Yesterday, I completed 5 days of radiotherapy. This means that my (main) cancer treatment is now at an end. Almost a year to the day of my fateful mammogram.
Timeline
• Mammogram not sure of the date and I don't have the energy to fight through the mountain of letters to find it!
• Recall letter 25th January 2024
• Assessment Centre biopsy etc 7th Feb 2024
• Results appointment - L breast Invasive ductal carcinoma - 13th February 2024
• Numerous tests and MRI Feb-April 2024
• Right breast lobular cancer discovery through MRI March 2024
• Mastectomy, lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy 16th April 2024
• Chemotherapy June - Nov 2024
• Radiotherapy 22nd - 28th Jan 2025
• 2nd mastectomy (elected) later in 2025 - postponed due to chemo related pulmonary embolism diagnosis in Nov 2024.
• Ongoing treatment
- Letrozole 5 years
- Bone infusions 5 years
- Blood thinners 6mths - tbc
What a trip! So, what's next?
I feel like everything is up in the air. It's as if a devastating explosive has been lobbed into the core of my life and sent the pieces of my very existence flying everywhere.
Life is no longer as I knew it. Everything has changed. Not only do I not look the same, I don't feel the same. I still sometimes wonder if all this has really happened. Perhaps I'm still in shock.
So, I ask again. What's next?
I'm not sure what life has in store for me. If it were possible, I'd be taking this year off! Yet, I cannot. I feel the urge to heal and rebuild...
To be continued...
