Life in the balance: my journey with breast cancer.

My journey with breast cancer TesTimonio What happens when the doctor becomes patient? Dr. Marla Shapiro, a Canadian physician, on air medical expert for CTV network, health contributor to Canada AM, editor of ParentsCanada, contributor to many other publications, former host of her own show Balance: Television for living well and health columnist for The Globe and Mail gives her perspective on life on the other side of the examining table. I t was a routine mammogram, but when the X-ray was done, the radiologist asked for a magnified view of my right breast. She needed to get a better look at something. I wasn't anxious. I knew that this was fairly routine. If the breast tissue is dense, the X-ray film can be difficult to interpret. But when she came back, the news wasn't good. She tried to be reassuring, but her eyes were fixed on the floor as she suggested that I undergo a biopsy. I could feel the fear rising. I knew I was in trouble. After all, I am a doctor too. On Friday, August 13, 2004, without warning, I switched roles and became a patient. It was foreign territory for me, and in retrospect, having spent 14 months there, I have to admit the journey was not easy. The biopsy led to surgery that ultimately confirmed I was suffering from invasive breast cancer. In many ways, where Dr. Marla ended and just Marla began was poorly defined. My profession was inextricably woven into the very fabric of who I was –someone taught to be a clear thinker and problem solver whose decisions are based on evidence, even if it's just the best that science can offer at the moment. And when it comes to cancer, the evidence is staggering. It is said that one in every four Canadians will die from some form of the disease and that it will attack 45% of men and 39% of women. 1 Among women, breast cancer is the most common and affects one woman in every nine. Each week in Canada, 431 new cases are diagnosed , and each week, 102 women who have already been diagnosed, die. 2 As a doctor, you learn to respect those numbers and screen as effectively as you can, be it clinical examination, diagnostic tests or lifestyle counseling. As a patient, your life is changed forever. And mine has. As well as …