My first feeling that something was wrong happened around March 2017 when I started to get pain above my left breast, this often happened in work and I put it down to the amount of lifting etc. I do within my job and ignored it as it wasn't consistent. One day in work this pain started to travel down my left arm and I had some tingling sensations in my fingers. Now, I'm sure this probably isn't a common symptom of Breast Cancer, but for me it was my first encounter with a medical professional who fobbed me off and where my cancer probably could have been detected much sooner!
When I finished work I went to the VHI Swiftcare clinic as I was concerned it was heart related, I was cleared here and sent on to Accident and Emergency to make 100% sure everything was okay.
In Accident and Emergency I had lots more tests done including a Chest X-Ray. This X-Ray happened to show up an abnormality in the left breast. The doctor quickly examined me and said he could feel nothing and came to the conclusion the pain I was feeling was Costochondritis - which is a very broad term for inflammation of the chest cavity area near the ribcage. He then sent me on my way with no follow up or concern for the abnormality on the X-Ray.
My next encounter with a healthcare professional was about a month later. The pain was persisting in my left breast and I wasn't happy with the Costochondritis diagnosis. I went to see a General Practitioner and she examined me quite thoroughly. She couldn't feel any abnormality and felt there was no need for referal to a Breast Clinic and mentioned Starflower Oil would be the best thing for me to take for the pain. One thing that has been on my mind after this visit is that some breast tumours are so small that they are not detected by physical examination alone. It is likely my tumour was very small at this point and again if the doctor had of referred me on I would have been diagnosed much earlier but I was too young to have Breast Cancer?!
Another month or two later, a lump finally became visible and I went to my own General Practitioner and said I wanted to be referred to the Breast Clinic. He agreed with me that there was a lump but he was certain it was just a cyst and therefore when filling out the referral he marked me as a non-urgent case to be seen, because of this it was a further 6 weeks until I was called to see a Consultant in the Breast Clinic. I wasn't overly concerned about this though because I had pretty much outright been told that I had nothing to worry about because again I was too young to have Breast Cancer.
Six weeks later I attended the Breast Clinic where I had another physical examination. Within these six weeks the tumour had grown at an alarming rate and was very visible. The Consultant examined me and told me outright that the tumour had no cancerous characteristics and that she was certain it was a benign tumour known as a Fibroadenoma. She mentioned I should have it removed due to the large size but that I would not need a biopsy done. I would however need an ultrasound of the breast carried out as it was hospital protocol. Due to the fact she was certain it was a Fibroadenoma my ultrasound was not seen as urgent and it would be another five weeks before I would be called in.
On the 11th September I finally had an ultrasound! While the doctor looked at the lump using the ultrasound probe she mentioned she was finding it difficult to identify exactly what it was and mentioned she would like to try to aspirate the lump to see if it were fluid filled. She tried this but could not withdraw any fluid and therefore decided she needed to do a biopsy. At this point, I nearly had a fight with the doctor, I stated I was told I didn't need a biopsy because my doctor said it was a benign tumour! I had the biopsy then, which I have to say was a very unpleasant experience and off I went, with a bit more concern now but not too much.
On Thursday the 14th of September I got a call from a Breast Care nurse in the hospital, moving around my appointment for the following day, which was to discuss the results of the biopsy taken on Monday. When this happened I started to get a bit worried, but I also felt after telling me all along that this lump was not cancerous, if they had of found it was, surely they would have advised me when they rang to bring someone to the results appointment with me the following day?
Friday September 15th was the day I attended the hospital for my biopsy results, on my own because I didn't have cancer right? So many people had told me I didn't so I trusted them, they know more than me about the characteristics of a cancerous tumour. I sat in the waiting room to be called. As I sat there the Breast Care Nurse and Breast Consultant I had originally seen walked out into the waiting room together and called my name and left the suite with me to follow them.
One thing I had learned from working in a hospital for so long is that you very rarely see a consultant in an outpatient's clinic unless there is something wrong, it is usually a doctor on their team who will attend to you. Also why is there a Breast Care Nurse with her and why are they walking out of the clinic into a private room. Before I even entered that room to receive the results, I already knew that something was wrong and that I most likely had cancer.
They brought me into a small private area and the same consultant who had told me five weeks previously that she was certain I had a benign tumour, told me I had Breast Cancer. Not only did I have breast cancer, I had Triple Negative Breast Cancer and it was grade 3. Grade 3 meaning that the cells in the tumour were the furthest possible away from normal breast cells and in her words they were 'very nasty cells.'
Alot of information was given to me that day, trying to explain to me what Triple Negative meant and what my course of treatment would consist of; Chemotherapy, Surgery and Radiation. I stayed relatively calm until I heard them say chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was a very scary word to me. My view of Chemotherapy was I am going to loose my hair and be violently ill and waste away to a skeleton.
The Breast Care Nurse then phoned my parents and asked them to come to the hospital. While I was waiting for them I was able to ask a colleague to come over to sit with me as I work in the private part of the hospital I was diagnosed in. She came over and sat with me, we took it in turns to cry and laugh (if you know me well, you'll know I laugh at inappropriate situations!) until my parents got there.
The next step in diagnosis was to have a lymph node biopsy the following Monday to see if the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes, I got the results back the following Friday and they were negative! This was a huge relief to me as it meant that the cancer was most likely confined to my left breast. I then had a full body CT scan which confirmed the cancer was confined to the breast and an MRI scan of the affected breast to give the doctors a better idea of the size of the tumour.
The size of the tumour was finally declared as being 8cm by the MRI scan, which is quite large. When you think about the fact an abnormality was seen on an X-Ray in March that was so small it could not even be felt, six months later it had grown to 8cm and it was very visible.
I have some resentment towards almost every healthcare professional I saw before diagnosis. I may not fall into the normal demographic which is seen with Breast Cancer patients, but that does not mean that there wasn't a possibility it was Breast Cancer and in the end it was and my treatment was delayed by six months really because of this.
This is something that I really really want to get across to anybody who has any concern about their health, may it be Breast Cancer or not, especially when you are young and unlikely to be critically ill, push the doctor to refer you on for the tests you want to have done. I didn't push hard enough because I trusted what I was being told and I am extremely lucky that the cancer didn't spread within that time frame of trying to have a definitive diagnosis.
