I never thought it would be me.
And, statistically, it shouldn\'t.
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, I was 40 years old and healthier than ever, and my family did not have a history of the disease.
Also, I am a breast surgery consultant, the woman sitting at the doctor\'s desk, who posted bad news and prescribed surgery and chemotherapy, not the patient crying and angry on the other side.
But I was there.
I already have everything in life, my recent marriage to my husband Dermot, now 54, is a surgeon and maybe a parent.
When I am not in the NHS Trust at Ipswich Hospital for surgery for breast cancer patients, I like to walk my dog, ride a bike, bake sour dough bread and bird sounds in Suffolk garden.
I used to have a cyst in my breast, so I wasn\'t particularly anxious when I noticed a new lump in my left breast.
I checked it out because my mother was a nurse.
Normal breast X-ray.
No ultrasound scan.
When we saw the same big black lump: cancer, the radiologist looked at the screen with me.
A subsequent biopsy will find that it is a large and aggressive hybrid catheter and small leaf cancer. Usually I drip-
When I think they can cope, provide the patient with the details that I think they need.
However, I soon learned all the things that were before me: mastectomy, chemotherapy, impending destruction to my body, my marriage, my family and my profession.
Finally, I understand what cancer feels like, not just an expert on cancer.
Right there, in that hospital room, to protect myself and my loved ones, I turned on a switch in my mind and turned off my feeling.
But then my emotions kept coming up and I understood them in words.
I started blogging about my experience and joined a club that no one wanted to join: Cancer patients who speak the truth about the disease honestly, warmly and tactfully.
Another member is the extraordinary Rachael Bland.
Host of BBC News
Hosted the groundbreaking podcast \"You, me and Big C\" that passed away last week.
Read more: The BBC host died two days after saying goodbye to his friends. Since Rachael was diagnosed in 2016, I have known her-I have been writing a blog about my cancer for a year and she contacted me via Twitter for advice on treatment options and clinical trials.
Her legacy is huge.
Rachel and her two colleagues.
The presenter has made it normal to talk about cancer-especially for young women who still want to have fun, look good, and live the most fulfilling life.
It was for this purpose that I wrote a book with Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, a general practitioner who was diagnosed with me at the same time, for women like us and men with breast cancer-because they also have breast cancer.
Our mission is to tell women everything we want to know at the beginning: now that I know what it feels like to be in their shoes, I do tell many of my patients.
When I recover from surgery to remove the ovary, it will be published at the end of this month.
Maybe I think routine examination of scar tissue shows that my cancer is back where my breast is.
I need to take a specific hormone after surgery to remove it and more radiotherapy
Blocking medication.
In order for the drugs to work properly, I need to stop the female sex hormone estrogen produced by my own ovary, which is why I am taking them out.
I was shocked and scared, but it was still healing and hopefully healing.
At least this time, I know more than I did in 2015.
With all this in mind, I think ten things should be known to all breast cancer patients . . . . . . My husband and I were still deciding whether to have children when I was diagnosed.
But for young women, chemotherapy can lead to early menopause and infertility.
When it hit me, I broke down and sad for the children we would never have.
Another time, I drove from my clinic as a consultant to my own appointment and was so anxious that I almost vomited in the car.
You don\'t need to put on a brave face. in the face of these negative emotions, it is best to deal with them openly.
Feel frustrated, angry, scared, or self
Mercy will not reduce your chances of recovery.
But if these feelings become overwhelming, you can ask for help from your GP or team of experts.
The same is true of physical pain;
Request all relief you need.
Nowadays, most breast cancer patients do not have a mastectomy, including surgery to remove the entire breast.
The surgeon can perform a breast tumor resection, remove the fifth part of the breast, and plastic it for good cosmetic results.
They perfected the art of hiding scars around the nipples and borrowed fat tissue from your side to fill the gaps left by cancer.
It can also reduce very large breasts.
Women do have a choice.
You can still look good naked, in a bra or in a dress.
If you do need a mastectomy because my cancer is huge and I have small breasts, you can rebuild with an implant or your own tissue.
I decided to rebuild it.
I don\'t want to change the way I dress.
I didn\'t have enough skin and fat to take away from other places because I was slim, so I made an implant.
These are the surgeries I do on my own on a regular basis, and on one occasion, I would appreciate my craft and tell the women that they have recovered.
But I now know that there\'s more to it than their appearance.
The skin of the breast is numb and the implant is cold.
Most women are happy with what they look like, but if you\'re not good and it doesn\'t matter, doctors need to be open to it.
I had to take out the implant when my cancer recurred.
I am flat on one side now, scarred-a \"university\"boober\'.
Nothing can prepare you for the look without breasts.
