I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer on Friday 13th July 2017. I was 40 years old when i was diagnosed. I first found a lump in my axilla when i was home on holidays in Ireland (i live in Sydney)- i thought at first it might be a swollen gland because i had been recently had a cold and felt run down.
About a week later the underwire of my bra seemed to dig in and when i adjusted i found a second lump in my left breast. I knew straight away it was breast cancer… as soon as i arrived home from my holidays i went to the GP and i was referred directly to a breast surgeon who organized a mammogram and core biopsy. She told me to was an aggressive cancer but often responds well to chemo. She referred me to an oncologist who saw me 3 days later and i started chemo within 10 days of diagnosis.
I had dose dense AC, followed by weekly paxlitaxol and carboplatin. I was scheduled to have a lumpectomy and full axillary node clearance but unfortunately, my tumour appears resistant to chemo and in the 3 weeks been finishing chemo and awaiting surgery i found a new lump which was positive for cancer so i needed to have a mastectomy instead. 3 of my lymph nodes were also positive.
I had to have new staging scans to make sure the frickin thing hadn’t already spread and they came back clear. I have since had radiotherapy and now I’m on oral chemo for 6 months (capacebitane/xeloda) as an extra precaution. I worked throughout chemo (I’m a lecturer in occupational therapy). I am very fortunate to have amazingly supportive colleagues and students. I have been very open with everyone about what is going on (may even overshare!!)… but I needed to keep things as normal as possible as I have a 3 year old who is too young to understand what I’m going through. We have no family support here and that has been very hard so once im finished chemo we’ve decided to move back to beautiful west Cork at the end of the year. It’s been an incredibly challenging year but I’ve come to realise how strong and resilient I am and how important it is not to waste time on things that ultimately do not matter.
