Interview 32

Age at interview: 55

Brief Outline:

Had first routine mammogram at age 50. Was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Had treatment for breast cancer.

Background:

A housewife and part-time child minder. Married with 2 adult children.

She explains that she met people she knew when she went for her mammogram.

So I was quite happy for my first screening. And that was May, the beginning of May that I went and had the breast screening done. It was uncomfortable but I thought, "right, you know, it's better to be safe than sorry". And I remember meeting my Sister in Law down in the clinic as well and we joked about getting old and being in the age group for the screening. 

It was all very straightforward, the way the screening program was done here in Northern Ireland - I don't know whether it's like this in England - but each GP has a designated day so when I arrived, down there were other people there that I knew from my doctors surgery you know. So it was just like going in for a normal examination, you know where you would go to your own GP. And I didn't find it intimidating because there were other people there that I knew and because I didn't have any lumps or no signs that anything was wrong, I was quite relaxed about it. 

She'd heard breast screening was painful but still attended.

It was all very new to me. No, I mean some people had said to me it's not very pleasant, it's very painful or some people would say "Oh, I wouldn't go" I mean some women who I knew they were much, much older than me, maybe in their sixties had never went for breast screening because some people had said to them "it's horrible", "It's awful", "it's so painful", " I wouldn't go". So that's the only thing I've ever been told about breast screening. But at the same time I thought well I've had four pregnancies and I've been throughout all that, and it can't be that bad you know, so I was going into the unknown, so I was.

She thinks that routine breast screening should start earlier, around the onset of menopause.

Well because there are more cancers being picked up earlier now - and when I say earlier some are twenty nine, some are thirty, some are middle thirties. But I understand the problem of doing screening for middle twenties and middle thirties because the medics will say "the density isn't there in the breast to pick up the abnormalities' and I can understand that but maybe from middle forties when maybe women are starting to go through the menopause, maybe that's when the time is to introduce screening not wait till you're fifty. You know, round about forty-five then - you know an age where you know things could be picked up, when maybe women are starting their menopause.

Had several tests and then a core biopsy when these proved inconclusive.

So they did two needle biopsies and they were inconclusive. But when they did the second screening it was still showing up, this suspicious tissue was still showing up and they then did a core biopsy which wasn't pleasant. It was quite sore but it had to be done because the two needle tests were inconclusive. So they decided to send the core biopsy off to the hospital but in the meantime they were, from all their speak and all their body language, I was quite sure that they knew there was something not right.   

So then they did a core biopsy.

What does that involve?

It involves actually, I didn't know until afterwards because I probably, I was very naïve to it all because it was all so unknown to me and I hadn't a clue what this core biopsy was. And basically they put a needle in and take out part of the tissue surrounding the breast where they think there is a problem. And they take that out and send it to the hospital to be analysed and that was quite painful. And I remember coming home and my breast and surrounding area was black and blue. And no, I suppose it's not fully explained to you what exactly a core biopsy is and how it can affect you and what you'll be like afterwards, nobody actually told you, I mean, it was all very matter of course that it was done, you know. Because this was all happening you're not in the position to ask questions, you know you just feel that they know what they're doing and let them get on with it. 

'Suspicious tissue' found on her first mammogram turned out to be breast cancer.

The longer that I was there the more I started to think 'Right, there's something here'. So when I went, they called me into the examination room, they showed me the first slide and they referred to it as 'suspicious tissue'. They didn't talk about a lump, they said it was suspicious tissue and 'had I noticed anything?' And I said that there was nothing to notice, there was nothing there.

And they brought me into another room and that's where the tears started because this other room had beautiful furnishings, lovely soft armchairs, a box of tissues in front of me and I thought, 'Oh God yes this is serious.' And they asked me had I anybody with me and I said 'No but my husband is coming to collect me'. So they - almost three hours had passed by this stage and they had booked me into hospital and they went outside to see if my husband was sitting outside. So he was outside waiting and as soon as he saw her coming towards him he panicked and he thought 'There's something wrong'. So he came in and we were told 'You're booked in for surgery'.  

