Dr. do I really have cancer?

Watch Dr. Harness, Pres. American Society of Breast Surgeons. St. Joseph Hospital Comprehensive Breast Center in Orange, CA.

Dr. Jay Harness: It is overwhelming to be told that you would have cancer no matter what kind of cancer you have. So, there is always doubt in patient’s mind. Do I really have cancer? A good center for the treatment of any cancer will always double check everything including having two pathologists look at slides. Here in St. Joseph Hospital Comprehensive Breast Center, we review slides of patients from the outside. There has to be a double check on everything, but part of that question is just part of the overwhelming shock that the patient has that she has cancer.

Do I really have it I feel fine? I don’t have any pain. I don’t have any discomfort. That is an important lesson for breast cancer because the vast majority of patients with breast cancer other than perhaps the one from the breast really do not have any other symptoms.