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WHAT ARE THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF BREAST CANCER?

A lump or swelling in the breast, upper chest or armpit

A change to the skin, such as puckering or dimpling doctor told me they were springing up like weeds.” She was diagnosed with triple positive breast cancer, a type that accounts for about 10 per cent of diagnoses and which is likely to grow and spread faster than other types of breast cancers. But there was good news too: scans showed that her cancer had not yet spread to any other part of the body, meaning it was curable.

She was told she would be given chemotherapy and immunotherapy to try to shrink or eliminate the tumours, followed by a mastectomy and radiotherapy. After surgery, she would need a course of immunotherapy plus hormone treatment to suppress oestrogen and reduce the risk of recurrence.

“For me it was, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do about it. I want to be here, to live, but if I’m not here, I’m not going to know about it. It was harder for James and I could see a big change in him. When we had the all-clear, it was as if a big cloud lifted from him. He almost relaxed back into life again.”

However, Susie suffered terrible side-effects from treatment. “I was keen to get on with chemo because I figured the sooner I started, the sooner it would be over. But it wasn’t fun. I would have the drug, and hours later I could feel a tsunami of horror coming towards me.”

The first time this happened, in early January, she was in the kitchen with her family. She says: “The boys were shaving my hair. It was already falling out, so I thought we’d have some fun, creating silly hairstyles before taking it all off. Suddenly, my body felt heavy. I had the headache from hell. It was like the worst hangover times a million. I felt sick. I was shaking and aching. At 3am I woke up and was sick before I collapsed on the floor of the bathroom. James had to almost carry me back to bed. This went on all night. Every treatment was like this. I’d start to feel better about two days before my next cycle of chemo, then – whack! – it would happen again.”

She makes a scrabbling motion with her fingers. “I constantly felt as if I were in a deep hole trying to get out.”

The next chemo drug – docetaxel – was even worse. Her mouth became ulcerated to the point where it was agony to eat, drink or even speak. She lost feeling in her hands, her nails fell out, and she developed infected hives on her face. “In the end,” she says, “my doctors told me ‘Your body can’t take it’ and I had to be put on a less toxic drug.”

A change in the colour of the breast – the breast may look red or inflamed

A nipple change, for example it has become pulled in (inverted)

Rash or crusting around the nipple

Changes in size or shape of the breast

Unusual liquid (discharge) from either nipple

But there was never any question that James should give up work. “He has a really important job,” she says. “I told him, ‘Go to work. Let me focus on getting through each day.’ I would keep going with my support network of friends and family and when I really needed him, he was there. So, for a couple

On its own, pain in your breasts is not usually a sign of breast cancer. But look out for pain in your breast or armpit of weeks after my mastectomy, he was with me 24/7. And he’s always there emotionally because, wherever he is, he will always pick up the phone to me. And he checks in on me all the time. He has been so strong for me all the way through. He would go off to work and had this big job with all sorts of horrors that’s there all or almost all of the time

Although rare, men can get breast cancer. The most common symptom of breast cancer in men is a lump happening, such as the war in Ukraine, and come home to a broken wife.”

Their difficult situation worked, she says, because of the “unbelievable” support of her friends and family. “I can’t tell them how grateful I am for everything they did for me. My mum would come to do my washing and ironing, in the chest area

See your GP if you notice a change

Most breast changes, including breast lumps, are not cancer. But the and my sister would cook and help around the house. The doorbell would go and I’d find a lasagne on my doorstep. Gifts too. And the cards and flowers didn’t stop. It all lifted me.”

Susie’s surgery was scheduled for June 22. She was having a mastectomy with a reconstruction made from fat and tissue from her stomach, plus surgery to lift and reduce her other breast for symmetry. “I wasn’t worried about it. I was like, ‘Yeah, take it. No problem.’” At first it appeared that the chemotherapy had destroyed all Susie’s cancer, but lab tests revealed another small tumour in her breast. This did not affect her prognosis, but it does mean she is on a recently approved drug – Kadcyla – to reduce the risk of recurrence. She says, “It makes me exhausted and sick and my skin has erupted again. But I’d rather be here with a few spots on my face than dead.”

Susie’s doctor has told her that she has an 88 per cent chance of living for the next five years. But she smiles: “He told me, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be here for 50 years yet.’” And there have, she says, “been a lot of good things about having cancer. My relationships with my friends and family have grown even stronger. My best friend rings me every day. It has brought out such kindness in people. I am particularly close to my sister who was diagnosed with breast cancer in February just a few months after me. We had a gene test because we thought there must be a connection, but it’s just a coincidence. She’s had a lumpectomy and radiotherapy and is doing really well.

“I’ve never been a great worrier,” she says, “but now I embrace everything. You can always be waiting for something better or something different to be around the corner, but anything can happen in the blink of an eye that changes everything. And that made me think, this is my life. Even if I’m cancer-riddled for the rest of it, I’ve got to embrace what I’ve got. I have beautiful children, a loving husband… I should just enjoy it.”

‘Even if I’m cancerriddled for the rest of my life, I’ve got to embrace what I’ve got’

Breast cancer can cause a number of symptoms. See your GP if you notice a change to your breast that’s new or unusual for you. Anyone seeking information can speak to Breast Cancer Now’s nurses by calling the free helpline on 0808 800 6000

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2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://dailytelegraph.pressreader.com/article/281676848792326

Daily Telegraph