On Sunday 11 April I discovered a large lump in my left breast, whilst in the shower. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end even as I told myself it was too big and movable to be cancerous. Later, at church I told my friend Winsome of my concerns and she told me to be sure and get it checked out as soon as I could (... like I wouldnt'!). That day dragged by .....
Luckily, I got an early appointment with Dr Francis (she looks about 16!) and have decided she's going to be my GP. She referred me to be seen on the Wednesday, and so those two days dragged on too.
I spent all afternoon at the Bone and Endocrine centre, first getting a mammo and then more images of the right breast (alarm bells!). Then it was an ultrasound (why do all the technicians look so young?) and I could see numerous ovally-round cysts in my left breast - including the one giving me discomfort. In the right there were hardly any, and some more irregular shapes that she kept going over. She did quite a search of my lymph nodes too. Finally I got to talk with the specialist.
Dr Eaton didn't mince his words. He showed me the dotty white patterns on the mammogram. I realised my awareness was very heightened (dilated pupils, ears ringing) as he started to go through the meaning of the feathery patterns. He explained what DCIS was and said that it looked like there was cancer there (on the RIGHT breast - what the hell??) but it appeared to be contained within the milk ducts. My world was going a bit numb and it was like a bad dream - but it was true, I had to agree with everything he was saying.
He almost dismissed the cyst in the left breast and drained it quickly. He did tell me that they would do the biopsy then and there. That was a bit scary as they had to direct each of two long needles into separate clusters of cells (kind of like an amniocentesis).
It was dark and I was dazed and numb on the way home. How to tell Arthur and the girls? Eventually they returned home from netball practice, all excited, and I really tried to act normal. Very difficult. After they'd gone to bed I eventually told Arthur and we both kind of sat there in a numb trance.
{A little part of me was happy and acknowledging the miracle - if it wasn't for the cyst they may not have caught the cancer so early!}
