Just before Christmas in December 2012 i felt a hard lump in my right breast, so i decided to go to my GP to get it checked out. After an ultrasound & a few biopsies it was confirmed to be an invasive ductal carcinoma....breast cancer! I was 28 years old and never expected that! No-one in my family has ever had any type of cancer. And i later found out that i tested negative for the BRCA genes.
6 days later, on my 29th birthday i had surgery to remove the lump, yes on my birthday! It was even in the exact same hospital i was born in!
The day after surgery i had a ct scan & a full body bone scan. Thankfully they were both all clear. My surgeon came into my hospital room to tell me the results of surgery. It was just under a 2cm lump. Estrogen & progesterone positive, HER2 negative. Grade 2. She took 4 lymph nodes out and only 1, the first 1 was microscopically infected with a couple of cancer cells. It was determined to be stage 1b. After a couple of weeks i started chemo x4 which i actually found to be ok...i was only a little bit tired after each treatment. Lost all my long hair which wasn't fun. After that i was due to start radiation, but i decided to have a double mastectomy with reconstruction instead. So i didn't have to have radiation as i had the mastectomy. It's now almost been a year in December 2013 and I'm going really well. Back to feeling great & I'm living a happy life! It certainly has changed my life completely. It's been the hardest year of my life but i did it! I'm very proud of myself.
Bendigo, Australia
