Sue - Interview 9

Age at interview: 50

Age at diagnosis: 49

Brief Outline: Sue was diagnosed with DCIS at 49 and had a wide local excision. She was pleased she went for the mammogram and recommends them to other women.

Background: Sue is a married assistant bank manager with two children. Ethnic background / nationality' White British

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In the past, Sue had had some breast cysts but never any serious concerns about her breasts. When she had her first routine mammogram, aged 49, she was recalled. She was ‘devastated’ when she got the letter and extremely anxious. She felt that something could be wrong and said this was the most difficult time for her.

 

After further tests, Sue was told that calcium deposits had been detected. She could have a mammogram the following year or a biopsy that day to investigate these further. She had a biopsy as well as an MRI scan.

 

Sue was diagnosed with low-grade DCIS, which she had never heard of before, and had a wide local excision shortly after diagnosis. She was happy with the surgery and said, ‘I’m very happy with the results, and I think I could even go topless on the beach and no one would notice.’ She returned to full-time work a week after surgery and will now be having yearly mammograms for five years, after which she will be on the NHS Breast Screening Programme again. She will then be invited for a mammogram every three years.

 

Sue said she had a lot of support from family and friends, particularly two friends who’d had invasive breast cancer in the past. She also stressed the importance of attending for routine mammograms.

 

Sue was interviewed for the Healthtalkonline website in 2008.

Sue felt fine on the day of surgery and was taken by ambulance from the local clinic to the hospital.

I was given a date for the surgery in November. Perhaps the night before the surgery was very worrying, like having any surgery is. But they were just absolutely brilliant. I went to the clinic because our clinic in [place name] is not in the same hospital as where you have the operation. We have a separate breast cancer clinic. I went to the clinic first and had several mammograms done to make, find out where the actual DCIS was because it doesn’t show up. And they needed to put this fine wire in to show the doctor when he came to do the operation exactly where the DCIS was that needed removing.

 

Yeah. And you, on the day of the operation, how did you feel on the actual day, can you remember exactly what happened on that day?

 

I felt really good on the day of the operation. I don’t know why but I had the wire put in at the local clinic in [place name]. And then I went by private ambulance to the hospital. And I just sat around at hospital reading magazines and talking to another lady who’d had a similar operation. And everything went really, really quickly.

Sue felt positive about having a wide local excision because of what her doctor had told her and what she'd read on the internet.

Did he say you’ve got a choice in terms of treatments?

 

He did. He said depending on how much was infected from the MRI, there would be a choice of a wide local incision or the mastectomy. And depending on what the MRI showed up, they would then discuss the treatments with me further, when I went back.

 

And when you went back, what did he say?

 

He said the MRI had shown that only part of the breast was infected. And it only needed a wide local incision to get rid of the infected part. It didn’t need a full mastectomy.

 

Yeah. And how were you feeling at this stage overall because you’d had days where you couldn’t sleep?

 

At that time I was still feeling, I was then feeling quite positive because I’d obviously read lots more on the websites about people that had had this wide local incision and hadn’t had to have treatment after it. And had just been able to get on with life, like I am now.

Sue had a biopsy because she wanted to know whether the calcifications found on her mammogram were serious.

I went on the Friday and saw a doctor who showed me under a magnifying glass that I had got calcium deposits and this could mean there were changes in the breast tissue that could possibly mean in future, it could turn out to be that I may in fact have breast cancer in the future. She did give me the choice that I could go for a mammogram next year, have the mammograms compared to see whether the calcium deposits had changed or got larger or smaller etc, or whether more had come. Or, if I wanted, I could have a biopsy done that day.

 

I opted to have the biopsy done that day. The biopsy involved another mammogram and put into a mammogram machine, given some local anaesthetic and the biopsies were taken. I think there were six or seven taken. They were just like tiny little splinters and put on glass. And the results were available for me the next week.

 

When I went back the following week for the results, I did take my husband with me. And when the nurse called me in and said would I like to take my husband with me, I obviously knew then there was some sort of problem. And the doctor was brilliant. He drew everything out for me. And he said what they had found was that I had DCIS.

Sue was discharged from hospital a few hours after surgery and had no pain at all. She was back at work a few days later.

I only waited about another three weeks for my appointment to go to the hospital. On the day of the appointment, I had to go to our local breast clinic to have a wire put in to ascertain exactly where the DCIS was for them to cut out. Because there wasn’t a lump or anything, in surgery they couldn’t see exactly where they would need to cut out. This involved again having a mammogram and the wires put in. I was very late leaving the hospital so I was late arriving at the other hospital.

 

So I was the last person seen to go down for my operation about half past three in the afternoon. But by half past eight at night I was on my way home. And I was in no pain at all. They had told me to stock up on these different painkillers, etcetera, etcetera. But I didn’t need anything. And I never did need to take any painkillers.

