Mizzie Version 3.3

It’s been a month today since my last radiotherapy session. The skin underneath my left breast got really blistered but is now looking a lot better. Even though the sessions had ended, the radiotherapy was still having an effect and working on my breast even though I was no longer getting zapped.

 
 It’s common for this to happen for people with larger breasts (as if I’ve not suffered enough cos of my breasts!) but it’s great that I no longer have the painful sores. The GranuGel, pads and gauze really worked their magic.

As well as dealing with that, I also had two campaigns come out on the same day that I was involved with; for Breast Cancer Now and Pride in London.

Both had such a great positive reaction from people, which is always a good thing

   
 

My Twitter and Facebook feeds were full of people sending their congrats and praise for being involved in each campaign. I’m still so proud to have been a part of both and, in a really cheesy way, I hope that it makes a positive difference to someone. That’s one of the main reasons why I blog. Dealing with cancer can be so lonely at times (I felt particularly lonely when I came around from having my lumpectomy and didn’t see a familiar face or didn’t have a special someone be there to physically and emotionally hold my hand) so if what I’m going through can help someone else, or can make them feel less lonely, then great.

I’ve blogged earlier how once people hear about what I’ve been going through, they really go all out to do amazing and lovely things for me. I got a message from a lovely friend called Bev that told her friend about me and he managed to get me free tickets to BST Hyde Park. That really blew me away as that was over and beyond nice. I got to see Roots Manuva and Blur on the Saturday and Mika, Chic featuring Nile Rogers, Grace Jones and Kylie on the Sunday.

   
    
 
Seeing Kylie was especially poinient as we’re both Geminis, we’re both female and we’ve both had Breast Cancer in our 30s. Watching Kylie do a 90 minute set with bags of energy and always with a smile on her face was really something. You can hardly believe she had Breast Cancer and it really goes to show you can come out of the other side.

Last weekend was Pride weekend. Beforehand, as well as doing a video ad for London Underground stations, I also filmed a video about my Pride Heroes nomination.

I’ve also talked about Becky in early blog postings and how it didn’t seem fair that she’s no longer with us, so I’m so glad that by nominating her, she can still be with us, especially for a cause she was so passionate about. My friend, Al, who was her partner, and her parents were overjoyed at the video, which made me happy as I was terrified I would balls it all up in someway.

 

Becky

As if I couldn’t do enough for Pride in London, I also was a flagbearer in the parade. As my parents are from Ghana, I applied to wave the Ghanaian flag.

   
 
The flagbearers were right at the front of the parade and, along with Iran, Uganda, Nigeria, Russia and Egypt, I was behind flags of the United Kingdom, Europe, Ireland, Mozambique and the USA. Apart from the unattended bag/suspicious bag/bomb scare, the guy protesting about Barclays Bank being a major sponsor of the event, a group of people protesting about the over-commercialisation of the event and the United Kingdom Independence Party LGBT division barging themselves into the parade, even though they had their place revoked, the parade went really well. I personally didn’t hear any negative things said towards me or to anyone and even spotted a couple of friends in the crowd.

It was my first official time at Pride and I had such a blast!

  
The month of June started off in a somber mood but ended in such a fun way. Going out has made me more tired, which is an annoying side effect of all the treatment I’ve had so far, especially the radiotherapy, but I’m feeling more like my old self before my diagnosis. It’s like I’ve had an upgrade to my Operating System, some things are the same, some new things have been added but some things have caused a slowness nobody wants!

At Pride, I was talking to my friend, Sharon, about how I don’t really date as I’m petrified of rejection and she said something along the lines of “You’re beating cancer and you’re terrified of rejection?! Get a fucking grip!” which made me laugh so much because it’s so true. Cancer is far scarier than asking someone out and being told no, but there I am, not taking a chance. I’ve still got to work on that, or wait until Jon Hamm finally comes to his senses 😉 but I’m coming through to the other side and into the light so who knows!

Everything Happens For A Reason?

Radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden is coming along, I’ve got three more sessions left after today, which has come around very quickly. I’m current having booster sessions after 15 “normal” sessions, which localises on the area where my tumour was. This is to really give the area a good going over in case of any stray cancer cells lurking away.

  
Most of my appointments have been at 08:30 in the morning, so, along with the side effects of the treatment, I’ve been constantly tired but this has subsided a bit. I’m probably getting used to it all!

My left boob is a darker shade compared to my right boob so it looks like I’ve only been sunbathing topless with one boob – attractive (!) In the great scheme of things, it’s not horrendous. I guess I’ve got used to it now. Anyway, if having two different coloured breasts means I can keep breast cancer at bay, it’s a small price to pay.

The only real issue regarding the darkening of my skin is that I had some tattooed dots marked on my body in order to help align myself in the machine with guide lasers and these are getting harder to see by the radiographers. Off the cuff, I did remark to them that they should think about using UV tattoos but I must have been on some sort of same wavelength as apparently the Royal Marsden are going to be rolling UV tattoos as standard in the next few months.

As well as the skin of my left boob being darker, I’ve also developed some breakage of the skin underneath (radiotherapy thins the skin, making it easier to break, blister and develop sores) so I’ve been given some gauze and Hydrogel wound dressing to use in order to help it heal.

 

Over the past week, I’ve done some filming for Pride In London and Breast Cancer Campaign/Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

   
 Both were tremendous amounts of fun and they made me have a bit of an epithany about what I want to do with my life. Being part of awareness campaigns that I’m passionate about and care about is what I want to do and what I want to be a part of. Part of the reason why I blog is to show some insight into what it is to go through breast cancer. If someone reads it and it’s a help to them, then great. It may sound big headed but I really want to make a difference and help others. Talking about injustice and unfairness is one thing, but sometimes actions mean more. At least you can look at yourself and say, “Well, at least I tried to do something” I think, especially with the outcome of the recent General Election, people have seen the apathy of some people and wrongly assumed that they must be happy with the way things are. Some people might just not know what they can do to make things effectively change. But you have to do something or nothing will change. Now I just need to figure out how I can turn either Breast Cancer Awareness or LGBT/Bi-visibilty into a career that pays decently!