Albert on men and breast cancer
I think the more men know about this the better if it’s going to save lives. A lot of men, by the time they realise, it’s too late for them. You need to get on it early like I did.
I did ask Karen about it and she said other men are embarrassed by it. Well that’s silly. My message for other men is don’t muck around – go see the doctor straight away and do something about it right away.
I went in there early and am so glad I did. After the second operation, one of the surgeons was there for check-ups and he said to me, ‘You thought a wasp stung you – how lucky are you! You should buy a lotto ticket.’ I did and won $100, I was pretty happy about that.
If the McGrath Foundation ever needs a face for men with breast cancer, I put my hand up.
I’m not embarrassed about having breast cancer. The only thing I hated was when my hair fell out. It’s slowly growing out again and has a bit of darker hair coming back through it. I don’t like the look of myself without hair, I just hate it.
With chemo, a couple of mornings I had nausea but I didn’t throw up and pretty much nothing else changed. It was only the last chemo that under my feet started getting a little bit sore (with neuropathy) so they stopped the last three chemos. They are slowly getting better.
It looks like breast cancer runs on dad’s side of the family, my sister in New Zealand has breast cancer too, but we weren’t told any of that stuff. It was funny, I went to my auntie’s 90th birthday part in Coffs Harbour last year and my cousins took us to the cemetery to see where our grandparents were buried. While we were there, we found out another auntie was buried nearby, her name was Amelia Golding and she died from breast cancer at 48. And then I found out I had breast cancer earlier this year.
My sister and I haven’t been tested for the BRCA gene yet, but we’ll get that done.
Karen’s role in Albert’s journey
I met Karen before I had the operation, at first consultation with my doctor, and straight away even just talking to her made me feel real comfortable. I was nervous before I went in there, but talking to her eased my tension. I understood more from her than the doctor.
She’s been there the whole time. You could not get a better breast care nurse than Karen.
I think it would have been harder without her. She comes across more like family, she’s so caring in what she does and you feel so comfortable talking to her about everything. Every time we see her she smiles and talks to you about what you need to know with all the cancer stuff.
She’s there for Amelia too, she always hugs us hello and goodbye and just brightens your day up. She’s just so nice; we ended up buying her a Christmas present.