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It’s hard to believe it’s nearly been a whole month since my diagnosis already. Not going to lie, it’s felt like a bloody lifetime.
I thought I’d jump on here and do a little life update of the past couple of weeks – all of the appointments, phone calls, and a whole lot of waiting around.
* Sidenote: This photo was taken last weekend on a lovely post-lockdown break with my wonderful boyfriend in Harrogate. This was my first glass of Prosecco since being diagnosed and oh my fucking GOD did it go down a treat.
You might think that once you’re diagnosed with a monumentally life-changing and potentially deadly disease like cancer, you’d be sat in that chemo chair being pumped with drugs the very next day. But that just isn’t how it works.
I thought the worst part of my ~journey~ so far was waiting for a diagnosis, but actually, the waiting after diagnosis is no walk in the park either. You’re stuck in this sort of grey area of the unknown, filled with dread and anxiety. How bad is the cancer? Has it spread? What treatment will I need, and for how long? Can I still drink wine?!
Let’s take it back to good old diagnosis day for a minute. What I wasn’t aware of pre-cancer is that cancer isn’t one-size-fits-all. There are so many different types of breast cancer, and no two diagnoses are the same. I was told that my breast cancer is triple positive – ER+, PR+ and HER2+ (don’t worry, none of that made sense to me at first either). In a nutshell, it means that my cancer responds to hormones. This means I’m no longer allowed to take the contraceptive pill I’ve been on and off for most of my adult life, since that pumps hormones around my body. Honestly, I think the pill encouraged my cancer in the first place and I don’t think anyone should ever take it, but that’s a whooole other blog post.
HER2+ means that my cancer also tests positive for the HER2 protein which promotes cancer growth. This means my cancer is one of the more aggressive types, but thankfully there are various targeted therapies for HER2 which are highly effective.
So, equipped with the above knowledge, it was time to crack on and see what else the little bastard had been up to. I’ve spent hours in hospital these past few weeks having every scan under the sun. First up was a blood test and an ultrasound of the affected boob (it’s my right one, the shit) and armpit to see if there was any sign of spread to my lymph nodes. Thankfully, nothing suspicious flashed up.
Then, it was a consultation with the fertility doctor to discuss my options re: babies. Hey, I’ve never been maternal. I’m not a big fan of kids at all. The only babies I see in my future as of right now are dog babies. But, I want the option to make that choice of whether or not I have children. So it fucked me right off that cancer might take that choice away from me. Ultimately, I decided against freezing my eggs for a number of reasons – I didn’t fancy injecting daily hormones into myself when that’s precisely what my cancer loves to feed off of, IVF success rates are fairly low, and I actually have a fairly good chance of being able to conceive naturally after chemo anyway.
I also went for a breast MRI scan, which basically involves lying face down with your boobs placed into what looks like the cup holders you’d keep your McDonald’s coke in. Interesting experience on the whole. My MRI results showed macrocalcifications in the same boob as the cancer, which could turn out to be pre-cancerous cells, so I’ve had those biopsied too to determine what type of surgery I’ll end up needing.
Since the MRI, I’ve had an ultrasound to check my left tit is behaving itself (it is), multiple mammograms, biopsies, a CT scan, a heart scan, and a flu jab. I have a call later this week with the Genetics team to see whether I also have the BRCA gene mutation, and I’ll be one of the first on the list for the new COVID vaccine.
And that brings us up to today! Sitting here feeling slightly like a human pin cushion thanks to all the poking and prodding, with a v sore tit, but we’re good! This week I’ll finally find out what my official treatment plan of action is and I’m so ready to crack on with it. Plus, I’m still completely milking the whole “I have cancer” thing at home. Seriously, my family has never been this nice to me. Fancy a massage? Sorted. Could do with a cuppa? Not a problem. I’ll be taking full advantage of this for as long as I can.
As always, check your boobs gals and guys.
Until next time,
Tabby x
You can follow more of my cancer journey on Instagram here.
