I have just read the article written by Kylie in the Sunday Mirror, its not a paper i read usually but fortunately my daughter had got it.
How honest she was and how she let everyone know the fear she feels of a
re-occurance and how life is different.
Also how she longs to have a family. I am sure so many ladies know how she is feeling.
Happy birthday Kylie. Its great she has reached 40 and hopefully she will remain in good health. I think she is fab the way she has had the courage to get back on stage in the public glare.
Has anyone seen Kylie on GMTV in an interview in America she says that she was initially misdiagnosed and that if anyone is in doubt to go back to their doctors, something along the lines of just because they wear white coats and use medical equipment doesnt make them always right.
I was told I had nothing wrong. My test results came back as a benign fibroid and I was actually asked what I wanted to do about it. I elected to have it removed as it seemed to have got bigger over a period of a few weeks. The surgeon said this would be sensible because if it got any bigger I would then have to have it removed and it would cause disfigurement. I was told the week after I had it out that it was hiding an aggressive tumour measuring 33mm (the fibroid was 46mm). As I had been given such a shock, the surgeon got the BC nurse to contact me to find out if I would like to see him again to ask questions as he was going to clear my underarm and felt I perhaps did not trust him. I went back and asked what would have happened had I said I did not want to have it removed. He assured me he would have steered me down the route of having the lump removed, but when it is something benign the guidelines are that women have to be presented with a choice.
I read an interview with Olivia Newton John at the weekend, apparently this was what happened to her. She just had a feeling everything wasn’t right and went back to the Doctors. She was told she had cancer the day her father died and she was in surgery for a mastectomy on the day of his funeral. She’s been clear since 1992. She said even though they told her the results were clear she just had a bad feeling. I felt the same - when I was travelling to the hospital to have my dressings taken off the week after the fibroid was removed, something just did not feel right.
When I first went to my doctor with itchy breasts I was told it was nothing to worry about and certainly not a sign of breast cancer.I found the lump some mths later and went straight back to the surgery, but it still took 4wks of hounding the BC clinic before I had my appointment.I was dx with BC the same day- was told it was a 1cm very slow growing tumour which had been there a very long time(I found this hard to believe as I examined my breasts regulary)I was given a date 25days later for my op.During my waiting time I could feel the tumour growing,it even started to hurt.On mentioning this I was told that because I knew it was cancer my imagination was playing tricks! The post op dx was a very aggressive triple neg 2.4cm tumour with a marked amount of vascular invasion and spread to my nodes! My radiologist on looking at my notes told me I was one very lucky lady because it hadn’t spread further! When I mentioned my original dx I was told ‘mistakes do happen’ Another couple of weeks and I wouldn’t be here now! I’ll be 5yrs down the line next January and I still can’t believe how lucky I am!
I found a lump which my doctor said he didnt think was serious. I asked to be referred and he agreed. I saw the specialist who felt the lump and drew around it for the mammogram. the mammogram was normal and the ultrasound radiologist said it was a cyst. When I went for the fine needle biopsy, the doctor asked me to point out where the lump was. When I showed him he said that it was no where near where the first doctor had drawn around. Thank God he got me to show him or they would have aspirated into healthy tissue and I would have been discharged. These doctors see so many people, I feel we are partly responsible to insist if we feel something isnt right. Who cares if they think we are a pain?
But it’s often a case of getting through the system- not easy when you are frightened and at your most vunerable.Thank goodness for McMillian guidelines!
i think that is the biggest problem. being assertive is one thing when feeling very well. when faced with cancer, assertiveness disappears out the window.
Just to add my tenpence worth, I thought it was an awesome article. Really honest and frank. Kylie wasn’t trying to be any sort of superwoman when she was having chemo, things such as making it to the cafe on the corner were real acheivements for her and I ‘pleased’ she mentioned that.
I’ve just been on the orange website and they have a link to the ‘you tube’ clip of Kylie talking on the Ellen show. It is on this that she mentions about being initially misdiagnosed. Really worth a watch, although its only a couple of minutes long.
I will admit, when I was really ill last year I got very angry with the whole Kylie media show and just wanted her to go away. I found Kylie one of those very needy celebs long before she was diagnosed - I remember her being on Parkinson (Russell Crowe famously wanted to be interviewed on his own as he didn’t want to be next to her!) - everything she spoke about was all me, me, me stuff. You would have thought she had the talent of a great Oscar winner the way she rated herself. I hope she has let that side of her go tbh. I just hate the whole celeb culture thing.
I agree, it is so much easier to be ‘assertive’ when you haven’t had your confidence knocked with a diagnosis of cancer (how I struggle to say that word!) and yet, strangely, at the same time, having been diagnosed with BC - and had the surgery - I find that, since, I have become less patient with people than I used to be - to the extent that I am more assertive now too!
