The unfinished story of my breast cancer,
by Misone Field
Born 65 years ago in Paris, I am a happy French Kiwi since September 1991. My daughter Laetitia lives in the south of France with her four boys, as do my siblings.
The 21 st of December 2007, I had a terrible fall (one of my many syncopes !). My husband Tony thought it was an earthquake! Many contusions and aches followed. A few days later, I could feel a lump under my right arm. Talked about it to Tony and decided to wait a few days thinking it was related to my accident. In the back of my mind, I had a doubt but was not ready to cope with more problems. Reason soon came back and I checked my breast : I could feel a lump under the right breast. Not a good sign! Went to my GP who asked me to have a mammograph and an ultrasound. It was easy and quick, Poppy my sister-in-law being a sonographer.
The ultrasound showed some suspicious aliens. The mammogram was not reassuring either as the radiographer wanted closer pictures. An appointment was made for me with a breast surgeon (!) – didn’t look good to me ! The 15 of January Dr P Kumar told me it felt like two cancers in my breast and one under my arm. Two days later 7 biopsy samples were taken and the results were not good at all : grade III cancer with lymph nodes metastatic. Dr Kumar said it was an aggressive cancer, HER2, hormone related. A mastectomy and axillary stripping were needed. I tried to negociate with him to take only the lumps and nodes; I wanted to keep my breast. It was a categoric NO, so I had to accept. I had the surgery the 30 th of January.
Now it was reality: confirmation of the agressivity of the cancer, out of the 33 lymph nodes taken 25 were cancerous ! I wanted to know as much as possible about it, about other people’s experiences, what I could expect, what I could do to help. There was some good news : the CT scan was clear and a bone scan showed 2 broken ribs (my fall) but no cancer. Ouf !
I accepted to be part of a trial of treatments targeting early stage HER2 patients.
The trial started for me the 17 of June after I had completed the first 12 weeks chemo (F.E.C.). Apart from a couple of small crises from side effects, and the tiredness, I came out of that with my new wig, ready to face the first part of the trial: 12 weeks of Taxol + Herceptin (weekly). I have now had a break of four weeks which will end on Thursday 2 nd of October. During the 5 weeks of radiation treatment I will start the second part of the trial: 34 weeks of Lapatinib (six tablets daily).
What has helped me for that part of my journey ?
First, Tony who is always on my side when my spirits fall down, when I need help, who says I am beautiful even if I am bald or with big red cheeks after chemo, who accepts it when I get scratchy from time to time, is patient and a lot more which seem so natural to me that I can’t tell !
Regular walks, daily laughs, yoga and Jin Shin Jyutsu.
Until now, I did not lose the humour which was always a big part of my being.
I am ready to live the rest of my BC story!
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