Jane - Interview 14

Age at interview: 50

Age at diagnosis: 49

Brief Outline:

Jane was diagnosed with DCIS after her first routine mammogram, aged 49. She had a wide local excision and is now getting on with life as normal.

Background:

Jane is a married nursery nurse with two grown up children. Ethnic background / nationality' White British

More about me...

At the age of thirty, Jane had a cyst in her left breast, which was removed surgically. About five years later, she had a benign lump in her right breast, which was also removed surgically and never caused any further problems. When, in 2007, Jane was recalled after her first routine mammogram, aged 49, she thought that scar tissue from her previous surgery could have been the reason. After tests, though, she was diagnosed with DCIS and told she would need a wide local excision. Jane was shocked at this news because she hadn’t expected any problems. Telling her son and daughter was extremely difficult.

 

Jane had surgery two weeks after the diagnosis. She felt numb and tearful during this time, though reassured by conversations she had with her doctors. She decided to be treated privately because she wanted to have the same surgeon who had treated her in the past. She had her surgery in the local NHS hospital ‘because I’d heard such wonderful things about it. I wanted to be with other women going through the same thing rather than in just a little ward on my own.’

 

At the time of interview, Jane was coming up to her first mammogram since her surgery and said she was ‘thinking about it a lot’. She also said she felt ‘lucky’ the DCIS had been detected and treated and that she was able to resume normal life so quickly afterwards. She will now be having yearly mammograms for the next five years.

 

Jane was interviewed for the Healthtalkonline website in 2008.

After localisation, Jane waited over an hour to have surgery. She was on her own in a private room and felt a bit anxious.

I had to have the needle put in to point to where it was and then keep that in until the operation because it was so small. And there was no lump as such. So I had to go on down and have that. That wasn't ooh. That wasn’t very pleasant because when, I was under the impression that when I went down to the x-ray to have the needle put in then I'd go straight, I thought that it wouldn't be long and I'd be straight into the. So my husband went home, came home then. But of course I had to sit in this sort of the x-ray area waiting for that to be done.

 

And they get you to sign, if you're private patient forms and put your numbers on everything. And I remember thinking, “Oh I don't want to be doing this at the moment.” Because I was a bit shaky. So they did and they put the needle in. And then took me back. And then there was about probably an hour, hour and a half wait before I was taken down. And I was on my own, so that was a bit, I didn't like that very much. It was a bit scary.

 

Yeah. Just waiting, nobody else came?

 

Just waiting. No. And of course lovely to have your own room. But…. So if I had been in the main ward I would’ve had someone next to me and I would’ve chatted. But, of course, because I was in the room on my own, the door was open but still nobody comes into your room. And I didn’t feel, because I’d had this cuff thing on, I was not the type of person that I could just go and sit next to somebody and chat. It probably would’ve been a good idea to have done that really.

Jane had surgery to remove two benign lumps well before she was invited for routine screening.

When I was about thirty, just after I had my second baby, I had a cyst on the left breast, which I had to go into hospital and had that removed. And then about four or five years after that I had a lump in my right breast, which was benign. But it was taken out.

 

Was the cyst removed or aspirated with a syringe, or you actually had it removed surgically?

 

Yes, yes. I did, had it removed surgically yes. So no concerns as to ‘I think I'm going to get breast cancer’, just normal cysts and a benign lump.

Jane thought that scarring from previous operations for benign lumps was probably the reason she was recalled.

Were there any concerns over the years at all or never?

 

No concerns. Well I've had, well the DCIS started last April. I was called just for a routine mammogram because I was forty-nine so I was lucky and I had it, you know, earlier. So I had the mammogram. And then was called back. And then, yeah, that's it. Then I was called back and they said there were some sort of micro, microcal.

 

Calcifications?

 

Calcifications, yes. And they wanted to do a biopsy. So they did a biopsy. And the radiographer when she was doing it said she didn't think that it was anything. But I went back a week later and yes, there was a very small area of DCIS. But previous to that, when I was about thirty, just after I had my second baby, I had a cyst on the left breast, which I had to go into hospital and had that removed. And then about four or five years after that I had a lump in my right breast, which was benign. But it was taken out.

