Another f**ked up Friday…

Not only does cancer disrupt people’s lives but it also forever taints possibly the best day of the week. Friday.

Friday is normally results day. The staff at the breast clinic discuss everyone in the morning before calling in their patients to either put them out of their misery or punch them in the stomach. (Not literally obviously). Even as a shift worker I used to love Fridays. Now I can’t help but think of all those people that are having their lives ripped apart when they should be getting ready to enjoy their weekend.

We knew we were coming in this Friday to find out for certain exactly what type of cancer we were dealing with and to find out the results from the MRI scan as to whether it had spread into the other breast . It’s only once your actually dealing with it that you realise how complicated cancer is. By this point we had already read our information ring binder from cover to cover and knew about the different types of breast cancer. One that responds to hormones, one that doesn’t, is it in the milk ducts or lobules… it’s fascinating how complicated and difficult breast cancer really is.

I’d say we were a little anxious about this meeting but in true Perry style we remained probably more upbeat than we should have been. Our go to, waiting room book of weird and wonderful facts was missing though. In hindsight that should have been an omen.

The woman in front was busy telling the woman next to her all about when she was due to start her chemotherapy and I remember saying to the Mrs “at least you won’t have to have chemo”.. ” No she said, I don’t think I could cope losing my hair”.

So, once again we were led into the room. Slightly non chalant, I’ll admit. Pleasantries over..

“So, the good news, it hasn’t spread into the other breast and it’s just the one tumour we are dealing with”. Awesome. We can deal with that.

“The biopsy has come back showing triple negative breast cancer grade 2 meaning it’s moderately aggressive”. Aggressive? That’s not the kind of vocabulary you want a consultant to use!

“So the plan is to remove the lump. Then you will need chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy”.

The second most scariest word after cancer, in my experience, is chemotherapy. Congratulations Doc, despite your well practiced shit sandwich you’ve still managed to take us by surprise.

Over the course of our journey we have come to realise that nothing about cancer is straight forward, plans change (constantly!) And nothing is ever completely off the table.

Not for the first time, we left the clinic in a bit of a blur and headed straight for the pub. All this cancer shit was starting to get more and more real.

Sometimes there is only one way to deal with another f**ked up Friday… “I’ll have 2 grey goose and diet cokes please and go easy on the coke”. Cheers.