So Now I’ve Got Breast Cancer

How do you know what to trust online and even - dare I say it - in podcasts, when it comes to breast cancer? There is so much information out there nowadays including people claiming to have “cures” and alternatives to traditional treatments. That’s why I needed to get Consultant Oncologist and Chief Medical Officer for Macmillan, Richard Simcock, onto this episode to help us sift through fact and...

CEO and Founder of Menopause and Cancer, Dani Binnington, talks to me about her own experience of the menopause with breast cancer, what menopause can look like when you are a BC patient and ways to cope.    --------   Menopause and Cancer is a global support network to help every woman living with cancer manage their menopause symptoms.   For free, practical and accessible support you can visit w...

Health psychology expert Dr Lauren Heathcote talks to Liz about the impact of breast cancer in our mental health and how to manage the dreaded scanxiety.   Find out more about Lauren and her team’s research here - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/lauren-heathcote   https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/entrust   Their paper on Scanxiety and ‘bracing for bad news' - is here: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/202...

Oncologist and skin care expert Dr Fiona McCarthy talks to Liz about the importance of skincare during treatment, why it’s ok to look after yourself, and what actually works.   It’s important to be gentle to your skin during chemotherapy. Use non-perfumed products and avoid soap. You don’t have to spend a lot of money and you don’t need cancer-specific products. If you did want to spend a bit more...

To mark the return of So Now I’ve Got Breast Cancer, topless marathon runner Louise Butcher discusses her decision to go flat and how she’s come to terms with her new body. Louise admits to being an anxious hypochondriac, but when she was diagnosed with lobular cancer in 2022, she had to confront the disease she’d always feared. She had both breasts removed, and running kept her sane as she dealt...

How do you cope with the fear of recurrence? What do you do when scanxiety hits? Can you make your family understand what you’re going through? This episode is all about how to cope with anxiety with Dr Suzanne Cruickshank, a breast cancer nurse who now leads research  at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London about  how to help people cope with the fear of recurrence.   ******   Susanne spoke about...

Breast cancer can be really scary, especially when your oncologist rattles off a list of treatments and side effects. I can’t think of anyone better to help me explain what they are and why you have them than Dr Eleonora Teplinsky. She’s the Head of Breast and Gynecologic Medical Oncology at Valley Health System and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sina...

How do you style your new body shape after breast cancer ? Where do you get the confidence to try something new? What do you do when your grey chemo curls mean that the colours in your wardrobe don’t suit you anymore? This episode is all about how to find your style again with Alyson Walsh, journalist, author and founder of ‘That’s Not My Age’   ******   You can find Alyson’s site That's Not My Ag...

Do you struggle to get a good nights’ sleep? Is the fear of recurrence keeping you awake? Can you ever get rid of insomnia? On this episode I'll be finding out how we can improve our sleep with Alison Gardiner - behavioural psychologist and CEO and Founder of Sleepstation, the UK’s leading online sleep support programme for insomnia. There’s also a discount code below so you can try it for free.  ...

Do you know what your legal rights are when returning to work after cancer? What should your employer do to help you get back to work? Do you have to say you’ve got cancer in a job interview? This episode is all about getting back to work with Barbara Wilson, the founder of the social enterprise Working with Cancer.   ******   You can find Working with Cancer on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com...

Can changing your diet stop your cancer coming back? What does a healthy plate of food look like? Are probiotics worth the hype? This episode is all about what to eat after breast cancer treatment with Associate Professor Dr Krystle Zuniga. She’s a board certified oncology dietician with a PhD in nutritional sciences and a clinical cancer exercise specialist, and she puts out incredible posts on i...

Is your hair starting to fall out? Do you want to know what shampoo you should be using? Is there anything you can do to stop it happening? This episode is all about hair thinning during breast cancer treatment with Jasmin Julia Gupta, founder of Cancer Hair Care. We had a great response to Jasmin’s episode in Season Two talking all about hair loss during chemo. I ran out of time to ask her all yo...

How do you keep going when your world falls apart? Can you make a difference and turn a bad thing into a good thing? Is it possible to get your fitness back when treatment ends? To kick off Season 3 of So Now I’ve Got Breast Cancer, I’m speaking to a  very special guest, the Olympian Donna Fraser OBE. She’s  a quadruple Olympian sprinter who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 while she was s...