I will still accept it.
Only a third person in breast cancer needs chemotherapy.
If you are young, or your cancer is large or has spread to the lymph nodes, it is usually given to you.
Most women only need surgery to remove cancer, followed by radiation therapy.
If their cancer is sensitive to estrogen, they will be given resistance
And estrogen tablets.
We know that for these women, without chemotherapy, there is no greater chance of their recurrence than chemotherapy, so there is no need to give chemotherapy.
The cycle of chemotherapy for breast cancer is one to three weeks, and it will take a total of five months.
You were in the hospital for only a few hours.
Because of my age and the size of my cancer, I received chemotherapy.
It is manageable and has coping strategies.
If you lose your hair, shave at a Turkish barber shop, or consult the cool way to wear a headscarf on YouTube.
I hate baldness at first, but don\'t want to wear a wig.
On the contrary, I bought some new glasses that are very fierce and I hope people can see them.
You need to drink a lot, but the water is hard to drink, so use the pumpkin.
Put some Vaseline in your nose and it will break and dry.
If you suffer from insomnia-side effects of steroids-the online forum is great because there is always someone waking up at three o\'clock A. M.
I also found something that your doctor didn\'t tell you, like your pubic hair falling off first-so you can get Brazilian wax for free on the NHS!
I once told all my patients not to Google breast cancer.
I naively thought I could give them all the information they needed.
But when I got the biopsy results, it was the first thing I did, and I was an expert.
You will find something terrible and inaccurate online.
But we live in a digital age, so we can\'t ignore it.
Look for secure, friendly websites and apps approved by major cancer charities or NHS affiliates.
Two apps really helped me.
One is Macmillan my organizer app, which is perfect for managing your life during chemo, keeping up with medications, appointments and tracking side effects.
The Breast Cancer Care prep app is also great and offers mini blog posts for other people who have experienced breast cancer care.
Many women respond to cancer diagnoses by thinking that husbands should divorce them for the sake of healthy people. I did.
It\'s a wrong guilt to let them go through the ordeal with you.
You may have to face the changed body image and treatment
But don\'t let cancer take your physical connection away.
Chemotherapy, ovarian inhibition, and hormone therapy may lead to immediate menopause or deterioration of existing menopause symptoms such as a decrease in estrogen levels.
Estrogen is a natural lubricant. everything will dry without it, but you don\'t have to dry your sex life.
There are products that can help: lubricants like \"yes\" and small diggers and toys.
I suggest that the woman fill a small bag above and put it by the bed.
Partners may also need help and it is important to talk about things.
Don\'t be like a woman I know, she asked if it was safe to have sex during chemo because she was afraid she would poison her husband.
As a doctor, I don\'t know what a huge industry out there is robbing vulnerable people.
I saw it as a patient, but to be honest, if science proves that ginger powder and alkaline diet can cure you, you will get them on the NHS. For free.
However, there is evidence that exercise can help relieve fatigue and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, so try to take a walk every day or do some gentle yoga and do more in the good days if you can.
It will give you confidence in your body again.
I will return to triathlon training as soon as possible.
Many people don\'t realize that even after 20 years, their cancer can recur and it can\'t be cured when it does.
I\'m not in that situation.
My cancer is a local recurrence of my primary cancer;
It did not spread to other places.
When breast cancer reappears in your brain, lungs, liver, or brain, you may not be told about its symptoms.
So get any new symptoms like cough, bone pain, headache or vomiting that last for more than a month and are checked out by your doctor. . . .
But be prepared for the worst.
Today, most women diagnosed with breast cancer will live long and healthy and die from other diseases.
But we cannot forget that 30 British women die from the disease every day.
When the treatment fails, you need to know if you want to die at home or in hospice care, plan your funeral and get your things in order.
One of the hardest things to do for me is to write a will and discuss my funeral arrangements with my husband.
We ended up facing it and it took my local relapse time, but you feel calm when you face it.
My chance to live in ten years is 60 per cent.
In my case, I may have survived six out of ten, or four out of ten died, but these figures are only estimated based on a trial of at least ten years.
New treatments have been being developed.
You can\'t live every day as the last.
This is an idea borrowed from Dr. Kate Grainger, an elderly expert who died of cancer in 2016.
Whenever something good happens, write it on the card and put it in the jar.
Happy Bank.
Go to jar and read some entries when you have a bad day.
Take out the things in the deposit.
I promise to succeed.
Complete Guide to breast cancer: how to feel empowered and controlled by Professor Trisha Greenhalgh and Dr. Liz O\'Riordan is published by Vermilion.
Pre-can be provided-
Order now at Amazon. co. uk, £14. 99.