The start of my journey

Hi there Mary ... welcome to the "Land of Blog" .... this is where you can come to chat, cry, be happy, be sad, throw an angry tantrum or (more importantly) make new friends. However you are feeling there will be those of us who have "been there-done that".

I went to my GP in Dec 2009 with a suspicious lump. Had mammo, ultra sound, then a core biopsy - all the time thinking it was a calcified cyst. Everything was closed over Xmas/New Year so didn't get back to the doc till 13th Jan.

My partner didn't come in with me, I told him it was nothing serious, just a cyst that would probably need to come out ... WRONG. "It" proved to be a cluster of malignant tumours which had to be removed. I opted for a total mastectomy and remova of al of the lymph glands, this decision was right for me, but not necessarily right for everyone. We are all different and have different attitudes. My reasons being that at 62 I had no intention of getting pregnant and breast feeding!!!

So January 2010 has four anniversaries for me .... diagnosed on 13th - two days before my birthday and mastectomy and lymph removal on 28th - one day after my partner's birthday. So it was definately happy January to us!! The upshot of it all is that the cancer hadn't travelled into the glands so I avoided chemo and radiotherapy and am on Arimidex for a few more years.

As I started to say ( before I got sidetracked and started yacking on ) waiting is the pits, your thoughts go wandering all over the place, you get the "what ifs and the why nots". I guess the main thing is to stay positive and surround yourself with positive people. I like the fact that you are "nosey and want to know", that's good. It's your body and you are entitled to ask questions. One thing though, when you go to appointments don't go on your own. A spare pair of ears is good to have because there will be so much info to absorb you'll miss a bit here and there.

Take care of yourself ... I hope 2013 brings everything you could wish for

Love Shirl x0x