Ok ladies I'm posting this simply to get the message out there and also it helps to write my story.
Back in May I found a lump in my breast that literally appeared overnight. I ignored it at first as you do, but a few days later as I was changing my sons nappy he kicked and caught me there and the pain literally took my breath away. I knew then that something wasn't right so made an appointment with my doctor.
She felt it and straight away said it was "worrying" and I would need an urgent referral to the breast unit at the hospital for a scan. I'd had this before and it turned out to be cysts so I was hoping this was the case. As soon as the lady put the scanner on my breast I knew it wasn't a cyst. She frowned and asked how old I was. Then said she wasn't happy with what she was seeing and wanted me to have a mammogram there and then.
If you've never had a mammogram it literally puts your breast between two plates and squishes it flat. Its horrible. They put me in a room while they examined the results. Then came in and once again said they weren't happy with the results and wanted to biopsy me the next day.
This was so much to take in and I was in tears. The biopsy the next day was painful but bearable and the lady said she was extremely confident it would be benign. When I mentioned breast cancer she said "You're under 30, we don't even need to talk about that."
Waiting for the biopsy results I had such a bad feeling all week, just pure dread. At the results appointment as soon as they took me into a quiet room I knew. The doctor came in and I said "It's bad news isn't it?"
"It is bad news."
Your whole world crashes down, all I could think about was my babies 5 and 9 months old, my whole world, my everything. The fear was overwhelming.
They explained that the cancer was the at earliest possible stage (Stage 0 DCIS) and the prognosis was extremely good. However due to the size of the cancer my only option was a mastectomy. At 27 years old hearing this is just beyond shocking. Before anything else i needed an MRI to establish whether there was anything else worrying.
After the MRI (not as bad as I'd imagined) bad news once again. The area of DCIS was larger than they had thought and they were now concerned that a more advanced cancer could be present. There was also an area of concern in my other breast. More biopsies, more fear, more waiting for results.
Thankfully this time my results were good. The area of concern was a cyst and they could only find more DCIS. However this could not be confirmed until after surgery once the whole breast tissue had been examined in a lab.
Now it was time to plan for surgery. By this point I had decided I wanted a double mastectomy despite one breast being healthy. I didn't want lopsided breasts and i didn't want to spend my life worrying about that breast. If I had to have the surgery any way i would go for the full lot. So it was decided i would have a double mastectomy with immediate implant reconstruction.
The day of the surgery felt surreal. It didn't hit me until my boyfriend had to kiss me and say goodbye to me at the theatre doors. Watching him walk away knowing he was going home to our babies and I couldn't follow was heartbreaking. Instead I walked into theatre. And minutes later I was asleep.
Six hours later a nurse was waking me up telling me it was all over and time for me to go back to the ward. I wasn't with it at all and barely had a voice due to throat trauma from the tube being down there for so long. I had had both breasts removed and reconstructed with larger implants (the only plus point 😉) , four drains hanging out of my ribs to collect blood etc and my armpit opened up to collect lymph nodes to check. Basically I was physically and emotionally battered. And I still had to wait for my final results to see if it had spread and if I'd need chemo etc).
So last week I was at the hospital getting my bandages changed and the nurse asked me to wait to speak to my surgeon. She came in with a big smile, my results were back, ALL CLEAR. No further treatment needed.
Despite what I've been through I feel so unbelievably lucky. I have my life back and I won't waste a single day of it.
I know this is long but I think its so unbelievably important to spread the message that this can and does happen to healthy young women. I never imagined going through this at 27. DON'T THINK IT WON'T HAPPEN TO YOU. Any changes or worries about your boobs get them checked straight away! If I hadn't my story might not have had a happy ending.