For any woman diagnosed with breast cancer, there will never be an easy time to go through the heartache of losing a breast.But, for Alison Tait, the operation was all the more frightening as she had her breast removed during lockdown.At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Alison, 50, who was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer four years ago, attended Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital for the operation to help prolong her life.She wasn’t allowed to have loved ones sit with her as she waited for the surgery or to see visitors as she recovered.What haunts Alison most of all about her hospital stay was the deafening silence of the building’s normally bustling corridors and waiting rooms.