O M F G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DCIS - ductal carcinoma in situ is the earliest possible form of breast cancer and is non-invasive.

Although DCIS needs to be treated, it isn’t a life-threatening condition.

Surgery is the most common treatment.

These words have been swimming around my head for the last week....

If you're sitting comfortably I'll explain...

10.40am on Wednesday 14th November 2012 the day I go to my local GP & ask her to check my left breast. I've felt something there for some time (maybe 6/7 months), something which I wouldn't call a lump exactly, more like a bit of muscle. This could be easily explained as the months previous I had been working out at the Lloyd more than usual, focussing particularly on my upper body, as my wedding a couple of months previous & faaaabulous wedding dress, was all about the arms!

Aaaanyway I've been feeling this lump/muscle for a while & ignoring it, wedding comes & goes (arms looked super toned btw), honeymoon, birthdays, family gatherings, builders in my house, LIFE. I guess you can say life gets in the way..........

The lump/muscle is still there, so eventually I decide to make the appointment. Now please don't think I'm completely naive about this, I've had lots of lumps over the years, always got them checked out either by my GP or a breast specialist, especially after my little boy was born, as hormones change your body in lots of ways, & what with breast feeding etc. I was prone to lumps & bumps in my boobs. So this routine check to the doctors didn't phase me at all, even when she said she'd like to refer me to the breast specialist "just to be safe".

8.30am on Friday 16th November 2012 the day I go to my local private hospital & get the breast specialist to check my boobs!!! Straight away he tells me he wants to send me downstairs for a scan & a mammogram "just to be safe". I'm taken into a changing room given a gown & left sat in the waiting area still thinking it's going to be nothing. They call me in I have the scan, then the mammogram, & then sent back outside to wait. I'm with my mum btw and thank goodness for that, because I was going on my own to the appointment until she insisted on coming with & driving. Word of advice NEVER go to this kind of appointment alone! The radiologist comes out & proceeds to tell me that something has shown up on the scan & they would like to do a biopsy. A what??? really?? now?? Oh... Ok... I won't go into too much detail but it doesn't hurt (you're under local anaesthetic), the idea of what they're doing is scary enough & my mum will tell you, to her surprise I was very brave. By this time I'm starting to get a bit worried, I'm not mentally prepared for this, I was only coming in to be checked over, told all was fine & sent home, now i'm sat here in a hospital gown, being told I'm going to have tissue removed from my breast to check something they've found on the scans...

I've zoned out during the biopsy, I do that by trying to concentrate & focus on relaxing my body & mind, & let me tell you that's bloody hard when 1 of your boobs is squashed in between metal slabs & you're being told not to move at all otherwise they will have to do it again! I won't tell you the next bit, google it if you're not of the faint hearted!!! Plaster in place, back in my clothes - sans bra (it's too painful), sore & slightly dazed we wander back up to the surgeons office.

Please sit down... We've found something in your right breast... Ductal carcinoma in situ...

DCIS the earliest possible form of breast cancer and is non-invasive.

Although DCIS needs to be treated, it isn’t a life-threatening condition.

Surgery is the most common treatment.