Today I joined the army of people sitting around different waiting areas, carrying my belongings and my "gown" as we went through the various tests to find out if we had breast cancer. Some were, like me, totally new to the routine, others were at various stages in the journey and one lady was given the great news that she was still clear of her cancer five years since her treatment ended.
I already suspected that my symptoms of strange lump, pain and puckering were caused by the big C, so I wasn't surprised when the lovely consultant showed me the first ultra sound scan with its big black area where there should have been breast tissue, saying it was pretty definitely cancer, and proceeded to tell me what would happen next.
What did happen over the next two hours was quite unpleasant and painful and I now have a 12 day wait to find out exactly what we are looking at regarding type of cancer and treatment. Strangely enough I have no feelings of fear for the future, although twenty years ago I had a scare that saw me fearful and tearful, now I'm an old dear I'm just cheesed off that I will have quite a lot more unpleasantness to face. I'm one of those boring people who don't often get ill, so when I do I'm the patient from hell, or so my daughter tells me. I admit to being grumpy if I'm ill for more than two days.
I have read a lot of the posts, here, during my wait to go for the tests, feeling like an outsider looking in, but now I'm in, too! I suspect future posts from me will be less upbeat, but I would like to record my experiences here, and to share others' experiences, too.