Here we go again

Here we go again. We were just beginning to settle down to something like normality. It is our wedding anniversary tomorrow, our 44^th. We were planning having a day out if it was nice. Now our plans have changed.

For the last fortnight I have had a certain amount of discomfort in my left upper arm/neck, particularly when I was lying on it in bed. I’d assumed I’d pulled a muscle stupidly somehow. However, Sunday night it was definite pain, sufficient to wake me up & keep me awake. In the morning I thought I’d better have an investigate.

In the hollow just below the round of the shoulder socket, there is a huge lump, about the size of a tennis ball, quite different from my right side. Later that day I asked the Fox to have a look & he agreed. We decided it was time to go to see a doc.

So on Tuesday, now the Bank Holiday was over, I rang the surgery. After a half hour of holding onto the phone, I finally got through. They gave me an appointment that morning. (I think it was the mention that that was the side I’d only just finished treatment for breast cancer that did it.)

So by 9.15am, we were at the surgery seeing a recently qualified doctor. She listened carefully, took note of the cancer treatment I’d had, examined the lump. She was mystified. She decided her best bet was to get a second opinion. A second doctor arrived. She was equally mystified.

There is no organ in that part of the body, just some bones. It wouldn’t seem to have anything to do with the breast. Even the lymph glands would be more in the armpits. There is no sign of any lumps on my actual breast. Between them, both doctors concluded I’d best have a full range of tests – an X-ray, ultrasound & another visit to the Breast Clinic – to see if they could find out the cause.

I was sent straight off to the X-ray department at the Queen Victoria hospital here in Morecambe for an X-ray, no appointment needed. So that is where we went next. We’d barely got back & had something to eat when the phone went – the Breast Clinic at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary with an appointment date for next Monday.

I’m still waiting to hear about the ultrasound. The doctors seem to think that is probably going to be the most helpful test as ultrasound essentially scans soft tissue as is the lump, even though the lump is quite hard, rather than softly giving.

Meanwhile the lump is getting ever sorer. Yesterday I couldn’t cope with my bra strap going across the lump & spent the day slipping it off my shoulder & taking painkillers day & night.

With all of this disruption, we’ve decided we would prefer a quiet day doing normal Friday activities, though we will go out somewhere special for dinner. That will be enough celebration while we have so many extra demands on our time & energy, especially when the car safety belt goes across that part of my shoulder, making even travelling uncomfortable. I’m contemplating either doing the driving so the belt goes across the other shoulder or going in the back seat.