What's happened so far

Having discovered a small  lump in her left breast Elly went to her GP back in January (2009).  She was referred to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (RD&E) where she underwent a mammography and ultra-sound examination..  This revealed that the lump was a benign cyst but also identified some calcification.    Subsequently a somewhat painful biopsy of the calcification taken under X-ray revealed that the calcification was pre-cancerous and needed to be removed.

On 25 February 2009 Elly was admitted to the hospital where she had surgery to remove the offending calcification.  Although the surgery was carried out under general anaesthesia, the surgeon was guided by a wire inserted into the breast under X-ray by a radiologist prior to surgery.  This was not a comfortable experience.

During the surgery the surgeon discovered a 1cm tumor, which she removed, as well as a 5cm area of ductal carcinoma in situ.  As a result of this revelation Elly was advised by her consultant to have a left breast mastectomy.  It was explained that prior to surgery she would receive a radio active injection into her left breast and during surgery, an injection of die.  Both these materials would travel to the nearest lymph node (the sentinal node) in her armpit which would be revealed by X-ray.  This lymph node, and others in the vicinity would also be removed and later examined to see if there was any spread of the cancer.  It was also explained to her that following the surgery Elly would undergo radio therapy five days a week for 5 weeks.  In the event that the sentinal node biopsy revealed a spread of the cancer, she would also have to have chemo-therapy.

Elly decided to have a bi-lateral mastectomy.  The main reason being that because the original cancer remained undetected, despite X-rays, biopsies and ultra-sound, what lay lurking in her right breast.  She was also unwilling to spend the rest of her life worrying that another cancer might strike in the remaining breast.  The consultant agreed.