Well back in 19′, when I first felt this lump, back in the 1970’s, most of what you read about breast cancer was frightening. You know, people died, you know, film stars, people you read about, they died. And so I don’t think I read that much about it then. But certainly now, I mean, it’s so much easier, well I wouldn’t say easier to treat but the treatment is much more effective now, especially if you catch it early. I don’t think its such a frightening thing as it was, sort of 30 years ago;

I’m sure that the media would feel that they are duty bound to alert people and to raise their awareness of things. But I think sometimes the media, and when I say the media I’m talking about papers and TV, I mean they do have a bit of sensationalism about things. And I think they do hype things up and they do catch on to buzz words and in-words and dangerous words and words that you should be concerned about, and they do emphasise so that you know they, they make you scared or they make you want go and investigate or whatever;

Had you read much about breast screening or breast cancer at that stage;

No, no I hadn’t, I hadn’t;

Was it a subject that ever came up with friends or not really;

It did come up because I work with a girl and she had been diagnosed when she was just 29. It recurred and I think she was maybe in her late forties, early fifties and we all knew that shed gone through breast cancer and was going for regular check-ups. And we all sympathised with her but she was fantastic, she just got on with her life and was very, very good. So we were aware of that, or I was aware of that but it was just one of those things, just, it’ll never happen to me. You know, it’ll never happen to me, it’s somebody elses problem;

I’ve never really looked and you can get, I mean any chemist shop has got leaflets in, any doctos has got leaflets in. I mean I see all the leaflets and I think well if I want them I’d pick them up. I mean my local chemist has all, you know a rack with leaflets for all complaints, breast cancer and everything, yes.

What things had you read beforehand? Was it about screening or was it mainly about breast cancer?

It was mainly about breast cancer because I became completely obsessed with it, even though I had no signs of it.

What kinds of things did you want to know? What were you really wanting to find out?

How quickly it would kill me, if I had it. How quickly it would spread to other parts of the body, how it would effect me. What the treatments might be, where I might go for them. Was I in a prime area for good treatment? Would I be taking long-term drugs, would they make me put on weight. I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed with my weight but I’m very careful not to weigh too much because of my back; so it’s better to be lighter.

Another friend who’s actually a nurse, gave me a very good book and I wish, I can’t remember the name of it but it was very good, and it’s about different experiences of breast cancer. And a lot of these people were celebrities so it was, oh I’m trying to think of the actress, Lisa Goddard, Carly Simon, the singer, plus ordinary people, just ordinary people like myself.

And I thought, oh it was going to be a, what’s the word I’m trying to say? condescending sort of type of a book, you know, and I thought, I don’t want to read this. But I must say when I started to read it, I really got, it was fantastic. It really was very, very positive and very upbeat and everything. Plus they did, they were very honest and said they’d gone through the same things I had gone through, with the chemotherapy, with everyone feeling depressed whatever. So I say, I found that very, very good;

Also I did have a number of friends who had either just been through the same thing, or were just going through it. It was one of these sort of clusters, perhaps. At one time I knew twelve people in my immediate circle, who had either just had or were having a mastectomy or a lumpectomy, or chemotherapy or radiotherapy. And it just seemed to be strange that there were so many of us all at the same time. Obviously there have been others since but not so many all at once, and yes, it was great to be able to ring up someone I knew, who was perhaps a year or two ahead, and say, “Did your arm still ache when you went shopping?” and also talk about prostheses, and you know, “Where did you find the best bras? What sort of prosthesis have you got?;

As I said there was… it was later that perhaps I used the friends more, because – Although just after the operation there was one particular friend that I used to swap tips with. How do you stop your scar pulling? Try massaging with baby oil, these sorts of tips are useful, because you don’t always get those from the health care professionals. They’re things that individuals have found work for them.