To have found my first mammogram really upsetting?

[YompingJo]

Got a letter through with very basic details if an appointment. Turned up and found the whole thing demeaning. Tiny room, intimidating machine taking up most of it. The radiologist was monosyllabic and bossy and manhandled me into the right position including grabbing each breast and shoving it into position, pushing other bits of my body out of the way, not once asking first. I know it's a necessary procedure, but a bit of sensitivity would have gone a long way, and having the respect to ask for consent before grabbing a breast is a basic consideration. I'm autistic and needed to know much more what to expect beforehand. The letter gave a way to request assistance in the case of SEN, but I don't consider myself to have SEN and didn't know what I'd need until I was right there, so that wasn't any help. There was a QR code for feedback, which I gave but I just feel... invaded and demeaned. AIBU?

Some people on this thread really need to read Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

I don't think they invent deliberately invasive/painful tests for women, but I do think there would be more effort made in trying to come up with better/kinder methods if men had to endure the kind of tests women do. Maybe I am wrong, but it does seem this way - breast screening/cervical smears/removal of coils, colposcopys can all be extremely painful for some women, yet no pain relief is offered for these procedures because, as I was told, they are considered 'minor' procedures - well the pain I have experienced with these were not 'minor' and resent that my very real pain is treated as such. Also, it seems that none of these procedures have had an 'up-date' despite being in place for donkeys years - seemingly it is seen as low down in priority, but as its putting myself and others off have the tests altogether, and therefore at risk medically, I really think (and hope they are?) efforts should be made to create more humane methods, or at least give the pain relief required!!

I always feel like I have been groped after a mammogram. I have only had one sexual partner so I find standing there topless with strangers very uncomfortable. I also hate just being grabbed.

So thankful I no longer have a cervix so no more smears for me. I always felt dirty when I came out. The way they pull you knees up, push them apart and the shine their torch up there makes me want to shrivel up. Never missed an appointment though.

I've often thought that if women could have vasectomies, we'd be called overdramatic for wanting them with anaesthetic.

Vasectomies do bloomin’ hurt though! My DH had a local anesthetic and then spent three days lying on the sofa with bags of ice on his bits. 😂

Procedures are being updated all the time.

New detection for PAP smears now means 1 every 5 years instead of 1 every 2 years. Until it can be detected by blood test, a physical exam/sample is necessary and unfortunately that's internal.
Modern mammogram machines are easier and faster to manipulate than the older ones which reduces the time. Again, until there's a blood test, an actual squash of the tissue is going to be needed.
I've had coils inserted and removed under general at the same time as endometrial biopsy.
Not sure if prostate cancer is now being done by blood test, last I heard it was still manual.

Nurses do not undertake mammograms radiographers undertake these.Why do people always assume it is a nurse undertaking these !

Because they are in a blue uniform and just introduce themselves as Marie or whoever, and don't point out they're the radiographer. And many lay people don't know the difference.

They are screening tests to detect early signs of cancer they are a good thing!

Get a grip

Of course they’re a good thing. So are smears. But the fact that you know it’s good to get screened doesn’t mean you can just magically cope perfectly if you struggle with being touched in intimate places. Loads of women miss smears because they’re scared, and as we’ve seen in this thread, women have missed mammograms or been put off going back. Kindness and empathy from the HCP doing the procedure is not only basic human decency, and part of their training - it’s also key to screening programmes reaching more people.

How HCPs behave and speak to you does matter - not just for patients’ feelings as and end in itself, but for engagement with and trust in medical services which is a huge factor in early diagnosis. That saves not only lives but a lot of money which means a better service for everyone.

I will never forget being traumatised during my first pregnancy by a midwife who scared the bejesus out of me when I was given a “high” (1 in 200) risk of downs. She was all doom and gloom telling me it was awfully bad news and I needed an amnio so I could abort if the baby had downs. She’d already booked me an amnio for the next day. She didn’t even ask how I felt about abortion or if I wanted an amnio (I didn’t).

Now it’s not the same situation but the point is I was being offered tests, which is on paper good. But if HCPs are unempathetic, treat you as if you don’t have feelings and push you around literally or metaphorically, and don’t take into account that people are not all the same, they can really upset people - and that upset is not necessarily people just needing to get a grip. I’m far from a snowflake. But kindness and understanding are not some kind of bonus extra. They’re part of doing the job right. As I said, I’m an NHS volunteer and I have to be kind, caring and non-judgmental and listen to patients and if I failed in that I’d be kicked out and rightly so.

