In December, Henriette Bruusgaard (42) shared that she had been diagnosed with cancer.
– We never know what awaits around the next bend. I have got breast cancer. It feels vulnerable to share, but I believe in openness. This should go well. They say so, she shared in a post on Instagram.
Now the “Alt for Norge” presenter opens up about the cancer diagnosis in the podcast of the doctor couple Katarina Flatland and Harald Dobloug, “Open Journal”.
“Shit, I’m going for chemotherapy“
It starts as an emotional episode where Bruusgaard begins by telling about how things are going.
– It’s going very well, but of course there are some setbacks during treatment where you realize “shit, I’m going on chemotherapy. I lost my hair. I have breast cancer”. There are occasional crying spells like this, she says just before she starts to cry.
– So I just get back on the horse, because you have no choice, she adds.
It was last autumn that she discovered the cancer by chance.
– It was a friend of mine who died of breast cancer that autumn, and that was the reason why I checked myself, says the 42-year-old in the episode.
She says that she had no problems, but perhaps thought that she felt a slight chill. However, she chose to ignore it for a few weeks, before she eventually felt a chill.
Then she made an appointment with the GP.
Good evening Norway has been in contact with Bruusgaard, she has no further comments on the matter.
TV PERSONALITY: Henriette Bruusgaard has extensive experience as a presenter on TV 2 and TVNorge, here she is a guest on the TV 2 program “Broom”, where she did practice runs with Jan Erik Larssen. Photo: Bjørn Olav Amundsen
The fear of death came
According to Bruusgaard, it took three weeks from the time she booked an appointment until she was at the GP.
Then the GP should have known the bullet immediately.
The next step was referral to mammography at Radiumhospitalet.
They also spotted the bullet right away, explains the presenter.
– Then I was sent straight for a biopsy and tissue sample, and then I was told then and there that I had breast cancer, she explains.
Symptoms of breast cancer
The breast can change in several ways:
- Coolness or swelling in the chest and/or armpit
- Indentation or indentation in the skin of the breasts
- Nipple that pulls in or points in a different direction than usual
Skin or eczema changes on or around the nipple:
- Redness or other discoloration of the skin on the breasts
- Rash-like skin changes on breasts or nipples
- Skin thickening or orange peel
- Sores on the skin of the chest that will not heal
Cloudy or blood-tinged fluid from the nipple can also be a symptom of breast cancer, but it can also be caused by harmless conditions, such as the use of certain drugs.
During breastfeeding, especially at the beginning, many people experience streaks of blood in the milk. This is harmless and does not require any special examination.
The symptoms above can be signs of other conditions and not necessarily cancer. The advice is that you should contact a doctor if the symptoms last for more than three weeks.
Source: HealthNorway
She says that the doctor had told her that the cancer was so obvious, that now it was about finding out the extent and severity.
Flatland asks if she remembers what she thought when she got the message.
– I was scared to death, because I had that prelude with my friend. That’s what I was thinking. In addition, they could not say anything more than that I had breast cancer.
The first weeks after the difficult news, she admits, were quite difficult.
– I felt terrified and couldn’t sleep. It was very special.
She describes that for the first month and a half she went around feeling this “primal longing”.
AWARDED: The 42-year-old has won awards as presenter. Here she is photographed during the Gullruten in 2016, where she was also nominated. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB scanpix
New focus
Only after a few weeks did she get the news that the doctors had found several tumors in one breast, and that the other breast was not affected.
But, they still didn’t know if it had spread to the lymph.
After a while she received more uplifting news. In January, she was told that the cancer had not spread to the lymph nodes.
– The last thing I heard is that the tumors I have are shrinking, they feel it physically. He (the doctor, jour.anm.) says that all probability indicates that this will go his way, Bruusgaard tells in the episode.
She says that she is currently undergoing chemotherapy, before she will have surgery in June.
During the operation, the chest will be reconstructed. That is to say, the doctors remove what is cancer, they also preserve the skin and the nipple. They will then “fill” the breast with silicone or fat from other parts of the body.
– But it is something we must agree on. I’m going to put some effort in there. Finally, I can change my focus a bit. In any case, I will do everything to get back the life I had.