The day after I was told I have breast cancer, I met with my GP who was extremely compassionate and who has been calling me regularly to see how I am doing. She referred me to a surgeon who I was lucky to meet that evening.
At this point, my body was numb with anxiety and terror. I had barely visited a hospital, rarely got sick and was aware that the mere sight of needles makes my stomach crawl! I did have a sleepless night the evening before and I did what many people warn you not to do; got up in the middle of the night and researched breast cancer on the internet..... in hindsight I am pleased that I did it because I had been given some very technical terms from the specialist e.g. multi focal and didn't know what they meant. While the readings were quite horrific, I got an indication that this was very serious and that serious immediate action needed to happen.
The overwhelming feeling was one of shock. How could this possibly happen to me? I'm only 35 years old and have been feeling absolutely no symptoms of illness whatsoever. I had been going to the gym every day, running and doing high energy activity and feeling great! I was really excited about what was happening at work as all of the great projects we had been working on were coming to fruition starting this week end. Everything was great with my partner, so I was feeling on top of the world. I soon realised that I was going to be moving into unknown territory and this was a very daunting thought!
My mum, my partner and I met with my surgeon, (who was lovely) that evening. He gave me the news that the only way to treat this was to have a mastectomy and complete axillary clearance; oh my god, this was too much to fathom..... I was completely and utterly devastated for the first time in my life.....and it was happening in one week's time!
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