 

Was the cyst removed or aspirated with a syringe, or you actually had it removed surgically?

 

Yes, yes. I did, had it removed surgically yes. So no concerns as to ‘I think I'm going to get breast cancer’, just normal cysts and a benign lump. So when I got the call back from the mammogram, I thought its scar tissue. That's what I thought, it's going to be nothing, it'll just be scar tissue. That that's what it was.

Jane broke the news to her daughter on the phone and gave her 19 year old son leaflets to read. Her daughter was very upset but was later reassured after coming to an appointment with the consultant.

Because my daughter knew I was going for the result on that day and we'd been kept waiting. And think I've worked out that they tell the bad news at the end of the morning, I'm sure they do. I don’t know if that's right. But we'd been kept waiting, it must have been over an hour and a half to be seen after my appointment time. So she kept texting and saying, “Have you heard yet mum? Have you heard yet?”

 

So of course when I came out, I had another text, “Have you heard?” And I didn't know. She works in [place name]. And I should, now, I should’ve just, we should’ve gone straight to [place name]. Gone and got her and brought her to the car and told her. But I phoned her and said to her on the phone, she goes, “What, is it ok mum?” I said, “Well it's not good news but it's not bad news.” Because to me that's what it was. It wasn't all bad. I’d been told that yes it was, but we can do this and it'll be gone. So I told her over the phone. But then she got very upset.

 

So then we went to [place name]. And took her into the car and tried to reassure her that, you know, it's really not as bad as…. Because when you’ve seen the doctors and the nurses, they're so positive about it that, so positive. And they make you feel, you know, they make you feel at ease. Of course she hadn't been with me so she thought it was me just covering up and trying to protect her. So the following week when I had to see the consultant, she came as well because I wanted her to come and, you know, hear it from them.

 

Yeah. And did she, did she feel reassured?

 

Yes, yes, oh yes, once she'd seen the consultant, yes. Yes she did, she felt much better. And I gave my son the leaflets to read as well because it was easier to give him the leaflets to read rather than me talk to him about what was going to be going on. It's difficult for a nineteen-year-old boy.

Jane said it was very difficult to tell her head teacher because she had recently had cancer herself.

I was working at the time. Yeah. It was not too bad. It, people think if you’re ever diagnosed with something like that, how do you carry on? But really, you know, as I've said, that they were so reassuring. So it was fine. It was very, it was hard to tell. I work in a school and it was very hard to tell the head teacher because she had recently had cancer. So it's really hard because I know hers was serious and still is very serious. And I didn't, I found myself getting upset and I thought I shouldn't be doing that because she's got far more serious problems than I have. So that was quite difficult, telling her.

 

And I wanted her to tell the other staff rather than, I didn't really want to tell them. So she had a meeting with them all and told them.

 

Yeah. And that you would be off work for…

 

Yes. I think I was off about three weeks because I work in a school, in a class with four and five year olds. So it's quite physical work. And so I had, I think it was three weeks off.

 

Yeah. And was that all during term time or …?

 

One of the weeks was half term. Yeah. One of the weeks was half term and then the other two off school.

Jane felt reassured to know she had DCIS instead of invasive breast cancer. She would like a copy of her pathology report and hopes she can pluck up the courage to ask her doctor.

Just, well I just looked up, I just put DCIS, because that's what she'd said. And I’d got some information that way. And didn't feel unduly concerned. And they always, I won't say played it down but they all, they kept telling you sort of it's not an invasive breast cancer. So there's no, you know it's not got, the cells haven't got the ability to spread at the moment. So that you know, I was quite happy, well, not happy but reassured when they said that.

 

… I would’ve liked a little bit more information about the, because I think you can actually ask for your report can’t you? So I wished I had the guts to have said, “Please can I have a copy?” But he didn’t strike me as the sort of person that would probably like you asking that. So, but as I say, I’ve got this mammogram in a month’s time, in June. When I go to see him afterwards I might ask a bit more, I might pluck up the courage and ask a bit more, I don’t know. No I don’t know.