Susan's book is an honest account of surviving breast cancer treatment
Sian Moloughney
One woman's courageous battle with breast cancer, what she experienced and how she got through her diagnosis and treatment have been detailed in a new book.
Susan Connell-Ford has written the book she says she wishes had been there for her to read when she found out that she was suffering from cancer, in 2007.
In her book, 'The M Word,' Susan says she has been very open and honest about everything she experienced, even to the extent of shocking some of her friends. But, she explained, when she was going through the experience she had questions and could not find answers, and other women going through the same diagnosis and treatment will want to know these things.
And she was right - since the book was published earlier this summer many women have approach Susan and thanked her for putting into words what they were feeling. Not only have other cancer sufferers found her book helpful, but healthcare professionals have said it has given them an insight into how their patients are feeling.
In the book SUsan addresses subjects like hair loss during treatment, and options for breast reconstruction, including nipple tattoos.
Susan and her husband Rob moved to the Nire Valley, from the South of England, in 2003, to be closer to three of her children who had already moved to Ireland. Both are retired and they have a small holding.
When Susan first got sick her only symptom was tiredness. She attended her GP but when tests showed nothing she was recommended to go for a mammogram in May 2007, when she was 55. Breastcheck, the mammogram service for woman, has now been set up and sees women between 50 and 65, however this was not in place at the time.
After an eight month wait Susan went for the mammogram, then went home thinking she would hear nothing until her next mammogram in a few years. But she was phoned the next day and a week later she found herself having more tests.
At first, when she was called back, she did fear cancer, but by the time she saw a consultant, that June, her fears had been put to rest. His diagnosis that she was suffering from breast cancer came as a huge shock. She had had no lumps or other symptoms other than the tiredness, there had been no breast cancer in her family.
But it wasn't the 'c' word that scared Susan, it was the 'm' word - mastectomy. Which is why that is the title of her book.
The form of breast cancer Susan was suffering from affects about 9% of all cases. It is located in the lobule of the breast and doesn't present with a lump. It normally affects women between the ages of 44 and 55.She also learned that there was a high chance of it reoccurring in her other breast.
After testing and discussions with her surgeon, Susan made the difficult decision to have a double mastectomy, even though there was still no sign of cancer in her other breast on the ultrasound and MRI scanning.
After her surgery, Susan was told that the laboratory had found cancer in her second breast. Her surgeon told her that her decision had been the right one. To Susan it was essential. A matter of life and death, as she says herself.
Because the cancer had started to spread to her lymph nodes Susan was then set on a course of chemotherapy, which she undertook for six months at South Tipperary General Hospital. This was followed by a course of radiotherapy at the Whitford Clinic in Waterford. This intensive treatment finished in March 2008.
It's been over a year since then but Susan says it takes a long time to recover, especially with tiredness the illness causes.
The surgery was the easiest part of the process, she says. The chemo was terrible because it made her so ill and tired but she says she felt very fortunate to have her husband Rob there to help her.
Her experience has given her a new outlook on life, Susan told The Nationalist. She was so close to death at the time, but is now looking forward.
Susan never set out to write a book. She began writing down her experiences when she got home form her first hospital visit as a way of keeping track of what was going on. She knows now that what she was doing was a kind of writing therapy, but at the time she didn't, just that it helped to write everything down.
One day she mentioned what she was doing to a nurse, who asked her why not publish it for other women. From then she wrote things down with that in mind.
During her treatment Susan was also researching ways she could help the medical treatment she was receiving, through diet and skincare, and from that she and her daughter Esther began making their own skincare products. Esther now has a small business called the Naked Soap Company. Susan has also included some of the recipes in her book.
It took her about a year to turn her writing into book form, and after some good feedback from a publisher, Susan had the confidence to publish the book herself.
She has had a lot of feedback, and thanks from women in the same position as herself. One woman said it helped her be more positive about the future.
Susan and Rob are now working on their home in the Nire Valley and she in enjoying time with her children, Esther, Leslie and Anna who also live in Ireland, Yvette who lives in Bournemouth, and her six grandchildren.
'The M Word' is available in Easons in Clonmel, Doocey's Garage in Ballymacarbry, and also at the Cancer Support Centre, on Wellington Street in Clonmel.
October is breast cancer awareness month and Susan says her advice to all women is not to put off their breast check appointment - everything else can wait.
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