i was 49 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy, six months of chemotherapy and thirty five sessions of radiotherapy. At the end of the course of treatment the situation was very positive and I followed up with five years on tamoxifen and then arimidex. Ten years passed and I felt great but last year I started to experience some pain in my left hip so went to see my GP. Without examining me he dismissed it as sciatica and prescribed anti inflammatories. Four months later when the pain was getting worse and really quite debilitating I went back to the surgery and saw a different GP. She was into it immediately, send me first for an emergency X-ray followed by a CT scan and a few days after my sixtieth birthday she broke the news to me, the cancer was back, in my pelvis and, more shockingly, my spine. 

The last six months have been a rollercoaster ride. I've learned to accept that there will be no cure but hopefully the spread will be controlled. I'm on monthly Denusomab injections and daily exemestane tablets. After some radiotherapy the symptoms and pain are far less. My mobility has improved and a recent MRI scan showed that, although the cancer is quite widespread, it hasn't got any worse since treatment started. My oncologist says that some of her patients survive for many years on the treatment I'm receiving. Certainly the Exemestane is working as my hair has started thinning (a small price to pay) and the pain is well controlled. I feel very positive about the future and am determined to do as much as I can while I can still do it so lots of travelling is lined up........insurance was interesting but eventually affordable.......and lots of family occasions will happen over the next few months. My family are amazingly supportive but I worry about my parents, both in their 80s, who find the situation very distressing. I've kept them fully informed but they have convinced themselves that I'm hiding something. I don't want to know my prognosis, although I have a good idea of what the average survival time is, for me this is all about living and nothing to do with dying.