Count to 5 for me…. 1…2…3…………

So my last blog was me waiting patiently for what felt like forever for my surgery after the whole house went down with Covid!! The news of Sarah Harding passing with the same disease was devasting and affected me more than I thought it would.

The day of surgery came and I had so many people texting me and keeping me company while I waited. I was on the afternoon list and was ecstatic when I found out there was only 2 of us on the list.

Before I could go down I had to have a small procedure to insert a wired line into the marker where the tumour once was and needed an injection into my boob to highlight my sentinal lymph node for removal. I thought the wire was going to be a small short wire just protruding out of the skin but no there I was sat in Day surgery with a stupidly long wire hanging over my shoulder taped to my skin.

The injection was really uncomfortable they inject onto the side of your nipple and it blisters up before going up into your under arm where your sentinal lymph node is this is to determine how many the consultant takes for testing to see if the cancer has spread. I ended up having the sentinal and 2 other lymph nodes being removed.

My surgery was only suppose to be a day case but when I woke up at about 1900 stupidly groggy I’m sure I heard them say I had a drain insitu so there was a bed on women’s health for me. I was half glad really I would never have been able to get my self into a state of consciousness ready to go home. The night stay was a blur I was woken every hour or so for different checks but the girls were amazing and in the morning my drain hadn’t drained a great deal so they whipped it out and let me go home.

I had strict instructions to basically do nothing but my exercises for the next 2 weeks hubby and my parents took on everything. Jaycie ended up staying at my parents most of the 2 weeks as I couldn’t lift her in and out of the cot or fight with her to change her nappy. About 6 days after surgery I was due for a dressing change so rang them up to be told they didn’t routinely see ladies who had only had a lumpectomy but because I was still quite restricted and in pain I went for a check.

I still had all the padded dressing on from the ward so once that had been taken off it felt so much better I did feel like a fraud as I could of taken the dressing off myself at home if I had known but they checked my wounds and everything was OK so back home to continue exercises. I was doing OK woohoo.

The days were slowly passing and results day was creeping up I felt stupidly stressed I was snappy, and not coping well with being so restricted with daily activities. I had so much support coming up to my appointment and 10am on the 7th October I officially got THE ALL CLEAR!!! I cried my eyes out… Hubby cried his eyes out I just couldn’t believe it the past 6 months of total rubbish had been worth it… Every day feeling rubbish in bed…. Every moment of sadness… Every social event I missed.

ALL CLEAR…. so what does that mean no more chemo and no more surgery. I have now been referred to radiotherapy as a ‘mopping up’ procedure maximum of 15 days looking to be around the start of Dec as I have to have movement in my arm and wounds healed. So 2 weeks time I’m to start using E45 on my scarring ready for radiotherapy.

I will now have yearly breast reviews for 5 years, yearly MRI for 10 years and yearly mammograms for 20 years.

Wow I big deep breath trying to digest it all thank goodness Jamie was there to help remember it all. The nurse went through a discharge note which wasn’t actually a discharge as I’ve got open door for the next 5 years for any concerns. So my cancer journey continues and I still have a long way to go. The cancer has gone I can focus on my life and my family, complete dreams and watch my girls grow. I don’t know how this will affect me mentally yet or how I will be feeling after radiotherapy, how my scars will affect me…. But im here and I’ve kicked it’s butt.

Since putting the news on my socials I can’t believe the response I’ve had messages from people I have helped or inspired. I feel totally amazing that I’ve managed to help people in similar situations or answered any concerns people might of had. raised awareness of breast cancer not just in women. given people the confidence to be checked. These blogs started off being a venting page for me to digest what was happening to me and to look back on to see how far I’ve come. I am over the moon I’ve inspired people to check their boobies and as time is crucial go get it checked.