On March 17, 2002, Sunday Newsday shared Jacqueline Ahow-Telfer's discovery of a lump in her breast last October and subsequent first- class treatment in England with the Mc Millan Cancer Care nurses at her side. At that time, Jacquie had already returned to England for removal of her lymph nodes which may have been infected by the cancer.
After five months in England, Jacquie returned home yesterday (Saturday August 24), cancer free. However, this time it has not all been smooth sailing for the 58 year old mother of three who, at the time of her first treatment, went home and cooked a meal after a chemotherapy treatment.
Surgery, which was set for March 07, husband Jim's birthday, at Heatherwood Hospital, lasted for a couple of hours. By the next morning, a very determined Jacquie was able to shower although there was very limited movement in her right arm. The nodes had all been removed and hanging on her wrist were two dainty flowered drawstring bags containing the sacks from her drains. "I held my wrist up, if you dropped the wrist it felt like you were doing walkies with two fat puppies on a lead from the weight."
She remained hospitalised for ten days for the drains to clear. While chemotherapy had begun the day after diagnosis, and not according to the procedure of the operation, then chemo, followed by radiation. Six weeks later the wound had healed beautifully but remained solid.
The specialists were not happy as they could not see anything and the mass was too dense for a proper gun biopsy. When the mass broke apart there was a smaller dark area which worried them, but not Jacquie who was sure she had been Healed with a capital H. However, after weekly visits to the clinic and team consultation, it was decided that Jacquie should be hospitalised again for a clean up: "A scrape. My doctor said clearly that they could not tell through the tests what they were seeing and the only way was to go in."
Unprepared for the doctor's observation that the spot was almost on the chest wall, Jacquie had instant diarrhoea and vomitting. With the help of her Care Nurses, she came to terms with this "unexpected blip" which eventually turned out to be more than a blip. This time Jacquie hemorrhaged after the operation. "I saw the tunnel, looking at it sideways. It was rather a dreary unpainted corridor with soft bright dawn on the right and a darkened area to the left with a beckoning suction. I DID NOT GO. I could hear lots of voices, I was being asked to squeeze their fingers or blink my eyes and then I was lifted and my chest bandaged tightly."
"When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Jim and James (her son) looking down on me. I remember holding their hands. I prayed loudly with them and drifted off again. Next day the ladies in the ward confirmed what happened. Apparently I was hooked up to various machines, including an oxygen mask and tubes down my throat. Throughout the night I was monitored every thirty minutes and in the morning I had units of blood which meant I was bed-bound for 36 hours." It was three days before Jacqui returned to her 'home' ward and the familiar nursing staff.
She went home to a long recuperation period. The 22 biopsies were once again 'all clear' and she was told that the second operation was not necessary after all, but the doctor was fearful that he could have missed something. The 'spot' turned out to be an isolated clot deep inside. The new wound took an extraordinarily long time to heal. But it was not tedious as the Telfers spent six weeks touring parts of Wales, Cornwall, the Scottish Highlands and Skye. "We drove over 4000kls on our travels, half of them in Spain which is another story. I have wanted to do my Spanish trip for 28 years" says Jacquie, who has lost three aunts to the same disease and her father to lung cancer.
She will return to England for a post-radiotherapy check up on October 01. And Sunday Newsday promises to keep you posted on future developments of JacQuie (with a Q) and her valiant battle with breast cancer.