Five years ago I was very excited, we had just moved to a new apartment when I found a lump under my arm. I put it down to the waxing I had done some days before. After all I had a mammogram about a year before and everything seemed ok.
As my mum had died of breast cancer I was having a mammogram every 18 months. After a couple of months I made an appointment for my routine mammogram. While waiting for the results I was texting my friends and organizing a house warming party at my new apartment. Little did I know that my world was going to get much more complicated. The radiologist performed an ultrasound as well and told me that I should be contacting a surgeon because something did not look right. I was 46 years old then, the same age my mother had been when she was diagnosed. My husband was more shocked with the whole situation than me. We had only been married for 2 years then and his first wife had died suddenly about 10 years earlier.
I had stage 2 breast cancer. After having surgery I was referred to an oncologist. He told me that I had to go through 8 cycles of chemotherapy and after that 3 weeks of radiotherapy. I think knowing what I needed to do helped me. This was in October therefore I calculated that by summer I should be feeling better.
I am really not that courageous but I believe that the prayers all my loved ones were offering for me helped me through. I thank God for helping me through those difficult days. I took it day by day and when I was not feeling too bad I went to work. I even managed to squeeze in a holiday abroad during this time. It is almost 5 years now from my diagnosis, sometimes I think that it will re-emerge but until then I appreciate life much more and also show my loved ones how much I love them. Support from my Family was Awesome !
Manikata, Malta