Well now you know .

Mine didn't even tell me her name, let alone her job title

I don't think it's unusual - I should think most of us in many fields will have dealt with members of the public who will not know your exact job role, and it's only if they ask you something you're not allowed to authorise that they may realise it's relevant. But often they still won't understand the details of the different jobs.

@MrsWhattery As I said, I’m an NHS volunteer and I have to be kind, caring and non-judgmental and listen to patients and if I failed in that I’d be kicked out and rightly so

So, you, in your volunteer role, can be kicked out for this. But I’m assuming you have no metrics to meet? You have no departmental budget to meet? So, it’s quite easy for you, without a paid NHS position, without having to factor metrics or budget to meet the things you have mentioned. Well, yes, it is, because you don’t have other constraints ……..

Well I have a job to do that has to get done - not metrics but it’s a specific situation and once it’s under way it needs my full attention. Of course I understand it’s different being a volunteer but as others have said, chatting along kindly and explaining what you’re doing doesn’t take extra time.

So for example I may have to move a patient’s side table - so I ask them, check their feet won’t get bumped, chat to them while I’m doing it. It has to be done anyway, doing it in a friendly and caring way doesn’t take more time and it’s the same with a mammogram.

Yes, but someone going for such screening deserves to be treating with empathy and respect, and not a slab of tits shaped meat.

This is such an entitled thread !! I’d much rather have a radiographer who appears slightly rude and brusque because she’s 100% focused on getting the best images to make sure anything amiss is detected, than one who is distracted trying to make sure the patient is super comfortable and reassured that their ‘informed consent’ will be sought for every little movement and repositioning.

Having recently been diagnosed with breast cancer I’m now in possession of facts I didn’t know about the imaging processes used to detect it. I have lobular breast cancer, which is notoriously difficult to detect using mammogram and notoriously tricky to size and stage. The consultant I’ve been assigned to was quick to tell me that due to the skills of the radiographer, the images have identified a lobular tumour which he has been able to easily stage and recommend appropriate treatment. Reading through this thread, I seriously wonder what women want here. Mammogram is an uncomfortable procedure, not all types of tumour show up, and the depth and positioning of the breast is critical to identify problems. At the risk of a pile on, I suggest that we should stop whining and be happy we live in a country which offers potentially life saving procedures such as mammogram and the trained radiographers on whose skills we rely to give us the best chance of detection and cure.

It's not a binary between someone who is rude and good at their job and someone who is caring but shit at it. What we want is someone who is capable and treats you with dignity.

And no, I don't think that's an outrageous expectation.

Absolute rubbish!

”Just be grateful” is so fucking patronising. The OP should have been treated with respect, empathy and should have been explained the process by healthcare professionals. Especially as the OP is autistic, and if diagnosed should be on her notes. People with autism and learning disabilities need to have longer appointments and any extra support offered. I know as I work for NHS and the OP’s treatment sounded awful!

We only have OPs perception of how she was treated TBF. I have an autistic daughter and I know sometimes her interpretation or feeling of a situation is not really how it happened. I'm sorry I think the OPs is over reacting and being dramatic. If everyone who needed it or felt they needed it and needed extra time and hand holding the waits and staff needed would double. This entitlement and unrealistic expectation of a woefully underfunded underesourced health service is just compounding the problem.

It’s not for you to minimise the experience the OP SAID she experienced. Who the fuck do you think you are?

You can be good at your job AND have a good bedside manner. It’s not either / or and to suggest it is is utterly ridiculous.

Well of course we only have OP’s experience of what happened. And it’s not surprising to read when I know first hand of how people with autism and learning and disabilities are treated in the NHS. As I am involved in studies within Inequalities in healthcare.

Your username is “burnt out GP” yet you show such little empathy? Gross.

nowhere did I use the word outrageous.

Yes dear I'm burnt out you do understand the meaning of that right? I'm burnt out because of the relentless demand pressure and entitlement we face on a daily basis. I have never seen anything like it in almost 30years. I have never know morale and despair to be so low because people like you think you know everything/better/how to fix it and you throw blame and swear and treat HCP like utter shit. So when the NHS is gone you can look at yourselves for what happened. I'll be long gone by then as will almost all my colleagues.

The fact that you’re blaming patients over politics on the demise of the NHS shows how little you really understand and makes me doubt if you’re even actually a HCP