To be told the news - 17th July 2019

This morning I went to work as normal. I had a work colleague who had left the company earlier in the year, so it was just me and my boss. It wasn't a topic I wanted to discuss openly with him, mainly because I wanted to remain professional and not let my personal life affect my work. Inside I was shaking, crumbling, aching. I still had no idea what was coming. I arranged to meet hubby at the hospital, where we both walked in with confidence.

We arranged to meet in a side road as the parking at Poole hospital is always bad. When I'm scared I'm very good at just 'getting on with it'. No conversation, whether that is for the good or not, it is how I seem to deal with things. We announced my arrival with reception and waited to be called in.

“Mrs Douglas - please come with me. As I entered the room, I was greeted with a team of 3. All looking perplexed and sorrowful. I knew then, something was wrong"

I sat down and the nurse who I had seen the previous week went straight into her schpeel. "unfortunately Mrs Douglas your tests and biopsies show signs of early cancer. We are very concerned due to how widespread it already is. You will need a procedure for this, here is an appointment with the consultant". End of conversation! Silence. I was trying so hard at this point not to cry. Deep down inside I knew what was coming, but yet again, it's not the job of the nurses to now tell me what I am faced with. My husband became angry and wanted to know answers. They still just said speak with the consultant next week. He will go through everything with you. They then passed me a pamphlet with DCIS all over it. Diagrams, their own scribbles and an appointment time. To meet the wonderful Mr Skene!

So we left Poole hospital, and called my good friend Dr Titley. He works alongside Mr Skene and I needed to get some answers to all the medical terminology that had just been given to me.

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