When menopause arrives overnight

Mm, yeah.

It, it, as you describe your story, I just kept picturing dominoes.

You know, the first domino falling and it leading to the next thing, to the next thing, to the next thing, because there is a thread that runs through all of it.

And yes, you could stand on one side and say, "But your cancer's gone.

At least you're here." Okay, no one's going to, you know, argue that point, are they, and choose the alternative of not treating your cancer.

So it's almost, that's almost too silly to put as part of the conversation, because pretty much everybody, apart from some very elderly people, I do come across very elderly people who choose not to have cancer treatment because they're perhaps 85 years old, and the, the, the practicalities of that treatment aren't compatible with their other comorbid conditions.

But for most women facing breast cancer, I, I, I can't think of anyone I've come across under the age of their late 80s where they've not opted to have some treatment.

So it's not just about, well, survival at any cost.

We have to consider-

Yes

... that there is a human being here who, yes, wants to treat their cancer, but needs to understand what that roadmap is going to look like.

And I th- I want to come back to the first, uh, point that you raised, which made me go, "Hmm," when I was, when you emailed me and, and gave me the outline of your story, was that they, they took your Mirena coil away.

So you obviously were living with a Mirena coil, and, um, without assuming that everybody knows the role of a Mirena coil, it is an intrauterine device that releases a tiny amount of progesterone into the uterus, so it acts very locally.

It is a fantastic contraceptive.

It's also a recognized treatment for heavy bleeding, and it's also used as part of hormone replacement therapy to provide endometrial protection in many women, very successfully, I might add.

What we don't know for sure is what role it plays, good or bad, in s- a woman who has breast cancer.

But you haven't mentioned that that was discussed as-

No

... an option or not.

I'm guessing it didn't form part of the conversation.

And I think, I don't know, maybe I'm unique among women, but I, I think I'm fairly average that I Don't really, and it, prior to this, I didn't really know an awful lot.

I, I just knew that the Mirena coil would stop the heavy bleeding.

That's all I knew.

I didn't know.

Exactly.

Mm, yeah.

It, it, as you describe your story, I just kept picturing dominoes.

You know, the first domino falling and it leading to the next thing, to the next thing, to the next thing, because there is a thread that runs through all of it.

And yes, you could stand on one side and say, "But your cancer's gone.

At least you're here." Okay, no one's going to, you know, argue that point, are they, and choose the alternative of not treating your cancer.

So it's almost, that's almost too silly to put as part of the conversation, because pretty much everybody, apart from some very elderly people, I do come across very elderly people who choose not to have cancer treatment because they're perhaps 85 years old, and the, the, the practicalities of that treatment aren't compatible with their other comorbid conditions.

But for most women facing breast cancer, I, I, I can't think of anyone I've come across under the age of their late 80s where they've not opted to have some treatment.

So it's not just about, well, survival at any cost.

We have to consider-

Yes

... that there is a human being here who, yes, wants to treat their cancer, but needs to understand what that roadmap is going to look like.

And I th- I want to come back to the first, uh, point that you raised, which made me go, "Hmm," when I was, when you emailed me and, and gave me the outline of your story, was that they, they took your Mirena coil away.

So you obviously were living with a Mirena coil, and, um, without assuming that everybody knows the role of a Mirena coil, it is an intrauterine device that releases a tiny amount of progesterone into the uterus, so it acts very locally.

It is a fantastic contraceptive.

It's also a recognized treatment for heavy bleeding, and it's also used as part of hormone replacement therapy to provide endometrial protection in many women, very successfully, I might add.

What we don't know for sure is what role it plays, good or bad, in s- a woman who has breast cancer.

But you haven't mentioned that that was discussed as-

No

... an option or not.

I'm guessing it didn't form part of the conversation.

And I think, I don't know, maybe I'm unique among women, but I, I think I'm fairly average that I Don't really, and it, prior to this, I didn't really know an awful lot.

I, I just knew that the Mirena coil would stop the heavy bleeding.

That's all I knew.

I didn't know.

Exactly.