Alison's Breast Cancer Diary
Feelings after diagnosis, surgery, and chemo-therapy

6 December - Biopsy Day
I had the biopsy.  A huge great big thing, like an extractor you use to take olives out of a jar, was put on top of the 'lesion' identified by ultrasound and then there was a loud bang.  Sounded a bit like an ear piercing.  Something shot into the lesion and pulled tissue out.  That was fun!. Must have been because they did it again.  It didn't hurt too much thanks to the local anaesthetic.  After that I had a chest X-ray and joy oh joy the cancer had not spread to the chest wall or my lungs.  I don't smoke.  I stopped smoking in 1989.

My biopsy was sent to the medical laboratories.

I drank a lot of wine over the rest of the week.  It didn't matter did it?  I suppose if I was a smoker I would have kept smoking.  Too late to change - the damage is done.  Any friend or acquaintance of mine who hasn't quit smoking after reading this ought to. right now.  I 'm Mrs innocent really -yes, a little over weight, I have a love of drinking wine and fine dining.  But I do have an awareness on health, go to the gym and walk regularly and have a fairly balanced life style unlike so many others who smoke, drink, party, eat the wrong foods, and don't exercise. 

At no time have I thought "why me" but when I walk down the street and look at very fat people, whose physiques clearly indicate they never do any exercise, standing on the pavement smoking and drinking coffee I want to scream at them "why are you so stupid?  You are doing everything you can to kill yourselves" 

I don't believe in "why me" questions or "it's not fair statements" but logically fat, lazy, fag smoking, heavy drinking slobs should surely succumb to cancer ahead of my reasonably good lifestyle.  Life doesn't work that way.  I know many far healthier people than me who are slim, very active, run marathons, have great families, and job satisfaction, and they get cancer.   Life is not fair and that's that.

Useful websites
www.cancerhelp.org.uk 

Alison Renfrew - Profile          Alison Renfrew - Financial Planner of the Year    Alison coping with cancer