How do you feel after you received your breast cancer diagnosis? Hearing the words, ‘you have cancer’, can be some of the hardest words to hear. Watch the video below as Dr. Kenneth Chessick discusses some of his experiences with patients who have been given devastating news and how to receive the proper breast cancer support.
Hearing that you have cancer is never easy. It is important that you get your checkups regularly, and do not wait until the last minute to see your doctor if you feel that you may have a lump or if your body does not feel like its normal self. With such a hard road to travel, you want to make sure you have someone by your side to walk that path with you.
If you feel like you did not receive the proper breast cancer supportyou should have received and were diagnosed with breast cancer, or any kind of cancer, let the Law Office of Kenneth Chessick help you. Contact our office today and let’s find out what happened and why it should not have happened.
Learn More:
Can Breast Cancer Be Diagnosed By A Mammogram?
Can Breast Cancer Be Diagnosed On An MRI?
Delay In Breast Cancer: Why Is Breast Cancer Diagnosed Late?
Video Transcript
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:28 The Importance Of Breasts To Patients
1:18 Surgeon Etiquette
Another question is how does the patient feel after their diagnosis, and are they receiving the right breast cancer support?
I can tell you as a practicing surgeon and breast cancer surgeon, in particular, that this is a devastating experience for the vast majority of patients, any kind of cancer is a terrible diagnosis that no one wants to hear.
0:28 The Importance Of Breasts To Patients
When it comes to breast cancer, there’s even more emotion related to that because of the importance of the breast in many patients’ concepts of identity and how they feel about themselves as a woman, and the fears of death of course, but also the fears of treatment which is always disfiguring to some degree. Sometimes significantly.
This is always an emotional experience for the patient and requires the surgeon to be understanding and recognize what a great loss this is to the patient, and be sensitive to those things, and coach their answers in ways that recognize that emotional distress.
1:18 Surgeon Etiquette
But at the same time be absolutely honest and forthright. The surgeon has an obligation to that patient to be the source of accurate trustworthy knowledge for that patient. So as a surgeon, being sensitive to that patient’s emotional state, but also their absolute right to know the facts is paramount.
It’s oftentimes important that the patient have another person present with them because I can tell you from experience, that many patients when they hear that they have breast cancer for the first time, don’t hear a lot of what is said, and frankly that discussion has to be repeated. It’s always good to have someone present so that they can answer the questions as well.
