28 April 2023
Jane, from Wiltshire, had never heard of having cancer treatment at home, but it was just the lift she needed after her diagnosis came out of the blue.
When Jane found out she had breast cancer it came as a complete shock – Jane wasn’t experiencing any physical symptoms and felt completely fine.
“I went for my routine mammogram in June 2021 and then I got a letter to say I was being recalled. The letter said only two out of every 100 people they recall have cancer, so I tried not to worry about it,” Jane remembers.
The importance of mammograms
The doctors compared Jane’s latest mammogram to her previous one and noticed a small mark that concerned them. This led to an ultrasound where Jane’s lymph nodes were scanned, revealing that cancer was present.
It turned out that Jane had an occult tumour, which requires further tests to diagnose. “They could tell I had cancer because it was in my lymph nodes, but they couldn’t find out where it was coming from. So I ended up having a positron emission tomography (PET) scan and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan that showed it was in my breast.”
Jane’s Macmillan nurse told her that in Wiltshire, there’s a low uptake of smear tests and mammograms. “Some people worry about having these procedures, but they are simple and quick so it’s important that people have them done,” says Jane. “It’s no exaggeration – having the mammogram saved my life.”
Finding out about treatment at home
Jane was referred to Dr De Silva Minor, a consultant in oncology, and a surgeon. They talked her through the recommended treatment and advised her to talk to her medical insurers, who explained about the option to have her cancer treatment at home.
“I’d never heard about home treatment at that point. I thought, “what a treat to not have to travel to hospital with the traffic and COVID”. I remember crying when they told me about it!”
Jane says the treatment from Sciensus made everything so much easier. Jane was sent a text to say when the nurse would arrive and they would always be on time. Jane also found it helpful to have access to a Sciensus nurse on the end of a phone 24 hours a day.
“On a couple of occasions, I had a few side effects I wasn’t sure about, so I called the Sciensus nurse. Then they put notes on the system which my consultant would see,” says Jane. “The consultant was absolutely amazing. I called one weekend, she followed it up on the Sunday and I was offered a virtual appointment Monday morning.”
Coming out the other side
“Having the Sciensus nurses to talk to regularly was absolutely fabulous, as well as the 24-hour helpline and knowing that the consultant saw the notes they took. Any problems and she was on the ball. I knew they were all there to support me and help get me through it.”
Jane’s treatment has now finished and she says she is starting to feel like her ‘old self’ again. She’s glad to be able to have her hair done at the hairdresser’s and has also enjoyed her first trip abroad since her treatment ended.