One in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in our lives. Shocking statistics about an illness that many of us know very little about.
Limerick based lady, Lorraine, was diagnosed with the early stages of breast cancer last November. Since then, the 38-year-old mother of two had a mastectomy and in an positive and honest blog post, writes frankly about her experience.
Lorraine decided to set up a blog aptly titled, ‘More than a boob‘ to document her journey as a young woman with a healthy lifestyle and no family history of the illness, battling with the early stages of breast cancer.
The mother details the procedure and her progress, admitting that the “hardest part of it all is not being able to lift my 18 month old.”
“At the end of the day I still look the same and I’m still the same person.”
A huge thanks to Laura O’Dea, Brand Manager for National Breast Cancer Research Institute, for sending in this inspirational piece and an even bigger thanks to Lorraine for allowing us to post it.
My early breast cancer story:
This is me today, I’m a just turned 38 year old mom of 2 and 4 weeks ago I had a mastectomy on my left side with immediate re-construction called an LD Flap, not for the faint hearted, it involves using a muscle from your back. My pathology report showed I had 4cm of DCIS which is also known as Stage 0 Breast Cancer or pre-cancer which normally isn’t too much of a worry in the larger scheme of things but unfortunately mine was high grade (grade 3) and had started to turn invasive, I had 2.4mm of invasive cancer hiding in there. My Dr told me I was lucky as a black cat as once you are under 5mm you don’t have to have chemo or radiation so I was 2.6mm away from a completely different 2013/2014, that, is smaller than my finger nail. All of this journey started last Nov with my right breast surprisingly and I went through all the tests ( 2 Mammograms, 2 Ultrasounds, 4 biopsies and 1 MRI) and experienced both the public and private system. I have debated over and over about writing about this but after watching Facing Cancer on RTE last night I have decided to, if my story can help one person or eliminate the fear for women about the testing involved, the surgery etc it will be worth it. The stories you normally hear about are the sad ones, a friend of a friend, an aunt of somebody you know so I thought it would be good to hear a positive story plus it can happen to me or you, I never thought it would but I’m living proof! A couple of people have asked me do I want to share something so private with the world, do I want everybody to know I lost my breast, probably not but then I asked myself why not? It’s nothing to be ashamed of, it’s a fact of life you can get cancer, 1 in 3 will face cancer at some stage in their life, that is a pretty scary statistic and if by me writing about it and sharing my experience normalizes it a little and even helps somebody catch it early then writing about it will have been worth it. I have to say thank you to those celebrities who went public too like Kylie, Guiliana, Angelina as they made it easier for me to deal with everything too, they’re all young, they’re all still alive and still look great and showed me that life does goes on.
I just turned 38 in Sept, I’m fit, I’m healthy, I’m not overweight, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink more than the recommended amount, I don’t have a real family history, as my dr says I shouldn’t have this but unfortunately I did but I was one of the lucky ones in that I have always checked myself and it was caught early and I have had a fantastic outcome. If this blog can encourage you girls to check yourselves regularly and get to the GP pronto if you find anything I’ll be a happy one boober. I also found there was very little discussion on this in Ireland, most sites I ended up on were in the US and I think knowledge is power in these circumstances so my experience might give insight to some of you even if you are only going for a mammogram etc.
Before all of this started I was completely ignorant about breast cancer even though I had been to the GP a few times with different lumps/cysts and had a biopsy in my 20′s and another lump removed in my late 20′s but I still knew very little. Because of this I have always had a fear of breast cancer and it was without a doubt my biggest fear like the majority of women I would guess. Although I checked regularly I dreaded it in case I found something and even after having my 2nd baby last year after a tough 2 years of trying to get her here I just didn’t want to and didn’t for a few months, I just wanted to be happy and free with no worries, that went well:) Without a doubt the hardest part of this whole journey is the testing and waiting, I went through the public system because there was no fear that there was anything wrong but while I was in the system the new problem emerged, lucky or wha? Looking back if I had known what was ahead of me I would have went private a lot sooner, I’ll talk about this and the differences in the public and the private health system again.
So I’m 4 weeks out and still recovering, I chose the harder reconstruction option because I had only one side done and the results are great, I think when you hear mastectomy thrown about you think there’s nothing really to it, just shove in an implant and bobs your uncle but of course it’s not like that, my surgery took 4 hours and 2 hours in recovery after, 8 days in hospital, 6 week recovery time and months before I’m properly recovered. I can’t drive for another week or 2, I have to look after my left arm for the rest of my life, no blood can be taken from there, I have to watch it in the sun, I have to do my own physio exercises for a couple of months but the hardest part of it all is not being able to lift my 18 month old, her little face is heartbreaking and everyday she whispers to me “up” and “mammee sower” and toddles off when I tell her soon. She won’t remember any of this, the 7 year old will as she was absolutely traumatized while I was in hospital and cried herself to sleep every night, she is crying already now because I’m going to a wedding in a couple of weeks and triple checks every time I’m going to my follow up appointments in Galway that I’m coming back.
Got the go ahead to pick her up:) #lifegoeson pic.twitter.com/bCm8W4WxGj
— italianfoodie (@italianfoodie) November 12, 2013
Lorraine posted this snap of herself and 18-month-old to Twitter this evening.
But besides all of this I’m doing great, I haven’t shed a tear since my operation, I’m not mourning the loss of my boob or anything else, I’m not bitter or angry or asking why this has happened to me because it has and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, life is still the same and I’ve just picked up from where I left off, my Dr is a bit worried for me I think, he keeps telling me I might hit a wall at some stage, that it is a very emotional thing for somebody my age to go through and maybe I will but I don’t think so, I’m not trying to be brave and strong, believe me if I need to cry I would, I get teary when they get voted out of Strictly on a Sunday night. When it comes down to it I have a great life and a beautiful family and so much to live for, I was one of the lucky ones, ok I lost my breast but hey I’m pushing on and sure who sees it but himself and to be honest if anything the right one is going to get jealous of the left one as it continues south over the next few years:) At the end of the day I still look the same and I’m still the same person. As I told the dr he took out the stuffing that might try and kill me and put in some new stuffing and at the end of the day as the title says:
I’m much more than a boob…
L x