I know what it’s like to have your sex life turned upside down by breast cancer treatment. I’d only been married for a couple of years and neither my husband Dermot or I were prepared for what was about to happen. I wanted him to divorce me and find a woman with 2 healthy breasts and a libido to match. And I know I’m not alone. You’ve sent me so many questions about this that have made my heart br...

Is it true that sugar feeds cancer? Do you really need to detox? What should you eat when you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer? As a breast surgeon I had no idea my patients were scouring the internet looking for a miracle diet, but the minute I became a patient I realised how much misinformation is out there regarding what we should eat. On this episode I’m going to set the record straight wi...

Have you found out that you need to have radiotherapy? Do you want to know how it works or why you need it in the first place? Maybe you're worried about the side effects? In this episode I’m going to answer all your questions about radiotherapy with this weeks’ experts, Jo and Naman, the two therapeutic radiographers behind the award-winning podcast RadChat.   ******   You can find out all about...

One of the questions I dreaded getting asked when I worked as a breast surgeon was ‘How do I tell my children?’ I don’t have children of my own, and I had no idea what to say. My breast care nurses would step in and I would breathe a sigh of relief. Judging from all your questions this week, telling your children you have cancer can be fraught with anxiety, worry, guilt and stress. And that’s the...

One of the first questions my patients asked when I told them they needed chemo was ‘Am I going to lose my hair?’. And when your hair does fall out, there are even more questions. Why does it come back grey and curly? How do I explain to my children that I’m bald? Where can you find a decent wig? On this episode I’m going to answer all your questions about hair loss with this week’s guest, Jasmin...

Just hearing the words ‘you need chemotherapy’ can turn your world upside down. I hated telling my patients they needed it, and when I found I out I would have it myself, I felt lost. Would my hair fall out? How bad would it be? Would it work? How would I cope? Add to that the other drugs we give patients - targeted therapies and immunotherapy - it can feel like treatment never ends. That’s when y...

Are you struggling to decide what breast surgery to choose? Do you want to know if it’s worth having both breasts removed? How do you work out whether to have a breast reconstruction? There are so many things to consider when it comes to breast surgery, and in this episode I’m going to answer all your questions with this week’s guest, Anushka Chaudhry. She’s a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon...

I'm really excited to tell you that we're starting season 2 with a bit of sparkle. Amy Dowden is one of the highest ranked ballroom and Latin American dancers in the county, and star of Saturday Night blockbuster TV show Strictly Come Dancing.  And like many of you, I was so  angry and sad  when she told us that she had breast cancer in May last year at the age of 32. She’s bravely shared each ste...

I’m  excited to announce that So Now I’ve Got Breast Cancer is back! Season two is coming soon, packed full of useful - and reliable - information for anyone who’s just been diagnosed, from how to tell your kids, to how chemo works, and what to eat… all powered by YOUR questions.  Here’s a little flavour of season one, and details below of how you can get in touch.   ******   If you’ve got a quest...

To mark the end of the month I’m releasing another bonus episode! This is  a conversation I had in my previous podcast Don’t Ignore the Elephant which was hugely popular and I think could help you too.  It’s all about sex, and I’m in conversation with sex expert Sam Evans - aka Sam Talks Sex.    After Annice’s episode on the menopause, I had so many questions about sex and intimacy, and a lot of y...

Happy New Year everyone! While I prep season two I’m sharing a couple of bonus episodes with you. They’re conversations from my last podcast,  Don’t Ignore the Elephant. I covered the things that no-one else talks about, and it touched a lot of people at the time.  They’re subjects I’m really passionate about as a breast cancer patient myself, so that’s why I’m re-releasing them now as part of ‘So...

Getting a diagnosis of breast cancer can be terrifying. One of the first thoughts that ran through my mind 8 years ago when I found a lump was ‘Am I going to die?’ It’s often the first question my patients asked me when I told them they needed chemo. You could say it’s a ridiculous question to ask, as we are all going to die at some point, but the fear of dying from breast cancer is real. This wee...