About 10 days after first noticing the change in my breast, I decided it was time to seek help from my GP. She couldn’t offer me an appointment until six weeks later, despite my describing it as not so much a lump as really a good 2/3 – 3/4 of the breast.
I dithered for another few weeks, hoping it might be just an infection or fluid blockage. The end of June happened to be busy with a few other momentus events to distract me!
By the end of July I decided I needed to be seen as soon as possible and went to an Urgent Care Clinic. I was given a course of antibiotics and sent for an urgent mammogram and ultrasound, which was done the next day. The radiologist decided against doing a biopsy at that time because the antibiotics hadn’t had time to work yet.
One week later, the mass was getting bigger, not smaller. So I returned for a follow up ultrasound and needle biopsy. On August 6th, my family doctor called to say that the tumour was cancerous, high grade (aggressive) and that she would send in a referral to the South Island Integrated Breast Cancer Centralized Referral service with high priority.
I’ll pause here just to acknowledge that this really did hit me like a ton of bricks. Not very much in my life ever does. I work in the hospital, I’m a doctor’s kid, my mum and sisters are all nurses, I’m usually pretty even keeled and rational about most stuff. But I fully admit this one stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t go back to work, I couldn’t go home, I just needed some space to process and breathe. I took myself down to the little beach where my sister and brothers and I used to play when we were small and had myself a little pity-party / fear cry.
I was referred for an urgent MRI, done on August 18th. The report stated that the cancerous mass was measured to be 9 cm x 9 cm x 8.5 cm, that there was skin thickening (involvement of the skin layers), and that it extended to the margin of – but not into – the muscle wall. That was only eight weeks after I first discovered the tumour. Having confirmation that this was a large, aggressive and fast-growing cancer was quite a shock, and made me realize my days of denial were over. It was time for action… NOW.
What came next felt like a very long wait for help.
