Living with breast cancer in my twenties

Its been nearly 3 months since I have been in my new place. I have settled in well and am enjoying being here. I have enjoyed lots of bank holidays and birthday parties here and the amazing weather we had. Too much drinking in The Sickle but lots of fun! I have made some really friends here who look out for you. Mini is enjoying it here too, think she is in cat heaven. Coming home dirty everyday and bringing me a present rabbit or mouse which I not too ecstatic about. Joe bought a boat which we have had lots of fun on including running out of petrol and having to sleep in a farmers greenhouse at a freezing 1.30 in the morning and row back 3 miles the next day with stinking hangovers! Its not put me off at all and can't wait till he gets a bigger boat. Forest Elf is going well and have been in the paper and a local magazine which I will continue to have features in.I have 3 stalls coming up in the summer which I am very excited about. If your not friends with me on face book and wou...

So 2011 started well. I decided to go for it by starting up my own craft business Forest Elf which is going really well so far. I have had a great response and the word is spreading! I am even due to have a feature in a local magazine soon which is very exciting. I got a part time job working in a magazine subscription company, 9-1 which is perfect as it means I come home and have the whole afternoon to sew! Although my sewing machine has broken which is slightly annoying especially as I have THE worst Singer model ever apparently! This week I moved into my new place, Forge Cottage. I love it! Probably my favourite abode so far and I have lived in a lot of places. Mini seems to have settled in straight away. She, like me is a bit of a gypsy cat! I love the fact I only have a wood burner for heating. It might be because I am a fire sign, Leo but I love fires! I find the smell of burning wood so comforting. I have a feeling I won't be leaving this place for a while, which is a relief...

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and new year! I had a great one spending it with my family in Leicester, Joe's parents in Hastings and some great friends in Hastings for New years. 2011 has started off quite well for me. My favourite number being 11 too. For a couple of reasons, one it being my life path number and two I have this connection with the number 11 and guardian angels. This Christmas again I made all my presents. This year I made more of an effort as I had more time. The presents went down so well my mum and sisters said I was mad not to be selling my stuff. As it has been so hard to find work at the moment and always wanting to work for myself anyway I decided I should go for it. I have always wanted to do this, whether it be clothes, costume, photography but I never did because I never had any confidence in my own work. My family gave me that confidence and motivation I needed. They have been so supportive in many ways that I could not have started it without th...

If you haven't noticed already its breast cancer awareness month, pink ribbons and products are everywhere but its more then just pink stuff! Its about being aware of breast cancer and remembering to check your boobs! So if you haven't already then do it now!! Do it after you have read this so you do not forget! Even you guys can check your pecks too. Around 300 men are diagnosed with BC every year so get checking. I was involved in the Samsung breast cancer campaign again this year which was called 'Everybody is art' An artist recreated the face of Botticelli's Venus - featuring the faces of 1,096 men and women throughout Europe who are affected by breast cancer, or campaigning for breast cancer awareness. See if you can spot me! The pink ribbon event was another glamorous night at the Royal Exchange in London with some celebs also there to support the campaign. A massive $1.5 million dollars was raised! It was also lovely to see Amanda again, one of the ambassador...

Well what a week I have had! I have had my breast reconstruction and am now back home recovering.I was very anxious and excited at the same time about having it done. It was great to think finally I will get my boobs back but I had no idea how they were going to turn out and I had to trust in my surgeon that they would look great! My body was changing again and it was quite a scary feeling. The recon went very well and I am very pleased with the results. It took me a while to look down at my chest, I was worried I was not going to like what I saw. At first glance in hospital I freaked out because not only was the right breast about twice the size of the left one but they were also pointing side ways rather then straight on. I hated being back in hospital, it brought back all the horrible memories of when I was last in to have my mastectomy. Even though I was in for a positive reason it was still hard. Being in pain, coming round from the anesthetics and being on morphine is a massive ...

Well some of you know that my surgery date changed to June 8th. Slight mix up at the hospital about what operation I was having. A little annoying but hey its not far away now! I saw my surgeon about the decision I had made and he was very pleased and thought it was the right one (the one I had originally decided on!). This Saturday I will be moving into my new pad down near Brighton. I am very excited to be going back down and living with Joe again. It will be a new fresh start with hopefully the worst behind us and lots of good things to come. Where we are moving too is quite interesting and unconventional just the way we like it. In fact, it suits us both right down to the ground. It is a park home, beach house, static home, glorified caravan!, whatever you wana call it. I am going to be trailer trash and I can not wait! It is right by the beach and that is something I have dreamed of. I am going to transform this little home into a 60s/70s bohemian hippy haven! The park is called G...

Winter is just about over and spring is on its way! Its been a long winter! I am so much happier that we have longer and warmer days. It was heaven to be able to lay out on the grass and feel the sun on my face last weekend. I have spent a lot of this year trying to decide two important things.... What breast reconstruction to have and whether to stay on tamoxifen or not. I am absolutely terrible at making decisions so this has been so hard for me. Its stressed me out no end and really didn't know how I was to come to a decision. I realised I'd had too much time to think about it, asking for peoples help, hearing their stories. It was so nice that so many people wanted to help but in the end it just confused me even more and I got to the point where I couldn't decide between what I really wanted and what other people thought. So many women are understandably scared of BC returning and have another mastectomy. In the cases of women having the gene then its not a question of ...