 

Yes, my breast was black and blue and very, very swollen. But all I had was this very small scar completely around the nipple, where the operation had taken place.

 

I went back and saw the consultant a week later and they took out the last couple of stitches. And I was back at work within a week. And I haven’t had any problems since. I’m now on a yearly mammogram screening just to make sure nothing comes back in the future.

Sue had not heard of DCIS before her own diagnosis.

DCIS was something I’d never heard of before. Different friends had had different sorts of breast cancers but never this DCIS. And what he [doctor] explained was that some of the biopsies they’d taken showed that they were cancerous. But the others were benign.

 

I took my husband with me that day because I knew I could get not the result I wanted. And I needed somebody with me. When the doctor told me that yes it was, the cancer was in the milk ducts, it was contained and non malignant, he said it was the best sort of cancer to get. It did make me think ok. But at the end of the day I just said to him, “Ok that’s fine.” Which is … it wasn’t really fine. But that’s just what … you’re just in shock when they tell you that you have something like that.

 

But I had a wonderful breast care nurse there who I then went talk to afterwards. And she explained everything about DCIS. DCIS was something that obviously I’d never heard of before. And she gave me lots of literature. She told me go onto the breast cancer website.

Sue found a lump when she was in her early thirties which turned out to be a cyst.

About 13, 14 years ago I found a small lump in my breast, which I went to the doctor. She was sure it was nothing to worry about but I was referred to the breast care clinic within a couple of weeks. They did find that I had a small cyst and the clinic I was referred to did all the tests on the day. And I had a mammogram then and also ultrasound and the cyst was actually aspirated on the day. And after that they said I shouldn’t have any more problems. Unfortunately the cyst did fill up again and I had it aspirated again but from then until August last year, when I was called for the routine screening with the NHS, I never had any problems at all.

 

How old were you at that time?

 

Thirty-three, thirty-four. My daughter was only eighteen months old. And to find a lump with a child so young, that was really devastating.

 

Yeah. Did you have any idea what it could be at that point?

 

No, nothing at all. I just thought the worst. I thought a lump, it’s got to be cancerous. Because unfortunately I’ve known a few younger friends who had had something that turned out not to be so good.

 

Yeah. So you went to your GP first?

 

Yes. And they had the screening programme in [place name], they will see you within six weeks. And because she could actually feel the lump I was seen with two weeks. But as the clinic at that time was a one-stop shop, they did everything there. They actually analysed even the fluid on the day that they took out of the cyst to make sure there was nothing nasty in that as well.

 

So you had a mammogram that day, ultrasound scan?

 

Yes mammogram, ultrasound, and the … I can’t remember the word now. When they aspired the cyst as well.

 

Yeah. So you found there and then it was just a cyst?

 

Yes.

 

And they aspirated it so the lump went?

 

That’s right. But unfortunately it came back the next day. They told me I’d never have a lump there again. But the next day I could feel it. I went back to my GP and she aspirated it that day for me in the surgery. And after that it never came back again.

 

Yeah. And then you got a letter through the post when you were forty-nine and a half?

 

That’s right. And just for routine screening because they do it, I don’t know if it’s the same in every area, but between fifty and fifty-three you have the first routine screening for a mammogram.

Sue had sleepless nights and thought the worst when she was recalled because she'd had benign breast problems in the past.

I went for the routine screening in August and went on holiday quite happy that everything was fine. However, when I came back from holiday there was a letter to say that I needed to go back because there was something that had showed on the mammogram. I was, to be honest, devastated to get the letter because I had always thought perhaps there could be a problem as I’d had a problem previously. I phoned the clinic on the Monday and they got me an appointment on the Friday. So I did only have four days, but those four days, to be honest, not knowing anything, not knowing whether they’d found a lump or what they’d found, was in my mind the worst time of the whole period.

 

When I came back from holiday unfortunately among the post was a letter saying that I had to go back for further, to see somebody because something had shown up. And it did say on the letter that it may not be nothing to worry about but they just wanted to double-check something.

 

Yeah. But you were quite worried?

 

I was very worried when I had that letter. And I must admit those few nights were really, really … I was not sleeping. I was really thinking the worst. And I presume most people do. But because I’d had a problem in that breast several years ago, I thought then that could mean that I had a problem.

 

It was in the same breast?

 

It was in the same breast, exactly where I’d the cyst before.

 

Yeah. So did you tell anyone, did you speak to your husband or to any of your friends, or did you just think I’ll wait until I’ve actually …?

 

I told people casually when I got the letter that I’d been called back. And obviously my husband and my mum knew how worried I was, and my mother-in-law. But, to the children, I just said, “Oh I’ve been called back, they just want to double check things.”