Hi everyone.
I wanted to create this blog as I know it will help me to deal with my breast cancer diagnosis and I hope it helps people reading this re tips on how to stay positive and keep active ☺.
About me
I'm a 42 year old mum of one who works full time and is a keen runner. Just before I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer I had run around 20 half marathons and 11 marathons. I probably took my health for granted as I hardly get any colds or illnesses and was very healthy. I now know that when I ran the 2 marathons that I did in Oct 2016 I had Breast Cancer!
How it all started
I went to the doctor on 14/12 as I had a lump on my left breast. My friend has recently been diagnosed with BC and convinced me to go. I think the doctor knew straight away that it was cancer but didn't want to say. It seemed a long wait until my appointment at the breast clinic on 30/12 but somehow we managed to get through Xmas.
Within 2 minutes the nurse said "I think it's definately some type of cancer" and I was quickly assigned a breast care nurse and had various tests. A swollen biopsy of my swollen lymph node was taken and a mammogram done followed by a CT scan on 3/1 and the diagnosis was confirmed on 5/1. I didn't cry and the results appointment as I knew it was cancer. The only thing I cared about was the type and whether it had spread. My husband of course got very upset but appreciated things could have been much worse as I was told the cancer was hormone receptive, had not spread and grade 1 so at that point I thought it was the best bad news I could have got.
We went straight round to our friends after the. A glass of wine was definately needed! As I was a bit stressed I then went out for a run with my running club which made me feel better and then went into work the next day!!
Things hit me badly by the weekend and I felt very down but I did my usual run the following Saturday morning. It was tough but it helps me so much when I'm worried or upset plus I was able to talk to friends. My son didn't know at this point as I wanted to wait until I had a date for the masectomy.
I've had number of appointments since my results and my operation was on 23/1 which was a simple masectomy with auxiliary node clearance 2/6 nodes removed affected. I cried when I first saw my stitches in the shower and trying to shower with a drain is tough. I stayed in hospital after the op for the night as I was sick from the anesthetic but I felt positive as I was told the cancer had been removed. I wanted to hug my surgeon but felt too sick to do so .
I went straight to Maggies after I left hospital with my husband and son as I felt we all needed support. Maggie's were amazing and very supportive.
I know it's crazy but I went back to work a week after my operation. I have cried on and off a lot since being at work but I can't bear to sit around thinking about things. I draw a lot of strength from friends, family and working (I know this probably sounds strange). My breast care nurse has also been amazing.
The pathology appointment was tough as I know I now need 6 rounds of FEC-T chemotherapy, radiotherapy, mammograms every year until I'm 50 and Tamoxifen for 10 years!!. This is tough for someone who is not used to being ill. I don't even like taking headache pills . Getting fitted with my prosectics was amazing though and I felt feminine again afterwards ☺.
I start chemotherapy on 6th March and I admit that I'm terrified!
I deal with my diagnosis in many ways as follows:
