One Stop Breast Clinic York - 8th October

We arrived at the Breast Clinic at 07.45a.m and were warmly welcomed. By 8.15a.m. we had our first meeting with the Consultant who examined the offending lump and marked it for assessment. A short wait down the corridor and I was taken in for a Mammogram. A strange process where both boobs are squashed tightly between two plates, slightly uncomfortable, but ok.

Another short wait, followed by an Ultra-sound screening where my left arm was held above my head for what seemed like hours.

Back to the waiting room, it's now around 11.15 and we discussed where we could go for lunch. Next came another meeting with the Consultant, this one not so pleasant as he carried out a needle aspiration, which was painful. He asked me if I was ok with needles, I said yes, but don't let my husband see it. Graham stayed happily behind the curtains while they dug around. Following this we were advised to have some lunch and come back for the results - great what a service.

We returned at 12.15 and were ushered into the same room. My heart skipped a beat even as we walked in as the two chairs previously against the wall were now angled cosily towards the bench, in my nursing experience, set up for bad news. The Consultant came in closely followed by a Cancer Support Nurse, now I new I was in trouble. Mr MJ gave a deep sigh and then broke the results gently but firmly. It felt as though the whole world had stopped, I was frozen in time, how could this be happening. Graham's head had dropped between his knees and MJ kept glancing towards him, worried he might do a nose dive. Eventually he said 'I think you both need a cup of tea and time to think about what I've told you'.

We had to decide whether to go for Wide local excision (which MJ felt he could confidently carry out) or I could have opted for mastectomy. Both have the same survival rates, the only difference being that Lumpectomy would be followed by radiotherapy at Leeds.

We were left to talk this over with help from the Support Nurse and by the time MJ came back, I had decided to trust his judgement and go for the WLE plus radiotherpy. I have to say that MJ did stress that the area was larger than he expected and would be on the margins (clear margins are needed around the cancer). So the date for surgery was set - 31st October, it seemed a lifetime away, but here we go!