By Keshwant Kaur ~ My Journey With Breast Cancer ~ Part 1
Before I begin my story, I'm writing this to share my experience in support of Breast Cancer Awareness, and encourage more people to support the cause.
I was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and moved to Auckland, New Zealand in 2002, and I have been living here since then. Life was great. I regularly went to the gym, shopping, temple, did pretty much whatever I wanted to do in my spare time and made a network of many amazing friends.
In 2014, things changed.
Over the years, I've come across many campaigns about breast cancer awareness. Whenever I used to see an article on breast cancer, I would flip the page thinking, "Oh, it will never happen to me!" not giving it much attention. Mammograms in NZ are recommended for women aged 45 and over and I had never been one.
Was this due to my ignorance?
What concerns me is that most women under 45 are just like me and don't give the topic much thought. This is something that I hope will change as awareness grows. I feel compelled to play a small part in this.
Discovery.
The first time I felt something was wrong was in late January 2014. I felt a slight dull pain in my breast, which mildly concerned me. Not wanting to think it was anything out of the ordinary, I asked a few friends if they thought it was something I should consider more seriously. They, like me, never thought it would be anything serious and assured me it was quite normal to have mild breast pains.
Over the weeks, the pain throbbed more and more, up to a point when it became difficult for me to get dressed. Due to my generally healthy lifestyle, I rarely made visits to the doctor.
I was scared.
With the escalating pain, I made an appointment to see a local doctor and she checked me over. Even though she did feel a lump, she assured me that I was fine.
She said that it was normal to feel lumps or cysts and added that breast cancer is typically a silent disease - not triggered by pain. So, having being reassured by a medical practitioner, I took her word as gospel and left it at that.
Three weeks later, the pain worsened.
It was excruciating. I couldn't sleep at night as I wasn't able to put any weight on my left side and the pain was now constant. I went back to the same doctor who assured me again that it wasn't something I should be worried about. Although, just to be sure, she sent a request to the hospital for me to have a mammogram.
About a week later, the correspondence from the hospital arrived, and the appointment I was given was for six weeks down the track. During this time, the pain grew more intense. Realizing this wasn't normal and the potential seriousness of the condition, a friend encouraged me to go and get it checked again rather than to wait for the appointment. This time, I decided to go to a private breast clinic for an immediate check-up.
At the clinic, I had a mammogram and a biopsy and even though there was a visible lump, the breast surgeon said to me it was nothing to fear as it was not breast cancer. When I explained to him about the pain I had been suffering, he said the lump was hitting my nerve and suggested I should get it removed to which I agreed.
(...To be continued)