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Our hospital, Beaufort Memoroial has just added a Breast Care Coordinator and I think that is a wonderful needed service.  Ronda O'Connell, a registered nurse with more than 20 years' experience knows about patient fears, and she knows how to communicate with physicians.  Most women will be connected with O'Connell throught their physician at the time of a diagnosis; others will meet her after they've had surgery.  In either case, from the moment a connection is made, work providing one-on-one support and helping her patients get the timely, compassionate care they need.

O'Connell will work closely with physicians to ensure that treatment instructions are followed and can facilitate scheduling, provide preoperative education and even coordiate follow up care.  At the time a referral a one-on-one consultation to understand the patients needs, provide relavent information and resources, and determine how to make the whole experience more comfortable, understandable and manageable.

Depending on the patients needs she will esure appointments and consultations are scheduled efficiently, provide ongoing communication with physcicians to enhance care, help patients understand their diagnosis and their plan of care once it has been determine, coordinate treatment scheduales so they are more convenient for patients.  She will also provide educational information of interest to the patient and family,  make contact with the patient at regular intervals throughout treatment and identify resources and make appropriate referrals for the patient and family.  This is a FREE service provided by BMH Women Services.

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During the past twelve years of cancer survivorship I have amassed huge quantities of quality knowledge and experiences.  As a former educator, advocate, and LAF local army leader my personal action plan is to educate my community about cancer and LAF and the resources they offer. To me personally the Knowledge is Power component is first and foremost the most important.  I share with people things I learned the hard way.  I dispel mis-information.  I provide resources for recent good information such as the nih.gov or cancercare.org and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. When I speak at these workshops I stress the each person is the first line of defense for catching cancer at its early stages.  One myth which incidently caused my misdiagnosis and cost me the chance of early detection is "You're not old enough to have breast cancer."  When I went to Austin in 2006, Washington in 2007, and Ohio in 2008 for Survivors Summit and Livestrong Day.  I was bowled over by the number of people telling me the age their cancer presented.  In Ohio I met  at least five men in my small group of 100 who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer at ages between 18-22.  The cancer community tries to box us all into their idea of who gets cancer, when and how to treat it. 

You are the first defense line in early cancer detection.  Be aware of your body.  Know your family history and write it down.  You know your body better than anyone else.  If something does not feel right and it last for a couple weeks you should seek medical attention.  Make sure you write down the symptoms, how often they occur and when.  Anything unusual for you.  For example, bloating, swelling, bleeding, pain, fatique, inability to swallow, stomach filling fast. rapid weight loss etc.  When you get into the doctor discuss your list of symptoms and your family history.  Make sure the doctor is listening to you.  Ask what tests, bloodwork, medicine do we need to do to determine the cause of your symptoms.  Make sure the doctor listens to you and communicates with you.  If you feel uncomfortable because of the way the doctor is or is not communicating go to another doctor.  This relationship especially in the oncology field is majorly connected with your dianosis, treatment and survival.

Be aware.  Very aware.  Do your homework on what these symptons might be.  Knowlege is Power---Patient Power

Digital mammograms are the best bet for most women, and those with a very high risk of breast cancer are also urges to get an MRI - and imaging test that highlights suspicious patterns of blookd flow. But a new test, called MBI (molecular breast imaging), may soon take MRI's place, perhaps within the next three to five years, says Kristi Funk, MD, chief of breast surgery at Pink Lotus Brest Center in Beverly Hills and former director of the breast center at Cedars-Sinai medical Center. During the MBI test, the patient is injected with a sugar solution that circulates in the blood; after an hour, abnormal cells collect sugar faster than healthy cells. Both MBIs and MRIs can detect very small tumors, but MBIs may be less likely to produce false positives. Once the technology becoms mainstream, MBIs should also be cheaper.