Cancer doesn’t wait

Looking back, Michelle Honey wishes she had put her health first.

But life has a way of getting in the way — whether it was covering shifts for her staff or dealing with the needs of others, it was nearly 12 months before Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Part of the problem was a long waiting list for diagnostic mammograms in Shepparton, meaning the large lump she had found wasn’t further examined for a month.

Now she’s urging other women to ensure they are their own biggest advocates when it comes to their health.

“I knew something was wrong, I should have kept going back,” Michelle said.

“Time just gets away and we put work ahead of ourselves and we shouldn’t.”

Michelle, 54, had a mammogram in early 2022 for a suspect lump, which ended up being breastbone, and was given the all clear.

Then she started getting a “filling” sensation in her breasts, like she was breastfeeding.

Months later she found a big lump and “instantly knew it wasn’t right”.

But, working nearly 60 hours a week managing a coffee shop, covering shifts for staff and with the passing of her dad with cancer in June, she “kept putting things off”.

When she did eventually book a doctor’s appointment, she forgot to take it after someone called in sick and she ended up working.

Finally in early December she saw a doctor and was told she needed a diagnostic mammogram.

When she tried to book with I-MED — the only provider of the service in Shepparton — she was told they were booked out until January.

“I thought I’d ring and re-book after Christmas, so that’s what I did,” she said.

“It was really silly but I couldn’t get in anyway, so there was not a lot I could do.”

In January, Michelle was diagnosed with stage two elevated breast cancer, grade three (fast growing) and triple negative.

“I’ll have chemo and immunotherapy for six months and then they will go in and take it out,” she said.

In an unfortunate coincidence, Michelle’s mother was also diagnosed with breast cancer at around the same time, and also had to wait three to four weeks for a mammogram.

Their experiences aren’t anomalies.

A Shepparton woman, who did not wish to be named, had an ache under her armpit and did a breast self-check when she found a lump.

She was referred for a mammogram by her doctor in September last year but when she tried to book with I-MED Shepparton they told her it was a six-week wait, so she went online and booked an appointment in six days’ time at a Melbourne I-MED clinic.

“By the time the Shepparton clinic rang with a cancellation four weeks later, I already knew I had cancer, the particular type and size, and a possible treatment plan,” she said.

“If I had waited for an appointment [in Shepparton] I would have been riddled with it.”

She said it was a stressful experience, not wanting to tell her family until she was sure of what it was and had a plan in place.

“If I didn’t have the means and support to go to Melbourne — a lot of people don’t have that or aren’t aware how fast it can spread,” she said.

“Cancer doesn’t wait.”

In a statement in early March, I-MED said extended wait times for specialised health services was an industry-wide problem in Australia, and particularly in regional centres such as Shepparton.

It anticipated the wait time for routine mammography would return to acceptable levels within the next month.

“As the only provider of diagnostic mammograms in Shepparton and surrounds, we understand the anxiety and stress that long waits for mammography appointments may cause for our local patients,” the statement said.

“To ease the situation, we have been taking active measures over the past months, including recruiting additional personnel to increase our capacity for appointments and temporarily relocating staff from other I-MED clinics to Shepparton to improve resourcing.”

Michelle wanted to share her experience to bring awareness to other women to trust their instincts.

“I want everyone to be aware, if they find the smallest lump please do not just think it’s going to be okay,” she said.

“If you feel something is wrong keep going back.”

Now Michelle is keeping a positive outlook as she undergoes treatment.

“You have some really good days and you have some really bad days.

“You try to be positive and eat well and exercise and do all the right things because I've got grown children, I want to be here for them — I want to do everything possible to be here.

“So I’m giving myself time to put everything aside and it’s just all about me.”

Part of that is doing cold-capping at ‒38°C to try and keep her hair.

“That's a hard thing on top of chemo, but I want to be as normal as possible and if that's me keeping my hair, that's what I'm going to do.”

She said the staff and doctors at GV Health’s cancer centre and at I-MED Shepparton had been phenomenal.

“I could not praise them enough — we’re very lucky to have them.”

For information on breast cancer awareness, including what to look for during self-examination, visit www.bcna.org.au or www.cancervic.org.au