It's been a dreadful year and a half for the author and widow of former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, after losing her husband, going through a court battle and receiving a breast cancer diagnoses.
Blanche D'Alpuget, was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer nine months ago and she believes an increase of her Hormone Replacement Therapy, (HRT) may have triggered the cancer diagnosis.
"I was on HRT for years, but very, very low dose. And I went to a new doctor. And he upped the HRT enormously. And after five months came up," Ms D'Alpuget told A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw.
"He was trying to be helpful, he said it would make me feel wonderful - and I did."
Ms D'Alpuget said her dosage was increased after Mr Hawke's passing as she wasn't feeling herself.
"Not a 100 per cent, no I was widow," she said.
The author met the late Bob Hawke in 1995 while writing his autobiography. The pair struck up a romantic relationship shortly afterwards when the former Prime Minister split with his first wife Hazel.
They remained together until Mr Hawke passed away in May last year.
While experiencing so much trauma Ms D'Alpuget was also involved in a court case with Mr Hawke's daughter Roslyn, which she said was 'distressing,' however she is glad to move past it.
"Yes, that's resolved, and I am happy with the resolution," she said.
Ms D'Alpuget said the first sign of the cancer was when she discovered a lump growing in her breast nine months after her husband's death.
"I was just taking off my nightie one Sunday morning… I thought, oh, that lump wasn't there yesterday, I thought it was like a mushroom had come up overnight."
"Fortunately, I had a doctor's appointment two days afterwards… as soon as I had the ultrasound, I could tell from the woman's face that the news wasn't good," she said.
Ms D'Alpuget has been told by doctors since her diagnoses that her cancer was probably caused by hormone sensitivity.
"It was all hormone sensitivity… and that's what it was," she said.
The 76-year-old also said she should have been more vigilant after only having one mammogram her entire life.
"I was very naughty, and I had one mammogram and it hurt. I've never had another one."
"It was quite a surprise and serves me right… for not being more vigilant."
Ms D'Alpuget has undergone eight weeks of chemotherapy, followed by four weeks of recovery. She also had an operation and has been out of hospital for three months.
"And I'm having immunotherapy which will go on until the middle of next January. So that and a bit more poison," Ms D'Alpuget said.
Ms D'Alpuget is often linked to her famous husband but is an extremely accomplished woman in her own right.
She's an acclaimed novelist and biographer, publishing her latest book whilst going through all this trauma.
It is the fifth and final book in the Birth of the Plantagenets series.
She was writing The Cubs Roar whilst caring for Mr Hawke after he became ill.
The author said writing has helped her get through some challenging times.
"If I had just been looking after Bob, I think my mental health would have gone down the drain, or I would have become a very sad and depressed person and not been cheerful and as uplifting for him as I could be."
The 76-year-old told A Current Affair Tracy Grimshaw she has a strong message to share with the women of Australia.
"Have mammograms and if you are on HRT don't have too much."
source: 9now.nine.com.au
