Looking back: one year into my breast cancer journey
I remember this day, one year ago, as if it happened yesterday. At 10 o'clock, I walked into the radiology practice for my second-ever routine mammogram. And at noon I left confused, and in tears, because the radiologist found a suspicious mass in my right breast. Four agonising weeks later, my general health practitioner confirmed that I have breast cancer. Over the past 12 months, I have had six surgeries under general anaesthetic and 18 weeks of chemotherapy. I started an 18-month immune targeted therapy regime with an insanely expensive drug called Herceptin. My breast cancer is HER2 positive, which means that I have extra copies of the gene that makes the HER2 protein. The drug attaches itself to the cells and blocks the growth signal, which can slow or stop the spread of cancer significantly. My cancer also tested positive for hormone receptors which means that the estrogen produced by my body acts as food for cancer. As a result, part of my treatment includes blocking my b...