It doesn’t give you much faith when you go in for your second post diagnosis annual mammogram and the radiographer asks you whether you’ve ever had a mammogram before, whether you are on hrt, whether you have a family history and (when you explain through gritted teeth that yes you had your first mammogram the day you were diagnosed with bc in march 2010) whether you had the lump removed and which breast was it??? All this equals total meltdown in the breast unit ending up with your husband having to get the surgeons secretary down to help as no other f****r is about and his wife is weeping in a corner.
Aaaah Tors, big special hugs for you, you feel as though you are quite strong and it only takes one person’s insensitivity to destroy you. I feel we are all very vulnerable at times, especially mammos and anything bc related. It’s a fine line we all are balancing on!
Hope you are feeling a bit better, take care xx
Tors, i too was diagnosed in march 2010 and have my 2nd mammogram tomorrow. last year i was fine until i got into the room and the minute she asked me to take my top off and sat and cried like a 2 year old. The woman looked at me in horror and wasnt sure what to do!! to say im dreading tomorrow would be an understatement. Why do they not know your history when you go in? ive had 7 surgeries on my “reconstructed” breast and feel like ive been mutilated, so taking my bra off infront of a total stranger is horrific! I little sensitivity would go a LONG way!!!
I went for 1st mammo in Feb & saw surgeon next day to get results & his 1st words were we need to book your mammo to which i replied " i had that yesterday, i am here for results" swift change of hospital as that was the final straw after a string of errors hugs to you Tors & hugs for you Deed tomorrow.xxx
Think I can score more points in the incompetent medic competition. I had been going to a local hospital every week to have a seroma that had formed after a mastectomy 14 months previously drained. Eventually the local hospital decided that a capsule had formed inside the MX site, and the only option was to operate to excise it. When I told my Oncologist at a different hospital that a decision had been made to excise the capsule in the mx site, he said “yes there is lots of evidence that removal of the primary is beneficial”. This doctor had examined my MX site several times, and had my notes sitting on his desk, and the computer in front of him, yet he didn’t seem to know that I’d already had an mx. Where did he think the seroma had come from? Anyway, being polite, I decided not to embarass him, but he then wrote to my GP saying that he agreed with the decision to perform a mastectomy, and my GP then contacted me to say her notes said I’d already had an MX, and was this right.
Honestly, what a shower.
I still stand by the fact that that radiographer woman was not very nice, but I must balance it by saying my surgeons secretary has been fantastic and she has harangued people to check my scans at clinic this morning and report on them and has just phoned me to tell me everything is fine. I am so relieved. What a wonderful lady, beats a two week wait.
So sorry to hear about your insensitive treatment during what is already such an anxious time. Shame on them! When I had my 2nd mammo the radiographer asked which side she was to image, well I said, the side with the breast would be appropriate…
Tell me about the stupid idiots you find in these places! (also the absolute angels) I have a good friend just diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer…her docs and oncs…if it wasn’t true it would read like a a comedy horror…
Just want to say Tina what a lovely dog - is it yours? We have a huge hairy GSD, who is in disgrace at the moment. Unfortunatley, he forced the front door open, got out onto our drive, and cornered the postman. Luckily my hubby grabbed him before teeth were used, but we have now had to put an intercom thingy on our gate, so that we know when someone is coming up the drive, and one of those I live here signs. The ridiculous thing is that he loves everybody when we’re out and about -he’s just a raving maniac when people have the audacity to call at our house.
Ladies - I checked this thread as my second annual mammo due next week - wow, talk about crazy, hurtful, incompetent people we have to encounter…but thanks for posting cos I will go with all armour in place ( a well practiced art after the treatment two years ago).
Hope all OK Deed?
You did make me laugh Tina …
I had my first one in December, and the radiographer was an older lady so had probably had one herself. She was absolutely brilliant, took great care, and it didn’t hurt a bit. She was also very considerate of my feelings. Just to balance that there are some real stars as well as some absolute numpties.
I have been told that to have a positive out look on all that is going on with my treatmnt will make me stronger, so perhaps when asked if you have had a mammo before just say NO!! and then laugh at the look of shock on their face when they look at your breasts or lack of them , perhaps then they will think twice about asking that question.
stay smiling, stay strong,
I too had a ‘negative’ experience with a 2nd follow-on mammo which I had to have in the usual mass screening van in Tesco’s car-park, by the way?)
I felt I was treated just as a number- it was completely impersonal ; is it too much for the staff to acknowledge their awareness of our BC- rather than just treating us in the same detached,disinterested way that they seem to treat everyone else?
Having been made to to feel like a blob on a conveyer belt I was so aggrieved that I wrote to the head of the Breast Screening service in my area. I got a ‘sort-of’ apology but she went on to stress how pressured and busy the radiographers were etc etc I don’t think such excuse are acceptable from health care professionals - but unless people actually complain or say they aren’t happy I think it encourages the members of the ‘caring professions’ not to bother about caring!
I must add that the radiographers in the BC centre at my hospital were not like this: they were really gentle and considerate and actually spoke to me!
Just like ChoccieMuffin I had a really kind and considerate radiographer who tried to make sure that the machine didn’t press against the site of my portacath. I have just received my results which were ok (Phew!) Just sent off my bowel cancer screening kit so hoping for the all clear there. Just waiting for my routine smear test appointment to arrive to complete the hat-trick!!!
Poor you topsymo having to endure the mobile unit in Tesco’s car-park. My hospital sees all its breast cancer patients in its breast care unit and they no longer have to visit the mobile units.
I have nothing but praise for the breast care I receive from the West Suffolk hospital in Bury St Edmunds.
I think nhs and local authorities are terrible with complaints. They kinda just stick together and make excuses.
I had to complain about a teacher bullying my daughter… My daughter is only just returning to school after 4years such was the bullying and intimidation… The letter I got said the teacher had x amount years experience and they had never had a complaint. I worked in customer services most of my life and I would have been sacked if I responded like that to a complaint.
Some health care and childcare workers have definitely picked the wrong career… How can you be so cold to someone, surely compassion is a basic human instinct…
Hi Tors,
Sorry to hear about your negative experience and hope you are feeling better.
Unfortunately I have had a few negative experineces (but also some positive ones). the “best” one yet was after I had just been examined by the Registar at routine appointment- she then asked me if I was still having mammograms on my “good side”. A reasonable question - except I have had bilateral mx- and she had just examined me!!
XX
Well, I’m told Billy the kid had three ears: a left ear, a right ear and a wild front ear! I’m another whose radiographer couldn’t choose which of my remaining right boobs to ray… but she was lovely about it and seemed to use much less squeeze than last year’s lady. She wasn’t a hospital regular but told me she had rotated in from the mobile screening unit so maybe that’s why.
Sorry for all who have had bad experiences; Happyshopper, yours really made me laugh
hugs to you Tors & hugs for you Deed tomorrow.xxx
