Five questions about breast cancer with Dr Gabrielle Staniforth

Better known as "Dr Gab" to her Orange patients, she says while feeling around for signs of breast cancer - along with the potential of not-so-good news - can be quite daunting for many women, it's also a life-saving course of action to take.

Though not the most comfortable of things in the world to do, Dr Gab says early detection and intervention is a lot less scary than reaching a stage where breast cancer has advanced; and is too late to reverse.

In "Five questions with ... " we get the best bits from Dr Gab when it comes to staying on top of what's under your top.

As a baseline, it's really important to know what your breasts usually look and feel like, because if something is out of the ordinary or feels different, you'll know.

Take off your bra, get in front of the mirror and start looking for any changes outside of your normal - which might be changes in skin colouring and puckering, or differences in the nipple and obvious swelling or other abnormalities.

Pop your hands behind your head and have a look in that position as well, because it brings your breasts into a different position.

Some women with big breasts might feel more comfortable lying down in bed to self-test, so think about what position is best for you and feel around underneath the arm, as well, because there's a branch of breast tissue that goes up into the armpit.

You're feeling for any obvious lumps, bumps or changes, and you just have to choose what works for you in terms of feeling and to do it regularly.

Once a month is an ideal frequency for checking and it's a good idea to pick a time when your breasts are the same. For example, the first day of your period might be a good mental alert to go in and have a feel.

It's taking history, doing an examination and organising an investigation, which is more from a practitioner point of view rather than a consumer or patient.

So, you'd come to see me and I'll do the triple test, which means I'll talk to you, I'll feel you, and then I'm going to organise further testing - whether that's ultrasounds, mammograms or both, plus or minus a biopsy.

It can be scary, but the good thing about all of those investigations is that they don't carry a lot of radiation burden, so they're relatively safe.

Probably the most confronting thing about it all is taking off your bra and having someone else look and feel an intimate part of your body.

The biopsy is probably the most scary part for women, but the vast majority of the time results will come back as normal or show a benign lump.

But it's far scarier to go in ten years after not having the conversation as opposed to going in early and hearing "yes, you have breast cancer, but it's only at stage one".

It's uncomfortable, but it's far more uncomfortable to leave it and find out you have incurable cancer.

We think about obvious lumps, bumps and visual changes, but the things you would probably see less of are changes in pain.

These are things like breast pain that doesn't go away, nipple discharge, skin changes that would include a non-healing sore, or symptoms like soreness under or in the armpit.

We call them constitutional symptoms, so if you have a malignancy that has spread - not stage one, it's spread to the lymph nodes or even further - things like night sweats, unintentional weight loss and unexplained fatigue can also be a sign of malignancy.

So, if you're just not feeling great with your body, it could be alerting you to something bigger going on.

It must be very scary to carry that diagnosis and knowing you're faced with potential mortality.

There must be a lot of fear, there must be a lot sadness, and there must be a lot of anger.

Often there's also this "why me" disbelief attached to what's already a really mixed bag of emotions.

Those emotions and that fear, it never goes away; because even when you're cured, you're always worried about whether or not a sign or symptom you're experiencing is cancer again.

First off, don't be ashamed of your diagnosis; because you haven't done anything wrong.

My whole philosophy about anything that's difficult is to talk about it, because you not only feel better when you talk about it, but you're giving other people the opportunity to support you - whether it be your friends, your family, or your colleagues.

It also creates an opportunity for you to support someone else in a similar position, so be brave and talk.

There's also designated support groups and organisations. The McGrath Foundation is a big one during Breast Cancer Awareness Month right now, and they're all about providing breast cancer nurses dedicated to supporting individuals with their diagnosis.

Getting involved in different community groups can help as well, like going for a walk with a group of like-minded women or doing something that makes you feel good.

Talk about, share it and everyone will feel better; and you're also helping people learning about the importance of early detection and therefore prevention and the possibility of cure.

Share your story, because it helps you and it helps others.

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