Finds having post-operation mammograms both worrying and reassuring.

Well it's a two-fold thing. As the years go on you put your cancer into the background, you pick up your life and you go on with your life and you mostly forget that you have cancer, until you get that letter through the post that says "Right, you need to"- you know, "it's time for your check up." And then you start to get in the butterflies and you think "What if", you know, "something shows up again?/" But I look at it two ways. I don't like the idea of having the mammogram because I've been there and it's not particularly pleasant, it's bearable but it's not particularly pleasant, although it's over very quickly. There's that side of it, the physical side of it. But there's also the side of it that it's reassuring that somebody's looking after you, that you're being checked and if anything was there that it would be picked up at an early stage, you know, and I find that reassuring that somebody is watching me.

Results should be available on the same day as the mammogram and women shouldn't have to chase...

So you have the mammogram on both your breasts and do they give you the results there and then or? 

No that's the other worry and anxiety and I find the system wrong and the system bad, and it seems to be from consultant to consultant, it depends what your consultant requires. Some of the ladies I'm in contact with, their consultant would send them for the mammogram first and then he has the results and then when you go in and see him he has the results in front of you. My consultant works differently in that she orders the mammogram and then you get a letter to go and see her and the onus is on you to go and chase up your mammogram to actually go and look for your results. And three weeks, four weeks could elapse before you know your results. And you know if you're an anxious sort of person, that would be a very anxious time to wait, you know. I don't think it should be left up to you. I think, you either phone for your results on the day, or the day afterwards, or at least speak to your consultant a week afterwards, you know, to be reassured.

Feels grateful for the NHS resources that went into her treatment and post-operation check-ups.

Initially I went for three monthly check ups. Then it went down to yearly check ups and now I get yearly check ups. Now that's with, that's two check ups a year and I mean, and in the health service, I mean I feel very privileged that's happening. I mean, almost five years from my surgery I would see my Oncologist for a check up and then I would see my Consultant and then I would have a yearly mammogram. You know, with all the demand within the health service and all the newly diagnosed patients, I feel you know, so privileged that I am able to have access to this information and be reassured that my cancer is not there any more. 

If she hadn't gone for screening, her cancer might not have been detected until it was much more...

I didn't have any sign that there was anything wrong and to wait for that lump to appear may be too late. Because the scary part of my journey was doctors telling me that I did have a spread through the lymph glands without me knowing that there was anything going wrong. So, to get that picked up really early, the outcome is so much better. And it's so important that if you get that invitation to go for screening please, please accept it because the outcome can be so much, much more better than what it could be if you let things run on and you're not picked up two years later where it's so much more difficult to control and you would have so much more invasive treatment. 

So, where possible, I emphasise the importance of breast screening, that it is so important to avail yourself of that opportunity and be reassured yourself that if you go for screening, that if there's anything there - yes, it can be dealt with and it can be dealt with early. And the outcome is so much more different and life goes on after cancer.  

Advises her sons to be vigilant of any unusual breast changes.

And I also had to reassure my two sons. I had no daughters to worry about with the genetic link in breast cancer but my, one of my sons is living in England, away from home and every now and then he would phone me and say "Mum should I be checked out, I mean I know I'm a man but should I be checked out?" Because there is a fear, although men's cancer is quiet rare, there also is that fear, you know, that it could be genetically linked. And what I've always told them is just be vigilant, just watch and see and don't panic.

She sees breast screening as an important aspect of health care, like going for smear tests and...

Well I felt that if someone was offering me this opportunity to see if I was okay, I've always gone for smear tests and I've never had any hesitation to go for them. I am a positive person, I've always been a positive person and I felt if there's something there, I would rather know rather than not know. So I felt it was an opportunity to safeguard my life. If you need to go to the dentist, if you need glasses you go to the optician, you know so it was an opportunity for me to have something carried out that normally wouldn't happen.