Patient A: I am only starting to think about future

A WOMAN, whose breast cancer treatment was delayed for 18 months after she was wrongly given the all-clear three times, is only now beginning to think about her future.

Although the 52-year-old Tipperary woman had developed physical evidence of the disease and complained about it, tests continued to be misread.

The disease was eventually confirmed in March 2007 when the woman’s consultant at Barringtons Hospital in Limerick refused to accept a third negative diagnosis.

After a follow-up test confirmed the disease, she was treated as an emergency patient undergoing an immediate mastectomy and the removal of her lymph glands, followed by intensive and protracted radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

The woman, known as Patient A, who wishes to retain her anonymity, broke her silence after an independent report criticised breast care services at the hospital.

“I am only starting to think about my future,” she said yesterday.

The woman is under the care of Prof Rajnish Gupta, a consultant clinical oncologist at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick. Prof Gupta notified the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) about her case and those of nine others.

“I have not really asked Prof Gupta what damage the delay has caused to me. I just try not to think about it,” she said. “It has been a long, long couple of years and it has been horrendous.”

She continues to attend the Mid-Western Cancer Centre and is entirely happy with the support and care that she receives.

Every three weeks Herceptin, a breast cancer treatment, is administered with a drip into her vein. The drug can affect the heart muscles and the woman is closely monitored to ensure there is no damage caused by the treatment.

She is also being treated with a hormone therapy called Tamoxifen and will continue to take the drug over the next five years.

She stopped working in December 2006 but plans to get a job as soon as her strength returns. The chemotherapy and radio therapy have left her feeling very weak.

“I got to the stage where I would have to put my hands on a chair to lift myself up,” she said. “But I am getting better now.”

Despite her nightmare experience she tries not to get depressed.

“The drugs are severe but I try to keep myself motivated. Some people told me they would not get up out of bed if it happened to them, but I do not think like that — I try to make the most of my life.”

She also believes that her husband got a worse fright than she did when she discovered the lump.

“We have no children so the two of us are all the family we have. Hopefully, we will have a long future together.”

She urged any woman worried about their breasts to go to their doctor and to seek a second opinion if they are still unhappy.

“Hopefully, the mistakes that were made in my case will never happen again,” she said.