And I asked a lot of questions by then and one of my main concerns wasn't about the fact that I'd had a breast removed but whether I could go back on HRT because I felt that my quality of life was more important. 

And it was agreed that she [nurse] would speak to the consultant. He came to speak with me and I felt I needed to put this point across that I would like a reason why I should not return on to the HRT. What he did say was he would have to have a meeting with other colleagues before they made a decision. And their decision was that I could return to the HRT because there was no factors to indicate it was receptive to the hormones. 

When you, before you had the mastectomy, you were talking to the consultant about having a mastectomy, is this when the conversation came up about you will have to stop the HRT patches? 

Yes, yes. He was very, he was very against it. And I had looked up a bit about it anyway prior to all this, and I was feeling so well on HRT and have done for many years that, I really didn't want, I didn't want to go back to what it would have been like without them. And I certainly wouldn't have wanted to return to my employment having suffered menopausal symptoms. So it was something that I felt I would probably fight about, and I did. 

So after the mastectomy, how soon after where you able to take the, have the patches?  

I would say about a week after I returned home. And my GP was a bit unhappy about it, but there was a letter to support what I'd said, so that was fine. 

Yes, so you were back on it? 

I was back on them fine, yes.