So Now I’ve Got Breast Cancer

I know what it’s like to have your sex life turned upside down by breast cancer treatment. I’d only been married for a couple of years and neither my husband Dermot or I were prepared for what was about to happen. I wanted him to divorce me and find a woman with 2 healthy breasts and a libido to match.And I know I’m not alone.

You’ve sent me so many questions about this that have made my heart break just reading them, and I’m thrilled that we’ve got Charlene Douglas with us this episode to answer them.

Charlene, aka The Intimacy Coach UK,  is a  sex and relationship therapist known for her TV appearances on Married at First Sight and The Sex Clinic. She delivers workshops for Macmillan about cancer, sex and intimacy, and she talks about the importance of getting to know ourselves again before we even speak to our partners.

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Here are the websites Charlene mentioned:

OMGYES -  https://start.omgyes.com/

Ferly - mindful sex - https://weareferly.com/

Climax.how - https://climax.how/

The College of Sex and Relationship Therapists can be found here - https://www.cosrt.org.uk/

And The Menopause Charity is here - https://www.themenopausecharity.org/

More information about Ohnuts - https://www.jodivine.com/products/ohnut-classic-buffer-rings?page=2

And there are loads of brands of sex cushions out there - just search ‘sex cushions’ to see some options.  

Charlene’s website The Intimacy Coach UK contains information and resources for anyone struggling with questions about their sex life - and details of how you can book therapy sessions with Charlene herself - https://www.theintimacycoachuk.com/

And she has a book coming out! You can pre-order it here:  Come Closer: Everything You Ever Wanted to Ask a Sex and Relationship Therapist: Amazon.co.uk: Douglas, Charlene: 9780241678879: Books

You can also find Charlene on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/charlenedouglasofficial/?hl=en

And join Charlene’s Facebook group for women here - Pleasure, Fun, and Intimacy! - For Women Who Want More. | Facebook 

Charlene also contributed to the booklet  ‘Pleasure & Intimacy: A Guide for People Living with Cancer’ which you can download here - https://issuu.com/fruitflycollective/docs/sex_cancer_book

My amazing  podcast poet is Donna Ashworth and you heard  a poem from her new book ‘Wild Hope - available now in all online bookstores. You can find out more about Donna on her website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

You can also watch this episode! Head to my Youtube channel @DrLizORiordan to see this season’s episodes as they are released and lots of other useful videos full of reliable information. 

And that’s the last episode in this series! Thanks so much to everyone who’s sent a question and sorry that I haven’t been able to include all of them. 

If you’ve got a question for Season 3, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

You can still sign up to my monthly newsletter here 

And another place to find out more about breast cancer is my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’. If you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is also available in all good bookshops.

Finally, if you loved the show and want to help other women like you find it, you can leave a 5-star review wherever you get your podcasts, or you can show your support to help keep the show going and buy me a coffee here.

I’ll see you later this year for Season 3 x

Is it true that sugar feeds cancer? Do you really need to detox? What should you eat when you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer? As a breast surgeon I had no idea my patients were scouring the internet looking for a miracle diet, but the minute I became a patient I realised how much misinformation is out there regarding what we should eat. On this episode I’m going to set the record straight with the help of Dr Clare Shaw, consultant oncology dietitian and author of The Royal Marsden Cancer Cookbook.

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Here are some of the resources Clare mentioned: 

British Dietetic Association 

https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/cancer-diets-myths-and-more.html

World Cancer Research Fund

https://www.wcrf-uk.org/healthy-eating/ 

https://www.wcrf-uk.org/health-advice-and-support/living-with-cancer/living-with-cancer-your-questions-answered/

Cancer Research UK

https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2023/07/19/lets-get-to-the-bottom-of-it-7-common-cancer-myths-unpicked/ 

And you can download the Royal Marsden guide to food safety here - https://patientinfolibrary.royalmarsden.nhs.uk/document/download/1417

My amazing  podcast poet is Donna Ashworth and you heard  a poem from her new book ‘Wild Hope - available now in all online bookstores. You can find out more about Donna on her website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

If you’ve got a question for the show, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

If you’ve got a question for season two, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

You can also watch this episode! Head to my Youtube channel @DrLizORiordan to see this season’s episodes as they are released and lots of other useful videos full of reliable information. 

AND MY BRAND NEW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER IS HERE! Find out what I’ve been up to and get some useful recommendations by subscribing here 

Another place to find out more about breast cancer is my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’. And if you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is also available in all good bookshops.

Have you found out that you need to have radiotherapy? Do you want to know how it works or why you need it in the first place? Maybe you're worried about the side effects? In this episode I’m going to answer all your questions about radiotherapy with this weeks’ experts, Jo and Naman, the two therapeutic radiographers behind the award-winning podcast RadChat.

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You can find out all about Radchat and loads of radiotherapy support sites here 

My amazing  podcast poet is Donna Ashworth and you heard  a poem from her new book ‘Wild Hope - available now in all online bookstores. You can find out more about Donna on her website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

If you’ve got a question for the show, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

If you’ve got a question for season two, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

You can also watch this episode! Head to my Youtube channel @DrLizORiordan to see this season’s episodes as they are released and lots of other useful videos full of reliable information. 

