Q&A Breast Care Nurse
Wendy Chadbourne - Breast Care Nurse
Role of a Breast Care Nurse:
The primary role of the BCN is to provide a woman with breast cancer or at high risk of breast cancer, her family and carer’s with care, support, information and referral to other health professionals throughout the breast cancer or preventative mastectomy journey. It is a role that enables the woman to make the best treatment decisions and to gain a sense of control over the situation.
Where can Breast Care Nurses be found:
BCN can be found in many locations, both Public and Private Hospitals all over Australia (although not all), in Private Practice with Breast Surgeons and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (as I am), Rural District Nursing Service, Breastscreen, Community Health Centres, Genetic Testing Centres and Cancer Helplines. Unlike a Medical Practitioner, you do not need a referral to see a BCN. You may or may not be given the option of seeing a BCN so if you don’t then be proactive and ask your Surgeon or the Hospital where you will have your surgery if they can recommend someone. Failing that, log onto www.cancervic.org.au website, go to the Health professionals section and click on BCN where you will find a list of BCN names and contact phone numbers. All the nurses on this list have completed the preliminary study of BCN and are accredited as BCN and have given their permission to be listed on this website and have agreed to help women who call on them.
How can a Breast Care Nurse help you:
How can a BCN help you through a preventative mastectomy? Making the decision to have a preventative mastectomy is only the first step in your journey. The journey is all about finding the right answers to both specific questions and general concerns. A BCN can unscramble the medical terminology and explain procedures in layman’s language. It is about guiding you through the pre operative nerves and answering all those little questions that keep you awake at night, it is about being there post operatively to reassure you as to what is normal and help you manage what is not. How long do the drains stay in, how long will I be in Hospital, is the expander meant to feel tight and uncomfortable. What can I do, when can I do the shopping, the washing, drive a car, exercise, when can I get back to a normal life? It is also about educating your family and carer’s so that they also understand what you can and can’t do and for how long and how they can help you.
How can a Breast Care Nurse help a woman at high risk:
Caring for a woman at high risk of breast cancer who has decided to undergo a preventative mastectomy with or without reconstruction presents a different challenge as opposed to a woman with breast cancer who has little other choice. The high risk group has time to research and sometimes over think the whole journey. It is a difficult concept to accept to take a healthy woman and remove healthy breasts albeit for risk reduction – no-one judges a woman with breast cancer having a mastectomy , not everyone is so accepting and understanding for a high risk woman. For this reason emotional support is so important.
Note from Wendy to Pink Hope Community:
Remember that you are not alone in this journey, there is a whole team of Health Professionals to help guide you through the process, you also have the Pink Hope Community who offer personal experiences and emotional support.
I am proud to be a Breast Care Nurse and it is a privilege to care for high risk women throughout their journey.
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