How I coped with.. breast cancer
I was first diagnosed at 35, just three years after my twin sister Dorothy
I found the lump after being advised my risk was higher than average – and this meant that I caught it early.
I had a partial mastectomy and six weeks of radiotherapy.
My sister fought cancer twice more and we lost her in 2011.
Just a few months later, my breast cancer also came back. I believe the stress and grief triggered it.
I had five months of chemo, a bilateral mastectomy [removing all
breast tissue] and took Herceptin for a year before I got the all-clear.
But while I was relieved to survive, I no longer felt feminine and pretty.
The plastic surgeon who carried out my reconstruction referred me to Finishing Touches, where I had medical tattooing done on the areola area by Kelly Forshaw Smith.
I would say it was uncomfortable but not painful.
The result is so natural and I feel human again now.
Susan Best, 65, Edgware, North London