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PHOTO: LORRAINE BRAND
Your Health
By Iris Winston
A Cancer Diary
Part 3: Feeling too busy to be sick
Iris Winston was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2007.
Sharing her experiences and thoughts is intended to help others dealing
with similar problems. Part 1 of her diary, from diagnosis to surgery,
and part 2, the operation aftermath and early stages of recovery,
appeared in the two previous issues of Fifty-Five Plus.
October 30, 2007
My six-month-old pup goes to be spayed.I empathize at the thought
of her having to go through a major operation.
October 31, 2007
A setback.After two weeks of moving forward, I wake to find that I
am bright red from waist to underarm and mid-front to mid-back. My
husband advises a trip to the emergency room of the local hospital. I
choose to wait, sure that the inflammation will disappear. It doesn’t. I
head for the hospital in the afternoon. For what it’s worth, mid-afternoon
on Hallowe’en has to be the quietest possible time in emergency
at the Almonte Hospital. I see a nurse, a medical student and a doctor in
less time than I have to wait at the pharmacy for the antibiotics he prescribes.
The inflammation is cellulitis,cause undetermined,but possibly the
result of bathing in a tub with jets.And the warm water felt so comforting.
November 6, 2007
Still on antibiotics but the inflammation has virtually disappeared,
though I still look bruised around the breast and incision areas.
The surgeon’s nurse calls to give me two dates for consultations
with a medical oncologist and a radiation specialist at the cancer centre.
November 23, 2007
My former colleagues — I retired in February — have just heard
about my condition and send me a card full of kind thoughts,good wishes
and wonderful comments, plus a gift certificate. I am very moved.
November 24, 2007
My daughter and son-in-law come for an extended weekend visit.
Fortuitously, they can stay long enough for her to come to the cancer
centre with me and my husband.
September 2008 • 33 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine