My name is Carol Betts and I was 55 on 14th December 2016. I am married to a wonderful husband, Reno, and we have a beautiful daughter Samantha who is 16. We live in Ipswich.
On December 11th 2016 I found a lump in my left breast, I told my husband and he agreed it was a definite lump. We decided to say nothing else to anybody until I had it checked out.
On December 12th I visited my GP who examined me, I expected to have to show her where abouts the lump was but she found it straight away, it is quite close to the breast bone. 'We need a mammogram' she said 'I will make the necessary arrangements.'
On December 19th I attended Ipswich Hospital Breast Clinic and after seeing the consultant I was sent to Breast Screening for a mammogram and Ultra Sound scan. Of course I was nervous but the nurse who did the mammogram was really lovely talking me through exactly what I needed to do. A doctor did the scan and it was at this point that I really started to worry. ' The lump will have to be removed whatever it is' she said 'and I'm afraid we need to do a biopsy today to find out what the lump is.' I then had to wait about an hour for the biopsy to be done so I tried to keep calm by having a coffee and a read of a magazine in the café. The time for the biopsy soon arrived and I was prepared for it by a nurse who was really lovely reassuring me all the time. When the doctor came in she explained exactly what would happen starting with the anaesthetic and then telling me what to expect as the biopsy was done. It was all over within 10 minutes and I was given an appointment for December 30th to get the results of the biopsy. It seemed ages away but I consoled myself with the fact that we were all looking forward to a family Christmas and tried to put the biopsy to the back of my mind.
We all had a wonderful Christmas, quiet, but that's just how we like it!
Reno took the day off on 30th December and as Sam was busy studying for her mock AS levels on January 4th & 5th it was quite easy for us to go to the hospital together without Sam knowing, she thought we were at my Mothers helping her to pack ready for a house move.
We arrived a little early and I felt sick as we waited and waited. Eventually we were called in and there was a breast care nurse in the room as well as the consultant. This made me fear the worst. I was right, the biopsy showed I had breast cancer. I tried to keep calm and take in everything that was being said. But there was more to come, the best treatment for my cancer was Chemotherapy (6 doses each 2 weeks apart) followed by surgery. The treatment would take 3 months followed by the surgery. The consultant then reassured me by saying that my Cancer was very treatable and I would get better though it would be about 18 months in total. We were told that I would be sent an appointment to have a marker inserted into the tumour (the procedure is much the same sort of thing as the biopsy) as the hope is that the chemo will shrink and even possibly make the tumour disappear altogether so the marker will allow the surgeon to know where to take the tissue from for the surgery, and also an appointment to see the oncologist.
How would we tell our daughter? I could feel almost a kind of panic rising in me .
The consultant arranged my appointment to have the marker put in for Friday 6th Jan 11.45 and the same day to see the oncologist at 12.15. I explained that we didn't really want to tell Sam until after her two days of Mock Exams on the 4th and 5th, however, the consultant suggested that we tell Sam as soon as possible then she would be able to come with me to the oncology department and see where I would be coming for my treatment and possibly meet some of the people that would be looking after me. "This often gives teenagers a lot of reassurance" she said.
We left the hospital and went straight to my mothers where we gave the news to my mother and my older sister. A shock for both of them but I needed them to know so that they would also be support for Sam if she needed it. Then I went with my Older sister to my younger sisters and delivered the news there whilst my husband went home to Sam, agreeing that we would both tell Sam as soon as I got home.
We told Sam together, Reno and I, and of course she was devastated, however after reassuring her that I would get better after a time she said "You should have told me mum, I could have been there for you". She is such a strong wonderful girl but I also assured her that she didn't always have to be strong, it is ok to have moments when you want to scream, shout or be angry at what was happening so long as ultimately we were all positive about the situation.
Sam and my older sister Anita came with me to the hospital appointments on January 6th as Reno was having surgery that day and was an inpatient himself (but that's another story!!!)
The marker was put in and then a mammogram taken and I was shown the mammogram pictures where I could see the tumour (size 17mm) and the marker within it.
We made our way to the oncology department where we were seen by an oncologist with a very long name! Dr Ram for short! Once again I had a bit of a shock to come - Dr Ram told me that I needed 8 doses of chemo each 3 weeks apart therefore taking 6 months in all, followed by Surgery. The second 4 doses would be much tougher than the first 4 but I would get better and be well at the end of it. After the initial shock of hearing this Dr Ram proceeded to tell me about the side affects of the treatment - I wasn't really listening - I suppose I really didn't want to know, I just wanted to get on with it! Also I was working out how my treatment was going to affect the holiday we had booked on the Norfolk Broads for 3rd April! our most favourite holiday we have every year! Well it works perfectly - we go on holiday the 3rd week of my 4th treatment and the 1st dose of my 2nd lot of 4 treatments is due the day after we come home from holiday! Hooray!
We had a look round the department then went to visit Reno with the news. Whilst we sat with Reno I received a call to say my first treatment would be on 17th January at 11.30 followed by a visit to Dr Ram on February 2nd and my 2nd treatment would be on February 7th 10.00am.
I felt a sense of relief now I could see the start of getting well.
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