We were about eighteen months since a two-yearly mammogram, and I read an appeal for volunteers for a thing called the Ibis Project, which wanted to test the effects of tamoxifen, so I volunteered for this. I went down to [the hospital], and before they actually start you on the project, they give you a mammogram, just in case there's anything there.
Within a week I'd had a needle biopsy, which is a thoroughly unpleasant experience that I wouldn't recommend to anybody, but necessary, and the result of that was that it was a cancerous lump. A very small one, and not palpable by hand, so I really am extremely grateful to that mammogram, because it would have been another few months, possibly six months, before I was due for my next regular mammogram. These things can come so quickly in between.
What happened next? Oh then, of course, you get to the discussion as to what you are going to do, are you going to go for a lumpectomy, followed by, probably chemo or radio, or are you going to go for a complete mastectomy? |
