Dr Sue Lo, Senior Medical Oncologist, Gets Chatty with Docdoc

Breast cancer is the top cancer among women in the world. There are other women cancers such as bowl cancer, lung cancer and cervical cancer. Breast cancer is getting more common because our lifestyle has changed. Oncology is a relatively new specialty. Research is ongoing. A lot of new things are coming up. Oncologists have to keep up to date with all the latest developments and latest publications, but also reading journals regularly; articles regularly. For cervical cancer, the recommendation is anyone above the age of 21 who are sexually active should have a screening cervical test regularly. Signs to watch out for would be back pain, change in bowl habit. Anything women feel not quite right, they should go seek advice from an Oncologist to just establish what is the cause of the change. Breast lumps, changes in the skin, any bleeding or discharge from the ***. On the mammogram, we should pick up very early stages of breast cancer - this is very curable. When a patient's just been told that they've been diagnosed with cancer, that would be a very difficult, traumatic time. This is a crucial time - it is very important that they see an Oncologist who can go through treatment plans, giving them to coping strategies. Once there's a plan, I noticed that most my patience would be able to focus and aim at getting better. I have been in this field for about 15-20 year now and i've seen a lot of them move on. Recently, two of my women went on a catwalk. They have bi-lateral mastectomy - that means both *** were removed. But had reconstructions. They look professional, and just glamourous. So, there is life after cancer.