Hi All I now you will all think I’m totally stupid But I still get terribly embarressed about manual examinations. You would think by now i would have got hardened to it all … moreso after five weeks of Rads witth male students as young as 20. I get really upset about it a few days before I go for check ups. I am well endowed which does not help. How can I see it from their point of view …clinically. Not to bad with breast nurse or mammograms because they are female but both my onc and surgeon are male. I know I really need to grow up (at 62) I must admit it would never stop me going for check ups, surely I ca’nt be the only person who worries about FALSE Modesty. Also have found I cannot stand OH touching me in any way, especially lumpectomy boob.
Bobbie
Hi corsa!
I just try not to think of oncs and surgeons as MEN but just as professional people doing a job. It must be much harder for them, going home at night after touching womens boobs all day and then trying to switch off and seeing their partners as sexual beings and not as it still being part of their job - if you know what I mean!
Hi redders You are right , they must see all shapes and sizes . I have often wondered how they feel towards their spouses but as you say it’s just another body part to them,. My onc says he deals with bowel cancer as well , God knows how they do it but thank God they do.
Love Bobbie
Hi corsa
I am a healthcare proffessional and I cringe when I know I have to reveal my recently reconstructed breasts. There are very few people in the world who have seen them and my surgeon was female. In fact my partner is the ONLY male to have seen them I have just realised!!!
As part of my job I examine all parts of peoples bodies, male and female and I have never given it a second thought when with my partner, but this does not lessen the embarrassment I feel. I always try to maintain as much dignity as possible for the person, such as covering up and only revealing the bit which is to be examined.
I hope the proffessionals you see try to make it as comfortable for you as possible. If not tell them.
Best wishes
Jackie.
I just see them as professionals doing their jobs. I was lucky in that I wasn’t bothered by being bald either. When I was in hospital isolation for week last year I had 2 lovely young junior doctors looking after me and it didn’t worry me if they saw me without my headgear on. My late dad used to say too many people died because they were scared to take their clothes off to let a Dr see their body and I think there is sometimes a bit of truth in that.
well, sometimes it is embarrassing, no doubt about it…and of course, you can refuse to allow students in to see you, but my own feeling is they have to learn,so i let them get on with it, even if i am quietly cringing inside.My surgeon wanted to look at my boobs post op on Saturday and i was stiff and still groggy, so was having trouble undoing the bra…all 10 sets of hooks/eyes…and he just said, ‘no problem, ill do it for you’.and didn’t bat an eyelid about it.I think because he is so professional and respectful, it’s not an issue.I did, however refuse to go to the medical photographer because it was a man…i just felt it was a step too far, so my surgeon and his (male)registrar did them and i didn’t have a prblem with that at all,oddly. I used to be a health care assistant some years ao, and always tried to maintain the patients’s dignity, and generally the staff i have encountered have shown me that same respect.
My husband has attended every appointment with me and the surgeons and oncologists have no problem with him being there when I am being examined. They have got quite used to him and he sometimes has questions. OH has a science background and one of his friends lectures trainee oncologists in the theory of chemotherapy at one of the university colleges in London, so he is always interested in what the Drs have to say.
HI Bless you all for trying to put me at ease regarding examinations. I am lucky with my surgeon and onc they are aware you need a bit of dignity. Just be glad when it’s over with on Mon then do not see onc till March. I had my 1st post op /treatment mammogram last Tues , results came back NORMAL. It was such a releif
Love to you all Bobbie
That’s great news Bobbie.
I must say I have stopped caring about flashing my bits, seem to have done it so much in the last year!
Louise x
At my clinic, you are taken into the consulting room before the surgeon comes in and the nurse covers your top half with a gown. It only gets removed when the surgeon sees you for examination.
Hi Cherub What i do is pop a cami on and pull it up after popping straps and bra off. My surgeon and onc do’n’t sem to give you time for nurse to do that. Mind if my Oh is with me they pull curtain across and do’nt bother with nurse.
Anyway as you all say …They do’nt do it for tit…ivasion excuse the pun.
I do feel very lucky to have such a good team of doctors , nurses and they have eradicated my cancer. Thank God for this site also.!!!
I am a stupid mare at times worrying about nothing really.
Love to all Bobbie
Dear Corsa -
Hope this makes you smile - at a social event a few weeks ago I was mortified to find that OH and I were sharing a table with my onc and his wife! And this was only a couple of weeks after a check up. I just wanted the floor to open up and swallow me.
But he was a perfect gentleman - introduced me to his wife as ‘one of my ladies’ - and her response ‘Oh you poor thing, he has such cold hands!’. That broke the ice I can tell you.