November 2005

I made an appointment to see my GP my usual doctor was not in that morning so I saw the Registrar and she was sufficiently worried to refer me to a consultant surgeon who specialised in breast care. When I asked her how she had come across the surgeon she said that she had trained with him while working as a house doctor in hospital and that this is the man she would go to if she were to find herself in my situation. That was good enough for me.

The consultant surgeon inspired confidence from our first meeting. I agreed to a biopsy and an ultrasound and he confirmed that there was a lump which looked 'suspicious' in my left breast but that my right breast was fine. The elapsed time between the biopsy and the result of the biopsy was testing to say the least: did I have cancer? Was this just a benign cyst? Do I tell people at work ? A myriad of thoughts flow through your mind however deep down I sensed everything would be all right.

The results eventually came through and the consultant confirmed the tumour was cancerous. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Further tests including an MRI scan, a bone scan, a CT scan and a mammogram, would confirm what progamme of treatment would be offered to me. This might involve surgery such as a lumpectomy, plus chemotherapy, possibly radiotherapy and hormone based treatment for a number of years.

I work full-time as a corporate affairs manager for Voca (http://www.voca.com/) which specialises in providing highly secure payments services such as Direct Debits and monthly salaries to the banking industry and their corporate customers. I am also married and the mother to two beautiful young boys. My busy world ground to a halt. I spoke to my boss at the time and told others at work as and when the various medical appointments allowed.

Eventually the results of all the scans came in. On the positive side the bone and CT scan showed the cancer had not spread to my bones and vital organs. Less positive was the fact the MRI picked up two other smaller tumours and that the primary tumour was over 2 cms in diameter (2.2 to be precise). We discussed the merits of starting with chemotherapy to reduce the size of the tumours however this did not work for everyone and in the meantime those cancer cells could spread further. The circmstances I found myself in meant that a lumpectomy would not provide me sufficient protection for the future and that's when a mastectomy i.e the removal of the entire breast was raised in my conversation with the Surgeon. To find out that you have cancer is one thing to then have to contemplate the removal of part of the body, my body, was something else. Naturally I cried. However I kept coming back to the fact that it was me that had made the discovery, perhaps not as early as I would have liked, but still in good enough time to have arrested the spread to the rest of me. Also there was a medical team around me dedicated to restoring me to full health and I had the support of my wonderful family, friends and colleagues at work. There was and is only one course of action for me and that is to get well and stay well. If this meant having a mastectomy then that is what I would do.