Sandra’s Journey
The Breast Cancer Awareness Photo Sessions
Intro
I first met Sandra a few years ago, as she and her partner have been my husband’s friends for some time.
My first impression of Sandra was of someone with an enormous sense of fun, and an absolute zest for life!
She proved that my first impression was absolutely right, every time I saw her. She is definitely the type of human being you remember, with great joy.
So it was with a huge feeling of sadness, powerlessness, and anger that I learned about her breast cancer diagnosis.
And it was with an equally huge feeling of joy that I later learned that she was in remission!
Sandra was the catalyst, and inspiration, behind me wanting to do these photo sessions in honour of women who have beaten breast cancer and I am ever grateful to her for being on board with it…
Sandra’s Journey, In Her Own Words
First and foremost, I feel the start of my story should be that I never had a lump.
I never missed a mammogram, I regularly checked my breasts ( they are tiny so no difficulty there! It’s not like I could miss it) but I never found a lump.
I did, however, feel that something was amiss.
Sometimes I would feel tiny electric shocks in my breast which were sharp enough to stop me in my tracks. Then I developed a small patch of eczema which, despite my applying numerous, varied creams, stubbornly refused to heal. My doctor took one look and declared “Eczema!” and gave me a prescription for a medicated cream which, when applied, felt like someone was blowtorching my nipple and had me sprinting to the bathroom to wash the darn stuff off.
THIS is not eczema, I thought.
Thankfully, during my doctor’s appointment I had requested a referral to the Breast Specialist Nurse at the local hospital. He hadn’t felt this was necessary but I think my refusal to leave swayed his opinion, that or the padlock and chain I removed from my bag and had begun feeding through the arms of the chair. Who knows!
The nurse squished, squeezed and squashed my diminutive bosom then declared “ no lump”, so apparently I shouldn’t worry because ( you’ve guessed it) “it’s eczema”.
Nah, Nah, Nah I replied and demanded a mammogram (because my next scheduled one was not for another 18 months). I mean, who DEMANDS a mammogram! With a look of someone sucking a sour lemon she replied “ You’ll have to go to Reading” as though that were a fate worse than death.
So off I trolled, suffered my mammogram and trotted off home.
45 minutes later I received a call from the Royal Berkshire Hospital asking me to return and have an ultrasound and a biopsy.
Y’see, it wasn’t eczema, and to this day no one ever found a lump. Not my Oncologist, not my surgeon and certainly not me.
Why? Because I had cancer of the milk ducts, Pagets Disease.
Not one single tumour but dozens of teeny, tiny salt grain sized tumours. Think sugar on a doughnut.
So, I guess, my message to everyone reading this, male or female is simple:
We know our own bodies the best. I have known mine since the second I was born (possibly longer). If you feel something isn’t right be persistent, unmoveable or even downright recalcitrant until you have exhausted every avenue and only rest when you are confident you have done all you can.
If I had not been it would have been far worse for me than losing ( a teeny, tiny) boob.
I am sure that Sandra would join me in hoping that none of you will ever need to go through the same journey, but…
If you feel something just isn’t right, be your most vocal advocate, even right now through Covid-19 and look for help!
Here are a couple of useful links:
A Guide To Checking Your Breasts: https://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/checkyourbreasts/
Breast Cancer UK: https://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/
NHS Breast Cancer Information: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/breast-cancer/
If you would like to find out more about my work in Women Portraiture, check out the Women Portrait Session page, via the below link!
