Back in November I was recalled from my first ever mammogram, a few months short of my 50th birthday. I had no inkling anything was amiss until that point but got my diagnosis the same day (on my own - the first day of Lockdown 2). The staff at the specialist breast centre couldn’t have been kinder and they set the tone for the months ahead.
On Christmas Eve I had a wire-guided wide local excision (lumpectomy) and sentinel node biopsy, followed by a re- excision at the end of January. The lesion taken out was 33mm x 15mm and there was spread into one lymph node. The cancer was ER+ and PR+
Having initially thought that surgery and radiotherapy would be sufficient the news that chemotherapy is needed has been difficult to adjust to. Suddenly treatment has become much more long-term and there are more decisions to be made about what might be reasonable in terms of managing work over the months ahead etc.
That said, I’ve yet to shed any tears. If I’m honest I guess I’m still slightly numb from the events of the last three months and have gone into practical, researching & list- writing mode/trying to keep things cheery at home/continuing to work as much as possible - there will probably be a flood of tears when the Adrenalin recedes...
To anyone about to have a lumpectomy I’d say please try not to worry! It was much easier to manage than I thought it was going to be (apart from excessive sickness the first time, which meant I had to stay in overnight until Christmas Day!) and the exercises really are worth persevering with. My recovery from the second surgery was so speedy I had to get my fit note rescinded so I could get back to work much sooner than planned.
For me I’m now just waiting to meet the oncologist tomorrow and then I’m venturing to the wig shop on Thursday - not words I ever thought I’d be writing! I’m still uncertain about whether or not to try scalp-cooling but am coming down on the side of giving it a go.
