I was blissfully unaware of my own risk. I was over 40 but had never had a mammogram and didn’t conduct regular checks – I was an A cup so didn’t think there was enough there to even worry!
I woke up at 2am one morning and felt compelled to touch a lump in my left breast. It was a size of pea, how bad could it be. A friend insisted I go and get it checked out so I called the doctor. Next appt was in 2 weeks and then another couple of weeks before any ultrasounds would happen. I figured that was ok but she insisted I push things further so I managed to get an appt that Friday. I was at RNSH on my own for a mammogram, which quickly resulted in an ultrasound and a young doctor telling me they were pretty sure it was cancer, but I’d have to wait until next week to confirm (it was a long weekend).
Talk to people, ask for help, accept the help, don’t do it alone – there are no medals at the end of it all for being “strong”.
Personally, I didn’t want to spend my time in support groups going over and over everything and dwelling on the crap. I was fortunate enough to have a couple of friends who would let me talk about how crap it was but not wallow in it.