Live chat tonight

Public Archive
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Hi everyone

If you have a diagnosis of breast cancer, perhaps you would you like to come online and talk to others in the same situation? If so then join our live chat tonight from 9.00 to 10.00.

There is an expert breast care nurse and a trained facilitator present to run the session. To join you need to be registered on the forums. Then at 9.00 just go to breastcancercare.chatjet.com/bcc/index.html type in your user name and password and join the chat.

Best wishes

Ann

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is this purely for ladies with a diagnosis? i have brca2 as setting date tomorrow for mastectomy but not had breast cancer from lainey

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Dear Lainey

Yes ,the live chat this evening is specifically for anyone with a diagnosis of breast cancer, if you feel have any concerns which you would like to talk through with someone in confidence feel free to call the helpline on 0808 800 6000, weekdays 9-5 and Sat 9-2.

Best wishes
Lucy

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lucy that’s a shame as us ladies are facing the same in the way of surgery as no lady wants to loose her breasts. i have called this number before and was asked to be placed on hold while the person checked on internet what brca2 was so unfortunately for me i feel these helplines cant answer my questions

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Dear Lainey

I am sorry that you had this experience with the helpline and will forward your comments on to the team if you don’t mind as this will be of interest to them for training purposes. The following link will take you to the ‘telephone support groups’ page of the website, although the current group is underway there are plans for further sessions covering different aspects of family history which may be of interest to you, dates will be posted as soon as they are available so do watch out for them on this page:

breastcancercare.org.uk/content.php?page_id=11371#eventlist

Best wishes
Lucy

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i will do lucy thanks, i would appreciate these comments being passed on as its very difficult going through this and i would love to have a helpline i could use instead of feeling so lonely. i don’t see the point of being put on hold to someone looks on the internet when i can do this myself… thanks for information lucy it’s appreciated. best wishes lainey

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Hi, i’m trying to log into live chat but it’s saying it’s closed and wrong room key although i’m registered on the forum. Can you help me please.
Thanks Tracey

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Hi Tracey

Sometimes, when the room is considered to be full the staff may close it so that it is not overwhelmed with numbers which can distract from the chat, I am sorry you have not been able to access it this week, please do try again next Thursday.

Best wishes
Lucy

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i couldn’t get back in, so sorry i didn’t say goodnight!

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i came on live but found it hard to keep up with everyone it was just manic. been trying to get on for a while now but i finally got on and could’nt think of what to say just went blank. and felt like i was pushing in on other people’s conversations.

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Hi anon1

I have spoken to the helpline about your experience and they have asked me to post this. Hope it helps to clarify things but do get back to us if there is anything else we can do.

Best wishes

Ann

I’m sorry to read that you were disappointed to be put on hold when you called our helpline previously. Our helpline is staffed by a mixture of experienced nurses and trained helpline workers with a personal or professional experience of breast cancer. All the helpline staff receive regular training on a variety of topics- family history and breast cancer being one of them. We aim to provide both information and emotional support to anyone who has a breast cancer or breast health concern.

If a nurse or a helpline worker is unsure of the answer to a caller’s question, we encourage them to either go on hold or request to phone the caller back. This is because we want to make sure that all of our information is up-to-date and based on the latest evidence.

Many of the research databases we search are online so it might be that this is what the helpline worker you spoke to was referring to. I’m sorry if this gave you the impression that they were doing something you could easily do yourself. I will feed back to the team how important it is to explain fully the reasons why they are putting a caller on hold.

If you would ever like to try our helpline again, you would be very welcome to call us on 0808 800 6000, Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-2pm. You may also be interested in the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline. Their number is 01629 813000.

Best Wishes

Antonia Dean
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Helpline and Ask the Nurse Email Service.