your bones are like and if the cancer has spread to them. Before I had the scan I had to have an injection of isotope (a radioactive substance) into my arm. The injection itself wasn't very painful but at that stage I got a bit overwhelmed and had a bit of a cry. The nurse couldn't have been nicer and she gave me a cup of tea and a scone. I then left the hospital for the couple of hours to let the isotope travel around my blood stream to my bones. After two hours I returned to the hospital and had my bone scan which took about 30 minutes. You lie under a special camera to have the scan.
Thursday 19th September - The day I found out the results of my Scans.
I woke up feeling nervous about the results of the scans. I got a number of messages wishing me good luck.
This time I didn't have to wait as long for the results. Thankfully there was no spread so that was good news which I was delighted about. I then went off for a two week holiday with my folks and my aunt and mostly forgot that I had Cancer and had a great time.
