Dr. Catherine Sue Hwang had treated dozens of breast cancer patients and felt she knew everything about the disease.
So it was a complete shock when, despite having no symptoms or family history of the disease, a routine mammogram found five growths in her right breast.
The 46-year-old, from Florida, went from being a radiation oncologist at a major breast radiation oncology center in Orlando to being one of the patients.
She had both her breasts removed, several rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and then another operation to have her uterus and ovaries removed to combat the disease.
She was left with hair loss, hot flashes and weight gain that she couldn’t eliminate – and struggled after being told she had a 15 percent chance of not surviving until 2035.
Now Dr Hwang has revealed how being a patient – rather than a doctor – has revealed to her that much of the advice doctors give to patients can be ‘insensitive’ and has left her feeling guilty.
One example she gave was the advice doctors give out telling patients with cancer to shave their heads so they can feel like they have the disease “under control.”
She said this was just one of many things doctors should reconsider telling patients.
Dr. Catherine Sue Hwang, pictured, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 46. She has revealed how this has affected the way she treats patients
Dr. Hwang, who shared her cancer journey on Instagram, is pictured above in two roles discussing her treatment for the disease
Writing a guest essay for the HuffPostshe said: ‘I have spent the last fifteen years of my life as a practicing radiation oncologist and considered myself a cancer expert.
“(But) standing on the arena floor and fighting this terrible disease as a patient has made me a more effective physician who does not lose focus on the patient’s humanity.”
Using the head shaving advice as an example, she said, “As a doctor, I encouraged patients to shave their heads to regain control,” she wrote, “as a patient, however, I could never bring myself to do it either.” actually do. ‘.
‘Despite looking ridiculous with a huge bald spot, I found comfort in keeping the hair that was left on my head because it represented the person I was a pre-cancerous person – a person I wasn’t sure I would ever find him again.’
She also talked about how she had previously ‘judged’ women who had refused chemotherapy to preserve their hair, thinking they were perpetuating vanity about their own lives.
But now she said she understood their position.
“The temporary loss of my hair affected my self-esteem more than the permanent loss of my breasts,” she said.
“As someone who has always been known for having a great head of hair, I had a lot of trouble with it.”
She also criticized the diet plans she had previously given to breast cancer patients struggling with weight gain.
Breast cancer treatment can trigger menopause because it causes shifts in hormone levels, with the side effect of the change being weight gain.
Dr. Hwang said one of the main effects of her treatment was that her hair fell out (pictured)
She is seen above in an online reel raising awareness about the risks of breast cancer
Dr. Hwang, who is 6 feet tall, gained 10 pounds (4.5 kg) during her treatment — an amount she found impossible to change despite following the diet plan she gave to patients.
“I now understood my patients’ frustrations and felt extremely guilty for causing them mistakes when they weren’t seeing results,” she said.
Dr. Hwang also wrote about how she had previously dismissed patients with low-risk cancer who were concerned about their death, often telling them that they were unlikely to die or that their cancer, if it returned, would be picked up through routine scans .
But when her own diagnosis came and she was given an 85 percent chance of surviving the next decade, she said that – with three sons – this was not nearly high enough.
“The insensitivity of the comments I have made to patients in the past became abundantly clear,” she said.
“Even though I didn’t have a low-risk disease, I can now identify with that desire to exhaust all options to get the best possible outcome because cancer is scary.”
Dr. Hwang was diagnosed with breast cancer last year after a routine mammogram and ultrasound, with mammograms recommended every two years for women ages 40 to 75.
She was first treated with a bilateral mastectomy – or surgery to remove both breasts – which doctors said would likely be the end.
But then it turned out that her cancer seemed to have spread – and Dr. Hwang was then signed up for chemotherapy and radiation.
She returned to work two weeks after her mastectomy – following the advice she would give to patients that they should return to their routines to try to manage mental worries about the diagnosis.
Her uterus and ovaries were subsequently removed to control symptoms, and she will now undergo maintenance treatment for fifteen years. Her cancer is now in remission.
Dr. Hwang works at AdventHealth Cancer Institute in Orlando.
About 272,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S. each year, a number that has increased by about one percent per year since 2012 — even as deaths have fallen, with an estimated 42,000 this year.
Doctors have blamed a range of factors for the rise in rates, from more overweight women to pesticide exposure.
In most patients, the cancer is diagnosed in the first or second stage, where the cancer is easier to treat because the cancer has not spread and about 93 percent live longer than five years.
Women aged 40 to 74 are told to have a mammogram every two years to check for breast cancer cells.