So Far So Good

Elly has come through her operation successfully.  She went down to theatre at 9 o'clock this morning and returned to the ward at about 3.30 this afternoon.  She is sat up in bed watching tv and appears to be in good spirits. All her "obs" are normal, so she seems to be on the right track. She's as high as a kite of course, thanks to the morphine, and thought someone had left their glasses behind on her bedside cabinet, until she realised they were hers which explained why she couldn't see them clearly.  She was quite happy for me to go and get something to eat at 5.30 so she could watch Neighbours.  It was a long day today for me and our kids, but thanks to the company of J*** and D*****, it wasn't so bad as it could have been.  E**** is in Germany working but has been keeping in constant touch.  Thanks again for all your good wishes to both of us, it really does mean an awful lot.

Admitted to hospital

Elly was admitted to hospital at 11am this morning.  She had the nuclear injection and had her lymph nodes mapped.  The consultant has seen her and also scribbled all over her.  Her chest now looks like a map of the London Underground.  She will have the operation tomorrow morning, but we don't know yet whereabouts she is on the "list".  She appears very relaxed about it all but is clearly quite anxious (but won't admit it)!  I thought I had a week off now, but she tells me she expects me to visit, oh well.

For those female members of the family who feel they might now be at extra risk, we discussed that with the consultant this afternoon.  She reassures us (and you) that because the only other known member of the family, to have had breast cancer, is Aunty Gwen, the chance of a genetic problem in the family is remote.  If there was a rogue Gene about there would be more female members of the family with breast cancer (eg: Granny, mother, sister, daughter, etc) somewhere along the line.  She is confidant that all other female members of the family are at the same level of risk as the rest of the female population (ie: about 1:10).

Will update with any other news, but in any event will update tomorrow evening after I've seen Elly.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

It's 12.25pm Tuesday 24 March and Elly tells me that she's not anxious about going in to hospital tomorrow, but that it is very much on her mind.  She just wants the operation over with so that she can start along the road to recovery.

A date for surgery

Elly will be admitted to the RD&E at 11am on Wednesday 25 March 2009.  The operation will take place on Thursday 26 March.

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.