While I’d been on holiday they’d obviously recalled me for a check and again I just assumed that was a mistake. So they offered me another appointment and in fact I rang them up and got a sooner one because I thought well maybe it’s better to know sooner rather than later. But that was still, I still didn’t really believe it was anything more than a problem with the x-ray or whatever.

I thought well this is just a mistake, there is, there has been some glitch with the process. Again it wasn’t going to be breast cancer. In fact I was joking with them because I have very small breasts and I just kept saying “Well they couldn’t find anything on the mammogram, that’s what it was, there wasn’t a breast there, I’m too small.”

Then, I had a recall and I had to go in and I thought, oh no, what? Oh well, some years ago I had a little cyst removed and it’s probably that or maybe somethings wrong with the machine. But really, I was quite frightened by now because I’d never been, I had had a mammogram done before and I’d never been recalled before so I was really quite frightened;

Well someone going for an ultrascan, it’s really a very simple exercise. And anyone who has had a baby in the last twenty years they would have had experience of an ultrasound. But it’s a simple operation of spreading some jelly on your breast or whatever area and sliding something over it. A picture then appears on the screen which whoever’s doing it can obviously read and see what it is but it’s a very simple experience.

Can you tell me what the core biopsy involves? What was the whole procedure;

You’re, again, you are put in a clamp like a mammogram and then they, first they looked under x-ray to see where the calcium dots were and then they punched, and it’s more than a needle, it’s thicker, but they punch down on the breast and then this, out it comes and within that tube, it takes a little sort of tube full of tissue and that’s what they then analyse.

Was this on local anaesthetic, or…?

Yes, yes. You had an injection just to anaesthetise the area. That, I mean some people have found it incredibly painful, I didn’t really find that too bad at all. A tiny little scar from it and that’s all.

I was brought into a Care Nurse. She explained to me that I was getting X-rayed and then I might be getting an ultrasound, I might be getting a needle biopsy and I might be getting a core biopsy. It all depended on what they found;

They got me in for my needle and my core biopsy, which was the first time I’d ever had it. The needle wasn’t too sore but the core biopsy was like a kind of a pellet gun that they put over my breast and that was quite sore. And I remember crying and one of the Nurses bringing me, the only thing she had was paper towels which was such a shame I thought. And I remember being terribly aware of myself staring at a picture of some kind of a medical thing or something on the wall and I remember going, when I was upset, going out of the room I thought “Why didn’t they have a nice picture of flowers or something to look at whenever were in that situation”, it was so kind of distressing.

So they did two needle biopsies and they were inconclusive. But when they did the second screening it was still showing up, this suspicious tissue was still showing up and they then did a core biopsy which wasn’t pleasant. It was quite sore but it had to be done because the two needle tests were inconclusive. So they decided to send the core biopsy off to the hospital but in the meantime they were, from all their speak and all their body language, I was quite sure that they knew there was something not right;

So then they did a core biopsy.

What does that involve?

It involves actually, I didn’t know until afterwards because I probably, I was very naïve to it all because it was all so unknown to me and I hadn’t a clue what this core biopsy was. And basically they put a needle in and take out part of the tissue surrounding the breast where they think there is a problem. And they take that out and send it to the hospital to be analysed and that was quite painful. And I remember coming home and my breast and surrounding area was black and blue. And no, I suppose it’s not fully explained to you what exactly a core biopsy is and how it can affect you and what you’ll be like afterwards, nobody actually told you, I mean, it was all very matter of course that it was done, you know. Because this was all happening you’re not in the position to ask questions, you know you just feel that they know what they’re doing and let them get on with it;

I went for my normal mammogram, it was my second one, and I got a letter on the Saturday morning saying that I had to return on the Tuesday. Now part of me thought this is it, and I was quite accepting of it. My youngest daughter kept saying, “You’re always a pessimist. This’ll just be they took the film wrong.” My son was more in tune with me and he was very concerned;

Went and had the mammogram, and she showed me it and she says, “You know, just there was something not clear there.” I could see something on the mammogram.

My son kept phoning me on my mobile, “What’s happening? What have they said?” So then they took me in and they did a biopsy, which I found really painful [laughs] and they did a scan at the same time, as they scanned, they did the biopsy. And then they called in another doctor, pathologist in, and they asked him to do another two. And the radiologist I presume it was that did the scan, said it’s very dry isn’t it? And I thought, why don’t they just tell me what’s going on as they’re doing this. They were saying things like, “I know this is probably a bit painful.” And I would say, “No, it is really painful.” and you had to keep waiting in between, and the waiting is, I know it was quick in comparison to somebody waiting for an appointment for two weeks or something, but that afternoon to me was like ten hours;

So I came out and they told me I’d have to wait for perhaps another hour, and I went into the waiting room. My son phoned again, and I told him yes there was something but they didn’t know whether it was malignant or not;

And then he said that he wanted to put a needle in, to use his words. I had to know a bit more so I asked him if he was going to do a fine needle aspirate. He said no, that that wasn’t policy in that particular hospital but that he would be taking a sample for histology so hed be taking a core sample. And he would go and try and make the arrangements with the radiologist;

But he came back to say it was too late that day to do it. I was a little bit annoyed at that time because I thought that they ought to do the whole assessment in one. So he said, “come back next week,” for the biopsy, which I wasn’t too happy about but despite sort of making my opinions known I had to go back the next week. And I had the core biopsy. I really got annoyed at that time because they told me to go back the week after for the results and I knew, I’d already spoken, I knew the histo-pathologist was a friend, a colleague; I’d already spoken to him and hed said that he would report it, if it went down that afternoon, he would process it overnight and report it the next morning;

So I made my feelings known and managed to get the results the next day, which really was only because I was in the know. Most women wouldn’t have had that opportunity;

If you could make any changes to how things were done, ideally, what kinds of things would you suggest?

Oh, I’d do everything in a one- stop visit, for the assessment clinic definitely. I mean I know it’s difficult because histology takes time to process whereas fine needle aspiration, you can get the answer almost straightaway. But I would have made that such that everything was done on one day and the results were available the next day. I don’t think it’s acceptable to keep women waiting for results;