Surviving breast cancer

Lying in the bath one Saturday night, Joy Ogden discovered a lump in her breast. Diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 59, here she recounts her experience

The night I found a lump in my breast will be forever frozen in my memory. I was having a comforting soak in the bath one Saturday night in March 2002 when I felt two sharp, shooting pains in my right breast. My fingers felt the spot and there I found a small, hard lump. In disbelief I felt my other breast, half expecting to find another lump there. There was nothing. An electric shock of panic shot through my body. It might be hindsight, but I never even thought that it was anything other than cancer. The moment is forever fixed in my mind. I can still see the bubbles in the bath, the taps, the shower gel, the mundane, ordinary details of my bathroom, which would never be quite the same again.



I slept fitfully that night and each time I woke my fingers reached for the lump, willing them not to find it. The next day was endless. My daughter tried to reassure me and quell my fears because, 'you don't get pain with cancer'. But, unlike many women, I had never had lumpy breasts and I instinctively knew it was not a cyst.



On Monday morning I made an emergency appointment to see my GP. He was supportive, and told me that it didn't feel like a 'bad lump', but faxed the local hospital for to get me seen by a consultant within two weeks.



By the following Monday, there was still no news and I felt an emotional wreck. I rang the hospital and a calm-sounding receptionist said: 'I'm sure if the consultant thinks it's urgent you'll get an appointment soon.' Speechless, I started quietly weeping. Half-an-hour later she rang back with an appointment for me the following morning.



My cancer was malignant. Twelve days later my surgeon operated.