Lowri Mai Loader said she felt something unusual, like a tougher bit of skin around 2cm in size and knew she had to get it checked.
A new mum was left scared after finding a strange lump in her breast when feeding her baby.
Her cancer story starts in July 2022 when, breastfeeding her son she found an area of slightly thicker skin, not the tell tale lump women check for. Having previously had mastitis when she stopped feeding her older daughter, she expected it was something like a blocked milk duct. She was seen at the breast centre in Llandough the October, having been referred but not as an urgent case having a biopsy on October 3. Then 36, she was told on October 14 she had breast cancer.
"You want to have a seamless experience when you go through something that's so traumatic and just want everything to go like clockwork and whilst that is not always going to be true, the things that have happened on the admin side of things, it's just been ridiculous." On another occasion her treatment was sent up to the Prince Charles hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, so she had to sit in the canteen while it was couriered back to her. She was given the private prescription of another patient on another occasion. There have been phone calls telling her she had missed appointments when she hadn't, and her oncologist at Velindre being unable to access her notes because they were held at Llandough was another.
She said: "That was horrible because you build yourself up to think 'I'm getting my results' but I knew it wasn't their fault." Lowri said: "You don't want to complain all the time, you're relying on these people to save your life. You don't want to pick up the phone constantly and you don't want to be the person who they all dread to see. The staff themselves have been fantastic but their hands are tied. They're all working within the system.
"They just need to overhaul the whole admin side of things and just the systems that they have in place. When you go to Velindre there's a huge turnover of staff. When you're trying to get hold of the bookings team, it's ringing out. When you're having treatment, you've got all these side effects going on and the last thing you want to be is on the phone nagging. You don't want to be a nuisance.
They have tried to protect the children from the worst, but clearly they have seen their mum poorly. She had 10 months off work, returning to the school where she works in September, her colleagues have been incredible at supporting her and understanding the days she can't go in.
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