My Wonderful Day

June McKeen

My wonderful date is 22/12/07 I have a tale to tell before I get there. I am married to Bob. I have two sons: Christopher, 31 and Kevin 29.

On the night of 1/06/02 after a long day, I was laying on the couch with a glass of wine. I had some crisps early on and there were some crumbs down my bra. As I was taking them out I found a lump. The next day I went to the doctor and he referred me to the hospital.

2/7/02 My hospital appointment When you are sitting in the waiting room everyone is there for the same thing everyone has sad eyes. I went for a mammogram then for a scan then back to the doctor. After the doctor examined me, he took a biopsy, it made my toes curl, then he sent it to the lab. It was confirmed I had cancer.

I had lots of appointments before my surgery. To me this was funny, you lie on the bed behind the curtain, the doctor examines your breast, covers it with gel for a scan then helps you take the gel off when he is finished. When you get dressed the curtain is closed so he does not see you getting dressed.

07/08/02 My surgery date It will change my life for ever. I had a Modified Radical Mastectomy with reconstruction. I was one of the lucky ones since I did not need treatment as it was hormonal. It has left me with lymphoedema in my arm but that is a small price to pay.

10/01/03 A stressful date Chris, my oldest son, was in the army and he was in Iraq. All the time he was there I did not watch the news or read the papers. In fact one time it was on the news I went out to paint a wall in the garden as I did not want to see my son there.

11/04/03 A horrible date When Kevin was born one of his kidneys did not develop. He was healthy apart from this. On this date we got a phone call from Jenny, Kevin's partner to say that Kevin was in hospital. Both of his kidneys had failed.

He lives in Edinburgh. When we got there he was very ill. If Jenny had not taken him to the doctor he would not be here today.

Chris was flown out of Iraq in case a transplant from him was required. Picking him up from the airport was weird. I had one son lying in hospital and the other son coming back from war. Kevin pulled through but had dialysis three times a week.

20/05/03 Bob's mum died She was doing some gardening, came in, sat down with a cup of tea, and died of an Aneurysm. It is the way she would have wanted it. For my birthday Bob had taken me away for the weekend. Chris was home on leave that weekend and phoned to tell us.

10/05/04 My shock date While I was at work Bob's work phoned to say that Bob had suffered a heart attack. It was a warning telling him to take care of himself. He had a lot of worry and like all men had kept it to himself. His mother had died a year ago it was also coming up to my 50th birthday. After Bob came out of hospital his 5 brothers decided to take their mother's ashes to Scarborough where she was born.

So on my 50th birthday, along with Bob's brothers, we were scattering Bob's mothers ashes on Scarborough hilltop. What a way to celebrate a birthday but we did go out for a lovely meal afterwards.

26/08/06 A special date Christopher married Michelle, his girlfriend. The registrar who married them was a friend of Michelle's; it was a very beautiful ceremony. Everyone had a lovely day.

10/11/06 Good news date When I was upstairs having a massage for my lymphoedema, the phone rang. Bob answered it. It was Kevin and it sounded important. Bob came upstairs saying that Kevin just had a call to say that there was a kidney available. When I stopping crying I took the phone. Kevin said that they still had some tests to do and they would call him back between 3 & 4 o'clock in the morning and to get himself ready. We got the call at 3 o'clock in the morning to say that it was going ahead. We were not sleeping anyway. As we were driving to Edinburgh it brought home to me that someone died so Kevin could live. If I ever meet the relatives who gave permission, I would give them a hug and thank them. The transplant was a success and Kevin is doing great.

12/01/07 The final date I was made redundant after 19 years in the same factory as a sewing machinist. In a way it was a relief.

21/12/07 My fantastic wonderful date In the world of breast cancer after 5 years you have a good chance of a complete recovery and this is the date of my 5 year check up. Bob and I were sitting in the waiting room along with everyone who was getting a check up. My mobile rings, it's Chris to say that we are now grandparents, Aimee is born. I told Bob and then everyone in the waiting room was smiling. Then it was my turn for the doctor. He gave me a look as I was crying but when I told him why he was very pleased for me. Then I got more good news every thing was clear. This was my memorable day.