So about two weeks ago - about a week after I came out of hospital - mum found a lump in her right breast. It was hot and painful. She made an appointment, but neither of us worried about it too much - we thought it would just be a cyst or mastitis. Cancer is usually not painful.
The first sign things were bad was when the GP examined her and went pale and called in the other doctors in the surgery for second opinions. The next bad sign was when the mammogram/ultrasound chick went pale, and called in the head radiographer to look at the scan.
So there was no great surprises when she was referred to a breast doctor. She said he took one look at her breasts and said "oh yes, there it is". He said it would either be a fibroidenoma (a benign tumour) or an unusual cancer. He took a needle biopsy and booked her in for a proper biopsy on the following Monday.
Monday came, and she went into Mitcham private for day surgery. Three days later we had the results - and it wasn't the good result. Mum, being who she is made two comments "Oh good, now I can live on Marshmallows" (she is diabetic) and "Well I was wondering what to do with my hair. Don't have to worry about that now".
She went in to hospital on Monday of this week to have the lump out and the axillory lymph nodes removed. She has named her breasts lefty and stingy - stingy has been a naughty boob, and lefty is now the favourite.
The lymph node biopsy came back last night and was clear, so the cancer hasn't spread, which is a big relief.
It's been a bit of a fucker of a couple of weeks though, and it's going to be a rough few months.
Hopefully, things can only get better.
