Once my biopsy was sent away I had to wait for ten days before the specialist called me in to give me the news. In the back of mind I had a feeling he would tell me it was cancer although there was hope that it wasn't...obviously! I remember sitting in the doctors rooms waiting and still laughing about things then it was the moment of truth. My partner and I went to sit down in the room and he proceeded to tell us that it was 90% chance I had breast cancer and furthemore said that I would have to have an operation to remove the cancer cells. However, the biopsy had to be sent to Cape Town for grading and whathave you to see if it was really cancer or just random cells trying to look like the disease, because hey if there is a 10% chance it might not be cancerous then a lekker party for us!
An appointment was made with the specialist in Cape Town during this time and I was waiting for the results to come back from South Africa. The Friday before I had to leave to go to Cape Town still no results! Monday came and I was flying on Tuesday so ended up phoning the specialist in Cape town to say I still didn't have my results and do I still need to go. She said yes that I need to get there and they have the results there. So that was my diagnosis that I had cancer. The bottomline.
Cape Town was great other than the bone scans, the blood tests, the sonars and the waiting! My nerves were near the end however with my family and my partner it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.
After the tests, etc the specialist finally sat us all down and told us the route we had to follow and that because I was so young first it would be six months of chemotherapy, then it would be an operation then six weeks of intense radiation.
Once we returned to Windhoek, off to the oncologist to talk about the upcoming treatment. Being very honest, I'd had ENOUGH of telling everyone and doctors about my life history! Sjoe! Thought it would never end, but tahnkfully it has now and I've had my first treatment.
I went out for my Birthday on Sunday and while I was combing my hair, some fell out. Happy Birthday!!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
The first couple of weeks.
The first days I found out that something wasn't well with me was when I woke up with a 'flesh' lump on my breast. I still recall it being an early Sunday morning and a great shock for me. Firstly the idea came that perhaps I had walked into something the night before as their was bruising surrounding the lump/bump then after visiting my doctor I was told to make an appointment with Medical Imaging to have a mammogram which took THREE weeks to get too! By then it was 27 July and my nerves were on end because this bruise still hadn't gone away.
I started to think perhaps this might actually be cancerous as I had an 'internal' lump as well which in 2005 was told it was fibrocystic disease and nothing really to grand to worry about...so I didn't. I think to myself now, perhaps I should've listened to myself and gone for a second opinion. However, you believe the experts in the medical field because they come recommended and they've studied hard for where they've gotten to in life.
After my mammogram I had to then wait two weeks to see a specialist about the lump. The doctor didn't know much so it went to the specialist. The specialist advised that this lump didn't look to good and sent me to have a core biopsy. This appointment I also had to make myself. (note these things because more comes later in the blog).
I phoned the Medical Imaging crew and was told I had to wait two weeks to have a core biopsy but within moments the lady on the phone came back to say I could come the next day 8am. So I took time off work again at Radiowave and went for my core biopsy.
They put some weird gel around the 'inner' lump and said 'you will feel a bit of pressure'. As much as I didn't feel the huge needle go through it felt like someone had punched me in the chest! Haha! It was actually quite funny. The specialist then said to me that he does approximately 1200 mammograms a year and this thing had to come out and couldn't understand why the specialist hadn't explained this to me. This core biopsy had to be sent to Pathcare for analaysis. And so the wait of 10 days was VERY long!
My next blog will follow soon as I have LOTS to do but also want to keep you updated!
I started to think perhaps this might actually be cancerous as I had an 'internal' lump as well which in 2005 was told it was fibrocystic disease and nothing really to grand to worry about...so I didn't. I think to myself now, perhaps I should've listened to myself and gone for a second opinion. However, you believe the experts in the medical field because they come recommended and they've studied hard for where they've gotten to in life.
After my mammogram I had to then wait two weeks to see a specialist about the lump. The doctor didn't know much so it went to the specialist. The specialist advised that this lump didn't look to good and sent me to have a core biopsy. This appointment I also had to make myself. (note these things because more comes later in the blog).
I phoned the Medical Imaging crew and was told I had to wait two weeks to have a core biopsy but within moments the lady on the phone came back to say I could come the next day 8am. So I took time off work again at Radiowave and went for my core biopsy.
They put some weird gel around the 'inner' lump and said 'you will feel a bit of pressure'. As much as I didn't feel the huge needle go through it felt like someone had punched me in the chest! Haha! It was actually quite funny. The specialist then said to me that he does approximately 1200 mammograms a year and this thing had to come out and couldn't understand why the specialist hadn't explained this to me. This core biopsy had to be sent to Pathcare for analaysis. And so the wait of 10 days was VERY long!
My next blog will follow soon as I have LOTS to do but also want to keep you updated!
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