Good Afternoon
I found a couple of lumps earlier this year in my right breast and had a mammogram to check this out. I received a letter telling me that there were changes to my previous mammogram and to return to the hospital for a further mammogram and ultrasound. During the ultrasound I was told the lumps were definitely not cancer and calcifications (totally normal in someone of my age). I received a letter two weeks later asking me to attend a consultants appt in a further two weeks, which I did. The consultant confirmed I did not have cancer and that that the lumps were definitely calcifications, however he could see something else that whilst not cancer he wanted checked out. I had 7 biopsies on 10th August and told the results would take 5 - 6 weeks. Whilst shopping on 19th September I received a call from the hospital asking me to go in to collect all my papers that day which I did. I went to collect the papers and was told I actually had breast cancer which nobody who had seen my file could believe (their words not mine). The lump was not large (approx 2cm diameter), could not be felt externally and would be removed by lumpectomy on 1st October. The operation went well and I came home the following day sore but happy. By 5th September my breast was huge, the wound was splitting and oozing plus I was in a lot of discomfort. I was sent back to hospital and underwent emergency surgery for a severe hematoma and infection. After my release, my daily nurse was happy with my progress (albeit slow), but after a fortnight felt that things were not right and called in my doctor who referred me to A&E. Subequent to this I have had 3 further hematomas and another infection which has resulted in two further surgeries and daily visits to our hospital so that they can keep an eye on this. Obviously during all this time I have been on antibiotics along with painkillers and just waiting for things to get better so that I can put this all behind me and get on with life. Last week whilst having my daily check-up they did an ultrasound to try to identify the core of the infection as things progressing too slowly. They did this and undertook so were able to do a "deep clean" under local anesthetic. The positive here was that the guy doing the ultrasound also confirmed to me that they had removed all of the tumour which was a wonderful result amongst all the negativity. Wednesday (30th Oct) we had a follow-up consultant appointment to check status of the infection (healing but still very slowly) so continue with antibiotics and daily cleaning. During this visit the Consultant then confirmed that the tumour had been fully removed along with 4 lymph nodes. However, then the bombshell, the cancer was evident in all the tissue removed from around the tumour and as such I needed a mastectomy which they had ideally booked in for Friday 1st November - yes 2 days later. Due to the infection though, they would be unable to operate until this had completely cleared and they requested further blood tests which were done. Thursday night the hospital called to say I had an appointment with the Hematologist 8.45am 4th November, yesterday. The Hematologist was great and went through everything, my medical history along with the current situation and then explained that there were some concerns with my blood that means my mastectomy has had to be postponed until after they have carried out further tests. The initial concerns are that I have Hemolysis and Coagulation issues. I had further blood tests this morning and now just need to wait for the results to see where we go from here.
I'm really sorry this is long but just wanted to know if anybody else has had similar issues and how easily and quickly it was all resolved as trust me, it's been a long time since my first operation on 1st October!! Incidentially, the initial BC diagnosis really doesn't even factor as there has been so much going on since my operation, plus from being diagnosed to having the initial operation there were daily tests etc., to be done so our feet did not touch the ground and haven't since.
Thanks for letting me ramble on and hope you didn't get bored reading!!! Have a lovely evening, Rosie
