Too fat to talk to, too fat for surgery

I have inflammatory breast cancer which has spread to my lymph nodes, as there are no non-evasive treatments for this as yet and not likely to be for several years, the only option appears mastectomy which I am keen to avoid, however, I was keen to explore my options and talk to a team that did reconstruction.  One of the oncologists referred me to the Hospital who basically spoke to me like i was subhuman, refused to speak to me because of my BMI so clearly I am too fat to even talk to (even though BMI is completely unscientific), and basically did not read the referral, and told me to get an implant, which is particularly hurtful as you cannot get an implant with my type of cancer.  I then wrote to PALS to complain, rather than apologising and inviting me to a chat, I get a further email from one of their nurses to waffle on about BMI who clearly did not read the referral form.  I advised that I did not want any further contact from their team as it is clear they should not be working in healthcare, as they did not read the referral, I was too fat and subhuman for them to even talk to me, and they appear more concerned about BMI and taking an unsupportive approach.  The request was simple, a discussion with a surgeon around my reconstruction options.  

I am wondering has anyone else experienced such frustration and discrimination????  I am disgusted with how I have been treated but also if someone's BMI is too high then they should be supported to lose weight if they want surgery.  I suspect that this nonsensical BMI rubbish has nothing to do with risks at all but it is because the Government is trying to save money and does not see breast reconstruction as vital surgery.  

Has anyone else been told they are too fat for surgery or even been refused a chat about treatment options due to their weight?

Rose 

  • It sounds like you have had an extremely upsetting and frustrating experience for you.  It's all that you need when you are facing.a breast cancer.

    Leaving the BMI terminology aside, I wondered if you yourself had any concerns about your weight and going through an operation?

    If you do not, then I guess it's worth getting a 2nd opinion from someone who is more in line with your way of thinking.

    If you do not, do you think it would be worth thinking about how to go about losing weight?

    In any event, I would write down a list of questions, specific to reconstruction surgery, that's you can ask if any Dr you see. Then you can make sure you get answers to the questions that are really bothering you

    I hope this helps. Good luck with everything and let us know how you get on.