Hi @averi and others, thank you for sharing your stories. I was also in the webinar and had the exact same reaction. I also share the experience of @Poodle_Lady55 where my husband was more than happy to be led by the BreastScreen doctor who looked me in the eye and said "You don't have breast cancer. You have pre-cancer". Even though the pathology report she gave me said 'high grade...probable microinvasion'. And the next line says "Definitive Treatment for Cancer:" This was the head consultant for St Vincent BreastScreen - I expected to 100% believe her because of her position. I was so confused about how to explain it to family and friends. Did I have cancer? I felt I did, but when a head consultant at a specialist service for breast cancer tells you you don't, well, it's reasonable to doubt yourself. I was so glad it was discussed in the webinar. A lady at my work had been through DCIS, and as she is a professor of nursing I discussed it with her and was validated in my thoughts that yes, DCIS is cancer.
In a matter of under 2 weeks I went from 'you don't have breast cancer', to a lumpectomy with (thankfully) clear margins and no sentinel node involvement, but the diagnosis was invasive and HER2+. So my 'pre-cancer' then required not only a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy, but 12 weeks of chemo, 12 months of herceptin injections and 3 weeks of dose-dense radiation, thanks to COVID. A massive shift in my thinking to come to terms with it all, and trying to get my husband to understand it in a way that was supportive to me.
I have since written to the BreastScreen consultant to explain how her approach to delivering my diagnosis impacted my journey in a very negative way.
Regardless of whether you lose a breast, have a lumpectomy, whatever it is, you have cancer and that's that. I really hope BCNA are able to fulfil the promise made during the webinar, that they are working on 'educating' medical professionals in how to communicate diagnoses to patients.
All the best to you ladies in your journeys xxx
