Health care professionals working with breast cancer patients post diagnosis
bsally816
Member Posts: 5 ✭
Are there any health care professionals who worked with breast cancer patients prior to their own diagnosis, who continued working with them post treatment? How did you cope?
After 20 years of working with breast cancer patients I’m struggling with the thought of going back to it when my treatment is done. But not doing so upsets me more than the thought of losing my breasts.
After 20 years of working with breast cancer patients I’m struggling with the thought of going back to it when my treatment is done. But not doing so upsets me more than the thought of losing my breasts.
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Hi there! I am a radiation therapist so I see breast cancer patients daily. I worked throughout my whole treatment, finished radiation last July at my own department. I have found that my care of patients has improved as I can now relate more and truly empathise with them on a more personal level.5
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Hi @bsally816 - welcome to the forum!! Ask away any questions - there will always be someone to throw up an answer and/or suggestions!
What area of healthcare do you work in?
After having your own BC treatment - I would imagine it would be quite difficult to separate yourself from your patients' experiences - but I am sure that many work thru the issues (like @JoeyLiz)
to be effective and very empathetic in treating others at this most important time of their lives.
You might like to read Liz O'Riodan's Breast Cancer story - she is/was a UK BC surgeon - and has only recently decided not to continue operating for a variety of reasons.
http://liz.oriordan.co.uk/
take care, be kind to yourself & all the best for your own treatment xxxx
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I met a nurse the day my port was to go in; it was her first week back after finishing treatment. She’d worked in the oncology unit for years and years and said she was happy to be back there because they supported her so well when she was off. I suppose if your work is supportive it might be nice?
I’m a nurse but not within adult oncology.. I plan on going back to try it out but I almost feel as if I don’t want to look after anyone else anymore, I want to look after myself. Time will tell!1 -
I guess it's too soon to know how you will feel. The hardest thing is the triggering of your own emotional response. I do counselling and often end up with cancer patients, sometimes it's not an issue and other times it really impacts me. The other challenging part is understanding and supporting the individual which will be quite different from your own experience.
I suppose all you can do is get through treatment then see how it goes. Supporting people with recurrence and metstatic cancer may trigger emotional responses and fears in you which can come out of the blue. You will need to be mindful of this.3 -
I guess, it just all depends on how you feel.
While I am not any kind of medico, I have worked in a surgical ward for over 10 years. I worked through treatment as well.
My day is filled with bookings for BC surgeries. There are also many many staff members that have done the trip. There are nurses, admins and my last boss had done it twice.
It was difficult at the start as the emotions were raw and the constant flow of histopatholgy coming to me for sorting and filing was hard to deal with. It wasn't anything I hadn't been doing for the last decade but it had a whole new meaning now.
However, I did manage to get through those emotions relatively quickly and it rarely bothers me these days.
Because I have been on the other side of the fence I can empathise more with family members and will do my darndest to keep them up with information on where their loved one is at. I am often called to outpatients to talk through cold capping with people by the BCN's. Sometimes the nurses will ask me questions on how their patients might be feeling so they can help. I have also had stern talkings to baby doctors when I think they "don't get it". I like to surprise the new ones with my knowledge of chemo drugs, anti emetics and what's best for radiation burn. Starts some whispers and keeps me amused LOL.
I feel more useful I guess and will absolutely go the extra mile now to allay peoples fears as best I can. Last week I had a very concerned looking man come to my desk and enquire about his wife. She had been in surgery far longer than he expected. They fail to inform people how long it may take in recovery. I found out where she was and why things were taking so long for him and gave him a cuppa in our waiting area.
He was still sitting there when I was leaving looking very distraught so I stopped and had a chat with him. His wife was having almost the identical surgery as me. The poor guy just poored his heart out to me. He must have been bottling so much up and didn't quite understand everything the doctors had been telling him. I was so pleased to be able to help him out and he had this massive look of relief on his face and couldn't thank me enough. It just made me happy that my shitty "journey" had been of so helpful to him.
So you never know, you might just like getting back into it.
xoxoxox7 -
Thank you all for your words & support. I’m a radiographer & have been running my department’s mammography section for the last ten years.
At a training session early in my career we had breast cancer survivors who spoke to us & they all agreed that even 10-15 years later, the one day of the year where they were worried was the day they came for their mammogram. This is something I have always impressed upon the people I train, that there is a lot of emotion in the room, not just the patient, but your own as well.
For me that is not only a breast cancer diagnosis, but a mammogram biopsy that bled hours later & resulted in an ambulance ride back to hospital as well as my Dad passing away the day of my surgery.4 -
I am so sorry to hear your story, @bsally816 - how incredibly hard all this has been, especially with your Dad's passing on the day of your surgery and the biopsy bleed that resulted in hospitilisation.
You are now fully qualified as a BS survivor and will put your own slant on how you move forward with your work and identification/interaction with your clients.
The 'anniversary' dates of all the treatment affects everyone of us in one way or another - with the Mammogram and Ultrasound being 'right up there' - with the chance of a recurrence.
Do what feels right for you - even if it is in an advisory/educational role with up & coming radiologists. You will know what path to take, as you return to the work force. xx
Take care - recovery & returning to active work is not an easy road xx2 -
Hi, @bsally816. Sounds like you were a special breed of radiographer.
I'm a nurse, though I had never worked in oncology. You need to do what is right for you, when the time is right. It's probably good to be thinking about possibilities. I had never contemplated anything but clinical practice, and the very early development of lymphoedema put paid to that, and took away my ability to choose. I've been lucky to find non clinical work that I've enjoyed, and has provided many challenges since finishing active treatment well over 3 years ago, so kinda still feeling lucky..... just not the cancer bit of my story 😝
Take care as you go through your treatment and accept help and support when it's offered1 -
Hi @bsally816, I am a nurse and I work in a palliative care unit. I worked here for a bit over a year before I was diagnosed and see it as a privilege to help support people at this stage of life. My workmates were incredibly supportive of me whilst undergoing treatment. My work has been very confronting at times but my patients situation is not my situation, and while I can help them I will because we never know what the future may bring and I hope if I ever need help, someone will be there to care for me. I feel very lucky to have been able to return to work and continue to help people.5
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@bsally816 What a great idea to have bc survivors talk to the radiographers about how they felt.1
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I reckon anyone who was working in the breast cancer care industry and who has had bc and gone back to work should get a big pay rise for the experience gained.
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