Anaïs, a 38-year-old nurse and mother of two children, was diagnosed in 2020, she was 34 years old. A sudden shock, “for me it was unfair, why me? So young and above all what in my lifestyle could have caused this?”
A few days before Christmas, in 2020, it was Anaïs’ intuition that pushed her to feel her breasts, something she was not used to doing. She then discovers a lump. However, this happened a few days before a ski trip with her children, and in order not to spoil this family moment, she decided to talk to her doctor and have a breast ultrasound when she returned.
“The day after my return I went for my ultrasound and, at the head of the radiologist, I understood that there was a problem. And I was told that I had to do a mammogram. After long minutes of Waiting, the radiologist called me to the back and told me that there was something suspicious and that I had to go to the gynecologist that same afternoon. with my companion who was waiting for me.“
Then everything happens quickly for Anaïs. Following the visit to the gynecologist, the results are classified ACR5, meaning an abnormality suggestive of breast cancer. Additional imaging is then prescribed. Two tumors are then discovered during the mammogram, a third during the MRI. A biopsy is then scheduled, leaving a few days of waiting before receiving the diagnosis: 3 cancerous tumors including 2 triple negatives.
She then decides to find out what the results mean in order to understand the extent of their seriousness. This information will bring him down again: “I will immediately see what these terms “triple negative” mean and there, another blow, I see myself dead in the months that follow.”
“Once the diagnosis has been made, everything follows: genetic appointment, fertility preservation appointment, and oncologist appointment to find out the protocol.”
She will benefit from 2 types of 4EC chemo. She describes the difficulty in following this treatment because of the side effects: “the worst with the most side effects hair loss, nausea, vomiting, intense fatigue, mucositis… 12Taxol more bearable but not without side effects especially on the feet and hands.“
Surgery followed. Two choices are available to Anaïs, complete or partial removal of the breast. She decides to do a partial removal following a risk assessment with the surgeon. “The procedure was quick and painless with entry in the morning and exit in the afternoon. Then followed radiotherapy 29 sessions, you had to go there every day for about half an hour”
Following the advice of the radiotherapy department, she went to the late coxswain of Entre-Deux: “I was almost not burned thanks to a protocol with the famous fire helmsman of Entre-Deux […] everyone is free to believe it or not but this lady was recommended to me by the radiotherapy department itself.”
After 6 months of medical appointments to follow treatments, and intensive follow-up by different professionals, she sees the appointments becoming less frequent. A change that she experienced badly due to the fear of a return of the disease. “First every month then 3 months, 6 months then once a year.”
Since the end of 2020, Anaïs has been under hormonal therapy; in her experience, this therapy is much more taxing than chemo: “This treatment causes me joint and muscle pain, sometimes intense, I felt like I was 80 years old during the first months. At 34, I had to face an artificial menopause, with all its inconveniences. Hormone therapy has also caused mood disorders, including depression.
This cancer had a profound impact on his life. She was suddenly refused her property loan by the bank which did not want to take the risk of supporting her in her project.
“The news of cancer comes with many consequences, both physical and psychological. After the shock of this news and the grieving process that resulted from it, I put on my superhero cape, took up arms and engaged in the fight. I would never have succeeded without my family with the unwavering support of my husband, without this resilience anchored in my faith in God, and without my more than wonderful friends and colleagues.
She would like to send two messages:
“Girls get into the habit of self-examination from the age of 18, it saves lives.
Cancer is a cataclysm in the life of each of the people who are victims of it but let’s not let it take over because this lame sentence that we are given that good morality is 50% of the treatment is not pipeau, the fight against cancer allows us to develop unsuspected capacities and strengths.”
A message of prevention, which it is important for her to spread.
