After finally getting both the kids to University, I thought 'yes' it's time to kick off my shoes and have some fun.
How very quickly life can change.
I had my first request for a Mammogram come through in April 2018 and told my girlfriends that’s it, I’m officially old haha.
When the 2nd letter came through asking me to go back as something wasn’t right, I just thought 'oh well' there must have been something wrong with the machine that day as it couldn’t be anything else, I couldn’t feel any lumps and there wasn’t any changes in size or look to my breasts.
When the nurse delivered those life changing words; Mrs Jones, Breast Cancer... I just froze, what was she saying, I had Breast Cancer?
The next few hours were a blur, having to tell my husband Andrew and both sets of parents was devastating but not half as difficult as having to tell 2 children. Yes, they are both adults, but they were still my children.
Every single process of my Breast Cancer treatment through the NHS has been dealt with such care and understanding, with the most compassionate staff I have ever come across. The surgeon Mr Bala and his team at Solihull hospital made me feel like I was the only person going through this nightmare. They explained every process in detail from the 3 biopsies taken, to what every single stage meant, so we were fully armed with the facts.
Waiting to hear if I needed chemotherapy felt like the longest time of my life, and on 2 occasions my biopsies had be re-tested. In the end it was worth the wait as I didn’t need to have it. Radiotherapy and hormone tablets would do the job.I was then Passed onto the radiotherapy department (after surgery) at the QE hospital Birmingham where the treatment there was impeccable too.
This outcome could have been so different. Having lost 5 stone with Slimming World I am now eating and feeling the best I have in 20 years and that’s what made me go for the mammogram. Being so overweight for years, feeling self conscious and not being able to feel any lumps, might have changed my mind in going for that mammogram, and I’m so glad I went as my cancer was a Grade 2 invasive ductle carcinoma.
Throughout all this, I am fortunate to have a fantastic network of friends and family around me that I was still able to carry on working, attend appointments and even grab a couple of holidays in between treatments. They have been there for those low moments when I thought 'why me?!' and the happy times when I moved on to the next stage of treatment.
Having finished my treatment October 2018, I will let my body repair itself then I can start to look forward to kicking of those shoes having fun and start planning another holiday.