Breast Cancer in Women
Our health experiences team is working to secure funds so that all of our materials will, one day, be available in English, French, and, eventually, other languages. In the meantime, our YouTube clips offer an auto-generated closed captions feature which may or may not be wholly accurate. Thank you for your understanding.
We interviewed 35 women across Canada to hear about their experiences with breast cancer. They told us about the good moments and the challenges they encountered along their care journey. Click on any of the topic pages on the left to hear and read about their experiences related to diagnosis, treatment, after care, dealing with family and friends, body image, and support needs, as well as their advice for others.
You can listen below to an introduction from Dr. Donna Stern, Medical Oncologist within the Department of Medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital. She shares her expertise and experience of treating patients diagnosed with breast cancer.
This module on breast cancer in women is based on research by the Canadian Health Experiences Group.
To read published papers on this study, click here:
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/22970
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2020.06.030
Introduction by Donna Stern
1. Diagnosis and Illness Pathway
The Diagnosis and Illness Pathway of Breast Cancer in Women
Transcript
My name is Donna Stern and I’m a medical oncologist. I work at St. Mary’s Hospital in the department of medicine/oncology. My major role is clinical care, but we do participate in clinical trials as well which is doing clinical research. So, basically we see patients, we do consultations, we […]
2. Understanding Diagnosis and Trustworthy Information
Understanding Breast Cancer Diagnosis and How to Find Trustworthy Information
Transcript
You know, when you have a new diagnosis of cancer, any cancer and especially breast cancer, it’s a whole new world. You know, you’re going along in your life and suddenly you get hit with this. So, first of all , there’s the classification, there’s the tests, there’s the treatment… […]
3. Treatment Pathways
Transcript
So, the first treatment is surgery. The commonest surgery in this day and age is a lumpectomy or partial mastectomy, they really mean the same thing, and what’s called a sentinel lymph node biopsy. That’s standard. Now, sometimes a patient will have a total mastectomy instead of a lumpectomy, and […]
4. Reconstruction
Transcript
Okay, well reconstruction is commonly done usually when a patient has a total mastectomy. So, it’s not done when a patient has a partial mastectomy. Although, more and more if there is a significant deformity when a patient has a partial mastectomy, something can be done about it. But, in […]
5. Preserving Fertility
Transcript
So, what about the case of fertility in young women with breast cancer? Yes, that’s really important, because a lot has changed in the last ten to fifteen years. There’s no question that in young women, fertility can be preserved. There are many different procedures and many treatments, but […]
6. After treatment
Transcript
Well, there’s no one size fits all because everybody is different. Everybody brings her own psyche to this particular cancer, which I think is very different from all the other cancers, because of its association with your femininity or your whole being. There’s no normal. Women don’t return to their […]
7. Advice for Families
Transcript
Some families, they don’t know how to support a woman. Women, I say, don’t treat them like they’re sick. Don’t treat them like they’re invalids. I think you have to take your cue from the woman. On the other hand, they want validation that this is – they’re going through […]
“Before, I was the last person I would think about… it was my family, then work, the dog, the neighbour’s dog then me. [Now] I’m up on top and I’m okay with that.”
– Shelley