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Megan’s Story
Just 29 years old, Megan’s experience with breast cancer started in early 2005 when she was doing her routine self examination and came upon a lump in her breast. Two months later she did a breast ultra-sound which confirmed that she did indeed have a lump in her breast that had to be removed.
Unable to afford the cost charged by a surgeon in the private sector to remove the lump, Megan joined the clinic at the Port of Spain General Hospital. In November 2005 a lumpectomy was done and in two weeks time she returned to the clinic only to be informed that the lump was malignant and that she would have to do further surgery to remove the breast…..a mastectomy.
In December 2005 Megan had the mastectomy done and was referred to the St James Radiotherapy Centre to commence treatment. Unlike most persons who do chemotherapy and report relatively mild reactions of nausea, vomiting and light headedness, Megan’s reaction to chemo was violent.
Three days after her first chemo session, Megan had to be hospitalized because she had become very ill. Megan’s reaction to the second session was far worse. She had to be hospitalized for a longer period of time and the doctors did not think she would survive. Today, as she smiles she recalls those terrible days and is thankful for the support of all her care givers, relatives, friends and especially Nigel her boyfriend whom she had met only six months before her diagnosis.
Antibiotics and morphine were then staples to her but they were not providing much relief. Megan recalls not being able to walk and being very weak and having to be escorted to the bathroom at all times. Megan also recalls being monitored at all times and having raised rails on her bed so that she would not roll or fall off the bed. She recalls the oxygen being constantly “fed” to her. “Just sitting up made me breathless” she recalls. “And I needed constant oxygen” After two weeks of treatment she contracted a bacterial infection and had to be further medicated. She also fell while at the hospital and damaged her coccyx while trying one day to take herself to the bathroom. “I had been pressing the buzzer for a long time and when no one responded I just felt I had to go”.
Megan put her trust in the Lord and accepted her situation. The strength of this young woman is very evident in every word that she utters every smile that she shares and she has never one day complained loudly nor felt any self pity.
Megan is the epitome of POSITIVITY.
Her conversation with her doctor after her diagnosis went this way:
“If I cry, that won’t fix it, if I get sad, that won’t fix it. So YOU have to fix it” She then asked “So, what’s next?” The doctor’s concern reached to almost fear when he responded: “You sure you okay? I think I need to speak to you. I’ve never heard a young person respond like you, they usually bawl and scream”. To which Megan responded, “Well something wrong with them” The doctor, Dr. Charles, remains very proud of the manner in which Megan handled the whole affair. In one word, Megan is a TOWER of strength. She is soft spoken and has the most radiant smile one can ever see.
The day of mastectomy surgery is one which causes great apprehension in many persons but Meg was all ready for hers and gave the nurses some words of assurance, much to the nurses’ surprise. Megan remembers telling the nurse that she expected to come back out in great shape. She also recalls saying “Tell me when you ready to put me to sleep so that I can have a good rest, until I get up later”.
The day after surgery, Megan shared the ward with two other young women. The young woman next to her said to her early in the morning “them people real watching you, what it is you went and do?” To which Megan replied “I have cancer” to which the young woman responded, “Oh, and you telling people? Megan thought at that point that “God puts you where you are needed” as she did feel that the young woman she was next to needed to speak to someone and she was in that place for that reason. In other words, Megan forgot her pain if only to be an ear to the lady next door.
After three days she was discharged following the doctor’s favourable assessment of her condition. Megan tells us that when she arrived home she recognized that she had to do some reconfiguration of her sleeping arrangements as well as her exercise routine to relieve the “stiffness” in her arm. She did this before the doctor could advise her. She was in recovery mode and was determined that it was not going to take too much of her time.
Megan’s mother also took three months off from work to look after her and to be at her side every moment of each day. Megan’s daughter Daileen also became her nurse on many occasions when she would ensure that her Mommy was not staying in bed a minute longer than her usually designated time for showering and looking after herself.
Megan recalls one morning being told “Mom, get up and have your bath, just now is nine o’clock” by then Nurse Daileen had already fixed the bathwater, set up the chair in the bathroom and awaited Megan’s arrival to the bathroom. Daileen was surely her strength on the “down days” which were very few for Meg. Megan, who works at Carib, recalls her peers, superiors and many of her colleagues being so very supportive. She even recalls Nigel’s superiors being very supportive when he had to take her to the doctor daily for her injections to boost her blood count. She smiles, pauses and then says “ he did this every day” Megan sings the very high praises of her Manager and Supervisor who were always there for her and who gave her the time she needed to pay attention to her health and who paid tireless visits to her while she was warded.
January 2006, with her stitches removed, Megan now had to make other adjustments. This time it was to her image. She became very innovative. A pair of nursing pads and a vest were her new alternative to the breast that was removed. She also remarks on the neat job that was done of her surgery and how beautifully she had healed. She has received constant compliments on the neat scar that was left behind. Megan recalls one day saying to herself, “I have something and nothing, so I have to figure out how to put something so that I will look balanced” Megan recalls rolling the vest, folding the vest, contorting the vest to get the shape, look and feel that she wanted she also remembers the day she forgot to put it on and turned back to put it on Megan today stands much taller than her petite frame and sings the praises of all the persons who have been there for her including The Master.
She is truly a pillar of strength to many. Megan is a now a volunteer of the Cancer Society and spends as much time as she can, sharing her story, giving others courage and being an example of Positivity in Adversity.