My GP referred me to the breast clinic immediately and although the consultant did not think it was anything to concern myself about - or at least told me not to be concerned - he did also arrange for me to have a mammogram and an ultrasound on the same day. The radiographer was a little dismissive of me initially - I am not in the ‘high risk’ age group - but soon changed her attitude when she realised that the consultant radiologist had seen something of concern. When they arranged to also do a core biopsy on the same day too I did feel the need to point out that there were two lumps - and not just one - which was a little disturbing - if I hadn’t have said something then they would only have taken the one sample - and may have recommended that I have a lumpectomy initially first - rather than the mastectomy I had instead - and the second tumour, in the meantime, would have been allowed to grow - but, overall, I have been really impressed with the way in which I’ve been treated.
I would like to think, though, that after having gone through this whole experience, I would be more aware and definitely less deferential when approaching medics!
I saw the clip of kylie and was “relieved” that she actually showed some emotion about BC, to be honest i am sick of hearing about how well shes doing when i was initially diagnosed if one more person had said to me how well kylie had appeared to cope i would have smashed there teeth down there throats ( i am possitive knowing she could have top of the range designer dresses designed for her must have made her feel an incy wincy bit better).
Having just re read this message im beginning to think i may need anger management sessions really im not a violent person!!!Anna
I have only seen a little clip of Kylie announcing that she was misdiagnosed and dont know if she went further on the circumstances.
My thoughts ??
Kylie has a ‘world stage’ . I have never heard any details of the types of charity work she has done to raise BC awareness etc, nor have I ever heard her (in any high profile interviews) give any advice to anyone regarding BC … until today… and what did she have to say ??? " just because someone has a white coat on doesnt necessarily mean they are right" … great !!! It’s not always the doctors that get things wrong, this disease can play awful tricks and lay undetected on scans through no fault of a consultant. I know that misdiagnosis can and does happen but is what she said really going to help at all ? I am trying to see it from her point of view and can sort of see what she was saying but think she could have used her ‘stage’ more wisely.
Why is she saying this now? Is it anything to do with her trying to break into USA ?
I am not happy with Kylie.
I think it must be really hard being a celebrity with breast cancer (or any other major illness). You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. (Look at recent threads about Caron Keating and Trisha…not that I’d ever heard of Trisha…)
I have followed Kylie since she was frist diagnosed though I wasn’t particularly a fan (wrong generation.) I’ve always been really impressed with how she has dealt with the media onlsaught around her cnacer. She has always been quick to rectify mythical stories about her cancer (e.g. when she was having treatment there were inaccurate rumours that she was getting some wacky alternative stuff…which she denied through her spokesperson.)
I don’t think celebs who have breast cancer have to do lots of breast cancer campaigning any more than anyone else with the disease does…though some do. But Kylie’s interventions about breats cancer have I think always been appropriate…she has a huge impact on younger women andI think her latest message that mammograms aren’t always accurate, and going back if you notice symptoms is a really important one.
And I now love her performance…she looks great and she’s gone back to the work she loves…most of us didn’t look like her before bc so no wonder we don’t now! I wish the media didn’t turn her into superwoman with cancer but I really don’t think this image is of her own making.
Good on you Kylie! So refreshing to see your stance.
I agree Jane it must be really hard to be a celebrity with cancer. I watched gmtv this morning and 2 presenters both female were criticising kylie for not having spoken out about this earlier, crikey i thought there speak 2 women fortunate enough never to have known the fear associated with finding a breast lump & facing a breast cancer diagnosis with all that that entails. Gosh its hard enough to remain sane at the start let alone face the media to complain about your treatment. From the brief clip of her interview on gmtv it looked like kylie still felt really emotional about what had happened, she was brave to say it and as you say Jane she does inspire a generation and hopefully now there will be lots of 30 somethings who will ask for 2nd opinions if they are worried.
I dont blame Kylie for not talking public on BC, why should she, when most of us return to work its to get on and try and install some normality again, why would it be any different for her. I feel she made the right choice by anouncing her diagnoses of BC as she had work commitments (like most of us) then she went off to have treatment (again like most of us) I know when I got diagnosed I tried to let out just basic and minimum info as didn’t want my lack of a boob or path report being discussed by any Tom Dick or Harry (i.e. gossip mums at my kids primary school or young lads at my work) + she had the awful paparazzi hounding her during treatment.
I did read the article in the Sunday Mirror and was quite impressed, it was worded that the battle is never over, how tiring treatment is, the kindness of friends and strangers, ongoing regular check ups, fear of it returning, yes she would love children but is fully aware you can have a happy life without and it also mentioned men ith BC, so quite a well worded article. am now going to try and find american article as feel being mis-diagnosed as a young women is a really important message to send out.
I had a mammogram in may 2006 which showed ned. However as I have a strong family history of bc I was always paranoid about examining my breast. In spite of negative mammography I felt a lump 6 months down the line. for young women with strong family history , we should have annual MRI and mammography to detect cancers earlier. Unfortunately if you dont make noise nobody listens as nhs is driven by cost not number of lives saved.
I am worried about this article regarding Kylie being misdiagnosed because it is going to start panic for those undergoing treatment, wondering if their specialist has misdiagnosed them . I wonder if the doctor who misdiagnosed Kylie was a breast specialist or GP? If a GP, this is not so much a worry as if it was a specialist. I would be very surprised if she was referred to a clinic and they didnt do a mammogram or ultrasound for her. This is the problem with only a small part of the story to go on