Results 17th June 2010

I had to wait nearly an hour to see Mr Barr. He was with another patient, probably going through the same things I had the week previously. Anyway, he eventually came in to see us. His opening line was..."well, there is good news and bad news" I would have preferred "well, its good news" but hey ho. The bad news was that..Yes, it was cancer. On reflection, I'm not quite sure what the good news was. I think it was that the tumor was small and that I didn't need a mastectomy. They still weren't sure about the lymph nodes so he said they would just take a couple and check them whilst they were taking the lump out. If there proved to be a problem with the lymph nodes, then they would take me back to theatre and remove the rest. He explained that after surgery, I would have to have a course of radiotherapy which would last 3 weeks or so. I would have to go every day for a 15 minute session. This, he said would be followed by a course of chemotherapy. He said I may not need the chemo, but he strongly recommended it to flush out my body. He explained everything really well and asked if I had any questions. There were really only 2 came to mind. Firstly " Am I going to die?" And secondly, " Will my hair fall out?". The answers were straightforward. He said " No. You are not going to die" and " Yes. Your hair will fall out" ( after the 2nd lot of chemo anyway). He said that I should go to The Christie in Manchester for a wig and decide later if I want to wear it or not. He left us with yet another lovely nurse, Evelyn while he went to check his diary for a surgery date. It was at that point it suddenly hit me...I have got cancer. At the moment it looks like it is contained in my breast, so what I don't understand is why they aren't taking all the lymph nodes away to make sure it doesn't spread? I asked Evelyn this, and she said she would go and speak to Mr Barr. They returned together and Mr Barr said " You are absolutely right! We will attack this thing from every possible angle and leave nothing to chance" Apparently, they don't always take all the lymph nodes because it can cause problems with pain and swelling in the arm. They can take my arm off if it gets rid of the cancer!!

Anyway, my lumpectomy is scheduled for Monday 28th June. That is the day I start to get better. It will be a long, tiring and possibly painful recovery ( about a year) but I will get better!!