Goodness, what a whirlwind. In the past 5 weeks I have had a routine mammogram, been called in for biopsies, told I had DCIS, had surgery, and yesterday received the crushing pathology report that I also have invasive cancer. I'm now booked for further surgery in 2 weeks, to be followed by radiotherapy, 5 years of medication, regular MRI scans...and probably other stuff that I didn't absorb because honestly I was overloaded and information was spilling over!
My head tells me how incredibly lucky I am; that the wonderful teams involved are being so supportive, that the response has been so fast, that the comparatively innocuous DCIS showed up on the mammogram leading to the timely discovery of the real devil that didn't show up. But it's still a whirlwind and it's scary.
Right now, I'm worrying about rapid withdrawal from HRT. (Both DCIS and invasive cancers are oestrogen +.) My menopause symptoms were BAD, and cutting down my patch by even a little has already led to a migraine. Add to this the future side effects of radiotherapy and the other treatments. Oh, and did I mention I'm sole carer to my parents, who live with me? Dad's 98 and Mum is 97 with dementia. I do have some emergency support available in the family, but my cancer fright has just turned from a blip in my path to a whole different, longer journey - honestly, I'm not sure how I'm going to cope.
