My story with breast cancer started not long after I turned 50.
Shortly after my 50th birthday, I received a phone call from BreastScreen NSW saying that I was eligible for a free mammogram. I’ll admit that I’m not great at self-care and had never had a mammogram before.
Fast forward two weeks and off I go for my mammogram, totally nonplussed ‘cause it’s just a formality, just ticking the box. During the screening process, the lovely radiographer said to me that I shouldn’t be surprised if I get a call back asking me to come along to an assessment day as they had nothing to compare the results to. All good, I could manage that.
Daily life takes over and before you know it I’m sitting in a room full of women, all wearing baggy tops, waiting for ultrasounds, mammograms and a barrage of other tests. It was all going swimmingly until the doctor said “you’ll be making a trip to the breast surgeon, oh and we need to do another ultrasound”. That certainly rattled me.
Turns out my left breast contained a large amount of DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), there was a very small aggressive cancer and my nipple was weeping (it had been weeping for a while, but I didn’t think too much of it - I do a lot of bush walking in an area full of prickly bushes. I thought a small thorn had lodged itself and was infected). The breast screen doctor suggested that I had Paget's Disease of the nipple (Paget’s disease is a cancer of the nipple). As you can imagine my day took a downward turn right about then. Still, there wasn’t anything to worry about right?
Now things were moving really fast. It wasn’t long before my husband and I were sitting in front of the breast surgeon hearing the news that I would be having a nipple sacrificing mastectomy and reconstruction of the left breast and a reduction of my right breast. We were dumbstruck. This was not something that had even crossed my mind! How do you process news like that?
The few intervening weeks were pretty tricky to say the least. Our daughter was on exchange in Spain. How do you give someone news like that when they don’t have a great support system around them? Who was going to look after her? Luckily the host family were awesome and supported her through it. For myself, my husband and son, it was an emotional roller coaster.
Within six weeks of the original phone call, I was in Calvary Hospital being prepped for surgery. I woke up a breast down, an implant, the remaining breast smaller, two drain bags and minus one lymph node.
The nurses at Calvary were amazing and took great care of me. The second night in hospital I realised that I was truly one of the lucky ones. That night I shared a room with another breast cancer patient who had been through chemo, radiation, basically the works and was nowhere near seeing the end of her plight. She had two young children. I was so desperately sad for her.
Back home to heal with my family (minus my daughter) and family around me for support. I processed some big emotions during my healing: grief, guilt, relief, to name a few.
The next few months saw regular trips to Calvary for check ups. The surgeon and breast care nurses were lovely.
Five years down the track I am fully healed and cancer free. I have to say that I don’t love the implant - it’s hard, cold and until recently very uncomfortable (thank you Rea) - but I am alive and plan to be around for a long time!
I’m definitely one of the lucky ones.