On the Move…

by Lucy Blunt on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month!!  We have just returned from New Zealand, where Eloise and I were kindly invited to tour along with the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation’s (NZBCF) roadshow.  We spoke in Wellington and Nelson about the immense psychosocial impact of Breast Cancer on women and their families.  We felt very fortunate to be included in such a worthwhile campaign. 

The tour was also fabulous as it introduced me once again to the impact of a cancer diagnosis in its initial stages.  We met some truly wonderful women and their partners, who also struggle to come to terms with the powerlessness and fear which is induced by a diagnosis.  It was great to be able to talk with these women and to see the benefit they received from the NZBCF from hearing more about what options, resources and information were avilable and which they would need to equip them along their journey.

This week I gave a lecture at Royal North Shore Hospital to the Year 2 Medical students on the Psychosocial Impact of Breast Cancer.  I give this talk every year and absolutely love doing it, as it allows me to have contact with 40 or so young people who are about to become the next generation of doctors.  We talk about what works and what doesn’t at a psychological level for cancer sufferers while they go through treatment.  The feedback is always about how useful it is for the students to come into contact with a “live” patient and to hear firsthand about someone’s experience and to be able to ask questions without the fear of being the treating doctor at the time.  Research indicates that when young doctors give bad news for the first time and it “seems” to go well, they are likely to adopt this method of news giving for the rest of their professional lives.  As most patients are in shock at the time they are given bad news, it doesn’t allow much opportunity for feedback to the medical practitioner as to whether or not their method was good, bad or indifferent.  Allowing medical students the opportunity to hear about what does and doesn’t work for patients gives them the chance to learn about the best practise model and to refine their own techniques before being let loose on the public!

Back at work again now and admiring the plethora of people wearing pink ribbons and badges showing their support of cancer and breast cancer.  Now we just need to add a couple more research breakthroughs…

With warmest wishes,

Lucy