Friday Update 6 April 2018

Giovanna_BCNA
Giovanna_BCNA Member Posts: 1,839
edited April 2018 in Community news and events

Hello everyone and welcome to
Fridays update.  Due to Easter and Good
Friday, there was no Friday update posted last week.  I do hope that you all had a great Easter and
that you had time to enjoy some of the great autumn weather! 

In the news

Breast density

BCNA is calling on your
help to assist us develop a new web page around breast density. This will help
ensure we are keeping our members as up to date as possible and also help
individual women found to have dense breasts formulate questions to ask their
doctors around what this means to their individual risk.  If you are available to assist in this review please contact policy@bcna.org.au    Thanks so much to everyone who has already
responded to our online discussion, in case you have
missed the discussion or would like to respond, please see the link below.

Breast
density – we want your input


Introducing
our online moderators

Hello,
my name is Carissa and I joined BCNA just over two years ago. I have very much
enjoyed my time here including getting to attend forums and last year’s Pink
Lady Match. I work as a Helpline Officer, speaking daily with those who call
into our helpline and correspond with people via email. I also assist with our
resource management and volunteer coordination. We are very lucky to have
wonderful and dedicated volunteers in our office.

My
background is in public health and health promotion. Before beginning here at
BCNA, I worked in the cultural diversity space and member engagement. Personally,
I love going for drives to explore new places, walking, attending the football
(I barrack for Essendon), and spending time with my nephews and my 17-year-old
Parson Jack Russell, Brocky.

 

Community highlights

Every week we
have so much variety in the posts being shared in the online network.
 These can include questions about treatments, updates on how things are
going, and celebrating milestones. Here are some popular conversations you
might have missed:

Non Cancer Lumps Found

This post provided a fabulous
reminder of the supportive community we have. It was great to see so many of
our online community members responding to the thread and providing information
and support.  It can be tricky at times to
know how much information to provide to new members; especially if a diagnosis
of breast cancer has not been made, so that they get the answers and support they
are looking for without feeling overwhelmed.

   

Cold Cap Experience

There was a lots
of discussion in the network regarding the cold cap experience and the varying
results from using the cap.  I have been
asked whether scalp cooling is safe in patients with breast cancer so I have found
a couple abstracts that you may be interested in reading: 

Scalp
cooling to prevent alopecia after chemotherapy can be considered safe in
patients with breast cancer

No effect of scalp cooling
on survival among women with breast cancer

 

Online Q&A on impact of breast
cancer and treatment on sexual health:

We are pleased to announce that
our online Q&A on sexual health is finally happening this Tuesday 10th
April at 6.30 pm. Janine Porter-Steele, a breast care nurse and manager of the Wesley
Hospital Choices Program and women’s wellness programs in Brisbane has a
particular interest in sexual health and will be facilitating the Q&A. To
join the discussion you will need to join the ‘Let’s talk about vaginas’ group.

 

Latest forums

The Bunbury information forum is
happening tomorrow in Western Australia, at the Hotel Lord Forrest at 20 Symmons
Street Bunbury.  Registration is at 9 am
with refreshments on arrival.  The forum
will commence at 9.45 am till 3.15 pm. 

Our next information forum will be
held in Sydney on Thursday 3rd May at the Wesley Conference Centre,
220 Pitt Street, Sydney.  To register for
this form please click
here

These forums are a great opportunity for you connect with
other women, explore the medical,
physical and emotional aspects of living well with breast cancer and hear about
other topics such as the latest treatment, communicating effectively with your
treating team and managing side effects such fatigue and menopause.

Hoping you and your loved ones have
a restful weekend, 

Giovanna

Tagged:

Comments