Hi, newbie here

and that means your cousin will be having the die injection again. I imagine she is beside herself. 

My cousin was diagnosed in late January (after getting the recall in December but having to wait over Christmas/New Year for an appointment).  She is in the public system and has been waiting all this time for surgery which was supposed to be last week.  Apparently, the dye was injected into the wrong place so she's now rescheduled for 3 weeks later.  I would be beside myself.

Hi @SallyS I definitely can’t add more than the info the ladies above have already given. I’m new here since January and can definitely recommend this forum for absolutely any questions you have. There are some incredible and generous women on here. Good luck for everything! 

I had to wait 10 working days @SallyS. But I had a public surgeon appointment 5 days later and this was over NY and surgery for mastectomy and reconstruction was 20 days later after full workup in between...pre op appt etc. 

Yes not what I wanted to hear after already waiting 6 days and now I have another 5 :( 

Oh how infuriating!

Just got a call, they need more time to do more tests so changed my appt from tomorrow (wed) to next Monday

I went back to Breastscreen to get the results of the core biopsy which indicated invasive lobular cancer, got straight into my GP that afternoon who booked me into see the surgeon the next day.  Luckily we hadn't cancelled our health cover so I was able to go private but even so, the surgeon didn't charge me a gap due to financial concerns (the hospital was a different matter).  From there it was CT scans to check whether there was any spread, then a date for surgery for a partial and sentinel node biopsy.  Unfortunately for me, although all tests had said that the cancer was only 2.5cm with no nodes involved, the surgery and subsequent biopsy showed otherwise.  It was 4.5cm, no clear margins and with 3 nodes involved - ILC is a very sneaky beast.  That meant a second op for mastectomy and axillary dissection but there was nothing further to find.  It is only after the tumour and sentinel nodes are taken that they can really give you a clear path report of the cancer which will determine your recommended further treatments. 

Thanks ladies. I have no health insurance so would be going public and counting myself lucky that we’ve just posted into Melb so will hopefully should have great care should I have to travel down this road. 

You can't tell if it has spread from a biopsy. The first thing they do to check that is have a look at your lymph nodes. I had a sentinel node biopsy where they injected some dye into my nipple and then traced it to see which lymph node it got to first. This was then removed at the same time as my tumour and biopsied then.

I went from my diagnosis to my GP to get a referral to a breast surgeon. It was with him that I discussed all my treatment options at that point. After my operations, he referred me to an oncologist.

I hope this helps. Treating breast cancer is a well oiled machine in Australia, and broadly speaking we get excellent care be it public or private. Make sure you like and trust your team, and trust your gut. Breathe. Hang in there. K