Since the meeting with the consultant I have had a call from the Breast Nurse at 6.30 in the evening, which I thought was fantastic. She said the team had a loo at the biopsy of the right breast which had a cluster of calcium in it and have decided that it is clear. Woo hoo!!
So its all about the left one and the two cancerous lumps and keeping everything crossed for the lymph nodes to still be clear when they take them out.
It is hard not to think about it all the time but I do have friend who has been diagnosed with MND and all I can think is that I don’t have that. I probably think about him more than I do about myself! It is a horrible horrible disease.
I do also want to mention that we always think that breast cancer shows itself by having lumps and I didn’t find a lump. That was not what made me go to my GP. Every morning I have a shower and then blow dry my hair naked in my little dressing room (it was the children’s nursery years ago as the smallest bedroom in the house. I don’t want you to have ideas of grandeur!!)
I sit on the stool in front of a big mirror and dry and tong my thin unruly hair. With both my arms in the air I noticed I had a dent underneath my left breast. I thought it might be because I had been dieting & exercising to get my summer holiday body but I began to think that it would count as a ‘change in shape of my breast’ and booked an appointment with the doctor. She couldn’t feel a lump but booked my appointment at the breast clinic in Cheltenham and we are where we are.
The consultant – lets call her Dr W said that it was a good job I did dry my hair naked as I might not have noticed it otherwise!
When I posted this on social media another lady came forward to say that she had had dry skin around one of her nipples and thought it was eczema. She even out cream on it but eventually went to the doctor and discovered she had a more advanced breast cancer than mine. I also had another lady message me to say she had had a dent or crease. So Ladies, its not just about lumps which I think are sometimes hard for us to feel. It can be a change of shape or texture that should alert you to go to your GP.
So, I am packing for our big trip that we booked a year ago. We are travelling to Heathrow on Monday and flying to Tokyo on Tuesday for two days. We will then get on the Celebrity Millennium to sail around East Asia stopping at Kagoshima, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and finishing in Singapore for a couple of days. It is very exciting & became even more special when we were upgraded to one of the Royal Suites!! Off the scale!! It includes pyjamas with our initials engraved on them, a choice of pillow from the pillow menu and a jacuzzi on our balcony! I might not come out of the cabin!!
Obviously I will be documenting the trip on my social media pages and we are really looking forward to experiencing different cultures.
Obviously, the surgery and the fact I have cancer in me is hard to get out of your head but I think this tri will be a fantastic distraction and we are extremely grateful that it is possible at all.
All Aboard!!!!!
PS Did anyone else notice that I wore a lot of black this week?! I have only just realised – I need to sort that out!!
