It was a hot October’s day in Sydney. I was at home getting ready for an event and, as usual, I was running late.
It was on this day that I found myself in the bathroom, fumbling away at some Hollywood tape, trying to hold my boobs in place that I felt a lump.
Who knew that my fate was in the hands of one slightly revealing dress?
I’ve been known to be quite the hypochondriac at times, so instinctively I spoke about the lump a lot. Turns out, having a lump is quite common, even in my age group. It seemed everyone I had spoken to had something similar and theirs all turned out to be normal. I was getting the reassurance I needed, especially given I was about to start a new job.
Things in my life were busy. I didn’t have time for this.
Mamamia spoke to two young Aussie sisters about finding out they had the BRCA gene mutation, and how it affected their lives. Post continues after video.
A few weeks passed and in that time, one of my manager’s friends had sadly passed away from breast cancer. I took this as a sign and decided to make a call and book myself in for a mammogram. The sign was short lived as the lady on the phone told me I needed to be over 40 to go there. I felt like I was in Mean Girls and she told me “I couldn’t sit with her”. This only put it off a little longer.
Finally, one Tuesday, two weeks into my new job and over a month after I first felt the lump, I went to see a doctor.
I hadn’t been to this doctor before but she felt the lump, insisted I get it looked at straight away and booked me in for an ultrasound the next day. I remember lying on the ultrasound bed and the guy asking me which breast the lump was in and if I could point out the area.
I looked down at my chest, and at this point, you could clearly see the lump popping up under my skin. I think he was surprised how obvious it stood out too. I remember looking at his screen and seeing the large dark mass, it was so ugly. Even with my non-medical eyes, I could tell it didn’t look right.
