Miss Rachel Rolph 2022-08-24 Person 5 5 0

After many appointments at Rachel Rolph's breast clinic since having the lump imaged and biopsied in December 2021, starting neoadjuvant endocrine treatment in February 2022 and two surgeries in June and July 2022, I'm reflecting on how comparatively calm the whole journey has been so far. It's even more surprising considering this is the first time in my life I've had a health problem that required a hospital visits and my first ever surgery! From the first appointment I've found that Rachel Rolph has a rare combination of great sensitivity, diplomacy and absolute honesty when breaking news, good or bad, also when discussing treatment options, and answering my questions. Rachel Rolph brings a lot of attention to detail in her explanations, and also when answering questions, which has often dissipated my confusion and given me the courage to search the internet and find out more. She also has great listening skills which has given me a sense of safety in the numerous decisions I've had to make recently. In fact, I don't think I've ever felt so closely guided and supported in making decisions before! I was also touched to find that Rachel Rolph talked to me just before going into the theatre and just after I just woke up from the anaesthetic, still groggy and incoherent. Although I'm not an expert in that area, I believe Rachel Rolph's surgery skills must be great too because I never needed fluid to be drained from the wounds neither after the first operation: a mastectomy with sentinel lymph node biopsy, nor after the second operation: an axillary lymph nodes clearance. I remember Rachel saying that because my armpits were so small (I'm a 5 foot 2" slim woman) she was hoping to get a few lymph nodes out but it would not be easy, in reality, in that second surgery she got 9 lymph nodes out! I did not need to take pain killers anymore a week after each operation. My scars now look neat and the area of the mastectomy feels smooth and flat. It's now five weeks after the second operation and the mobility of my left arm is nearly all back bar a little bit of "cording". I also feel grateful for the thorough approach Rachel Rolph and the team have taken with looking at this cancer with every possible angle, with ultrasound scans, mammograms and several biopsies in December 2021 and then, running an MRI scan in January 2022 because despite being post-menauposal, my breast tissue still being a bit too dense to see the cancer clearly on the mammograms. Even now that I have had the surgeries, the team has ordered Oncotype DX test to check how actively growing the cancer cells were when I was first diagnosed, before discussing further treatment options. This standard of care makes me feel safe that whatever treatment follows will really be the right one to minimise the risk of recurrence while also minimising toxicity and side effects.