The CT Scan results and Follow Up

Thursday, 19th June 2025

Belt up - this is a long one!

Today was the follow up appointment day. 

I already knew it wouldn’t be as informative as I was hoping so wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I arrived.

The consultant was running behind so I had to wait around 30 minutes before being seen, but I’d figured this was because I was seeing the main surgeon Miss Deol rather than one of her team. I had been under her previously, when she took over from Dr Agawar (who did my surgery) when he retired.

Miss Deol (Harleen) is wonderful, she remembered me from previous meetings and welcomed me with a massive hug, which was so lovely.

We had a tiny bit of small talk then she got straight to business.

Firstly the Cancer is Oestrogen Receptive (It was Her2 positive last time). I didn’t realise but apparently this is a really good thing. 

Basically it means my tumour is fed by the hormone oestrogen and it is possible for the oestrogen supply to be turned off or blocked. Which is obviously fantastic - starve the bastard!

What this does mean though is that I will be forced into immediate menopause - I’m 45 years old and just at the start of perimenopause. My symptoms haven’t been too dramatic so far, a few night sweats here and there, and some brain fog but generally nothing to shout about. 

The Breast Care nurse (Siobhan) explained that I would have 3 months of feeling really rough but everything would start to level out and I’d feel better by the 4th month. 

I got really excited at the fact that my periods would be stopping and although it sounds like I could be in for a bit of a rollercoaster of intense emotions for 3 months - that’s it - Menopause done!

We recently had a wonderful speaker at the studio who gave a talk about the menopause and what to expect, how to cope etc. So I knew I had a good few years of symptoms to expect, a long drawn out emotional period. 

I’m all for efficiency - 3 months instead of several years - I’ll take it.

(no doubt as I’m going through it I’ll be less happy about it but I’m sure it’ll make for good blogging material!)

Miss Deol then remembered to tell me that my CT scan was clear - there is no other Cancer in my body - woo hoo!!

She apologised for not leading with this.

We discussed my mammogram results and she said she would like me to have an MRI scan of the breast again as the lump still wasn’t showing clearly in the images.

I asked her at this point if it would be possible to have a mastectomy to remove the future risk altogether, and she said - and I quote - “because you were so young when this first happened, and you’ve now got a breast cancer on the other side, you can choose whatever you want and I will do it for you”.

Fantastic!

So she immediately switched tack and no longer required an MRI. We would do a nipple sparing mastectomy with a new (slightly larger) implant to replace the breast tissue that will be removed. 

They’ve stopped doing the LD (latissimus dorsi) flap reconstruction that I had the first time, not that I was expecting that level of surgery again. They now use a special mesh to keep the implant in place.

From what I understand they will basically scoop out all my breast tissue like an avocado out of it's skin and put an implant in its place.

I’m not too sure on the exact procedure or how this works but it all sounds very clever. 

After examining and measuring me up for the new implants (she confirmed they would replace my other aging implant from my previous reconstruction in the same surgery).

This really pleases me, as I can, as I did last time, just look at the whole surgical procedure as getting new boobs.

It will be done as a day surgery case so I will be able to go home the same day with a little drain in my breast for a week, and some antibiotics. 

Once the drain is out, I’ll have weekly visits (for about 4 weeks) to check there is no fluid build up and that the wounds are healing. 

There is a small risk with keeping the nipple in regards to blood supply, but not a big enough risk to have to remove it at this stage. 

It will be 2 - 3 weeks before I’m able to drive which is actually the most frustrating thing about the whole situation as it means I will have to miss many of the things I had planned in August that require me to drive up to Birmingham. 

In the grand scheme of things I do understand that this is a small price to pay, and yes I know I will need to rest, but I can still be gutted about not being able to control everything. 

I forgot to say the surgery will be scheduled for the week beginning 28th July. We get back from our holiday to Mauritius on the 17th and have a wedding I don’t want to miss on the 19th. She also didn’t want to risk doing surgery too close after a long flight due to the DVT risk. 

Because of this sadly Miss Deol won’t be doing the surgery herself as she will be away. It will be either Dr Johns or Dr Cathcut (forgive me for the spelling I’ve not seen his name written down).

I will get to meet whoever will be doing my surgery at my next appointment (date TBC) to discuss exactly what the procedure will involve.

We won’t know if I need any chemo or radiation until after the tumour is removed but I’m hoping that I won’t need to take Tamoxifen if they’re going to be turning off the Oestrogen anyway - I’m still not 100% sure on how they do that either - I did a bit of research and there is an injection of a drug called Zoladex or Lupron that shut down the ovaries, this is administered every 1-3 months. So potentially it will be that - which I’m keeping my fingers crossed for.

We are also waiting on the BRCA gene testing too, so I’ll let you know when I get an update on that.

I am feeling really positive and upbeat following today's appointment, I was actually quite scared of the CT showing up something else, so that was a massive relief.

I’m looking forward to having an exact date for my surgery, then I can properly plan my recovery and the journey back to being well again.

I think that’s everything for today.

Phew, that was a long one!