AND MY BRAND NEW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER IS HERE! Find out what I’ve been up to and get some useful recommendations by subscribing here 

Another place to find out more about breast cancer is my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’. And if you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is also available in all good bookshops.

One of the questions I dreaded getting asked when I worked as a breast surgeon was ‘How do I tell my children?’ I don’t have children of my own, and I had no idea what to say. My breast care nurses would step in and I would breathe a sigh of relief. Judging from all your questions this week, telling your children you have cancer can be fraught with anxiety, worry, guilt and stress. And that’s the last thing you need when you’re going through breast cancer treatment.

This week’s guest is here to help. Caroline Leek is the founder and director of the FruitFly collective. Caroline’s mission at FruitFly is to help families talk about cancer, death and grief and to support children of any age with the tools they need to help them cope and know they’re not alone, and I’m thrilled she was able to join me - IN PERSON - for this special episode which you can also watch on my Youtube channel. 

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Here are some of the websites Caroline mentioned: 

www.parentingwithcancer.org

www.fruitflycollective.com

www.pipskit.com

Ruth strauss foundation  - for people facing end of life - https://ruthstraussfoundation.com/

Mummys star - https://www.mummysstar.org/

 http://www.riprap.org.uk/ 

You can also book tickets to the Parenting with Cancer conference in May here - (delegates are bothe healthcare professionals and parents)

https://buytickets.at/fruitflycollective/1059526

If you’ve got a question for the show, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

You can also watch this episode! Head to my Youtube channel @DrLizORiordan to see this season’s episodes as they are released and lots of other useful videos full of reliable information. 

AND MY BRAND NEW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER IS HERE! Find out what I’ve been up to and get some useful recommendations by subscribing here 

Another place to find out more about breast cancer is my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’. And if you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is also available in all good bookshops.

One of the first questions my patients asked when I told them they needed chemo was ‘Am I going to lose my hair?’. And when your hair does fall out, there are even more questions. Why does it come back grey and curly? How do I explain to my children that I’m bald? Where can you find a decent wig? On this episode I’m going to answer all your questions about hair loss with this week’s guest, Jasmin Julia Gupta, founder of the charity Cancer Hair Care. She's a hairdresser and a hair loss expert who  consults with the NHS and major charities like Breast Cancer Now, Macmillan and the Teenage Cancer Trust, and she wrote the first ever ‘Afro hair chemotherapy guide.

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The Cancer hair Care website can be found here:  https://www.cancerhaircare.co.uk/

You can find out how to find a wig or cancer-specific hair care, you can order a hair-loss doll and learn more about scalp cooling. 

This is the Paxman support site just for cold caps :  https://coldcap.com/

You can download the free book Jasmin mentioned here

https://www.cancerhaircare.co.uk/book-free-download/

To contact Jasmin’s team’s Phone Support Service: https://www.cancerhaircare.co.uk/support-services-overview/contact-us/

My amazing  podcast poet is Donna Ashworth and you heard  a poem from her new book ‘Wild Hope - available now in all online bookstores. You can find out more about Donna on her website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

If you’ve got a question for the show, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

If you’ve got a question for season two, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

You can also watch this episode! Head to my Youtube channel @DrLizORiordan to see this season’s episodes as they are released and lots of other useful videos full of reliable information. 

AND MY BRAND NEW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER IS HERE! Find out what I’ve been up to and get some useful recommendations by subscribing here 

Another place to find out more about breast cancer is my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’. And if you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is also available in all good bookshops.

Just hearing the words ‘you need chemotherapy’ can turn your world upside down. I hated telling my patients they needed it, and when I found I out I would have it myself, I felt lost.Would my hair fall out? How bad would it be? Would it work? How would I cope? Add to that the other drugs we give patients - targeted therapies and immunotherapy - it can feel like treatment never ends. That’s when you need someone in your pocket you can call for help, and on this episode  we have Rachel Clifton, a Macmillan Breast Oncology Nurse Specialist. I worked with her when I was a consultant at Ipswich and I knew she was the one to answer all your questions. Not only is Rachel an incredible nurse, but she’s passionate about raising the profile of metastatic breast cancer, with the ‘Secondary. Not Second Rate’ campaign. But there’s more - she’s even been a nurse advisor for Holby City.

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Rachel’s go to sources are  Breast Cancer Now, which has useful information about chemo here, and Macmillan, whose chemo pages for breast cancer are here 

She also mentioned the amazing Cancer Hair Care - who will be on the show next week! But if you can’t wait their website is here. 

The Cancer Care Map can also signpost you to support services near you - see their website here

If you’ve got a question for the show, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

If you’ve got a question for season two, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

You can also watch this episode! Head to my Youtube channel @DrLizORiordan to see this season’s episodes as they are released and lots of other useful videos full of reliable information. 

AND MY BRAND NEW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER IS HERE! Find out what I’ve been up to and get some useful recommendations by subscribing here 

Another place to find out more about breast cancer is my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’. And if you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is also available in all good bookshops.

Finally, if you loved the show and want to help other women like you find it, you can leave a 5-star review wherever you get your podcasts, or you can show your support to help keep the show going and buy me a coffee here.

Are you struggling to decide what breast surgery to choose? Do you want to know if it’s worth having both breasts removed? How do you work out whether to have a breast reconstruction? There are so many things to consider when it comes to breast surgery, and in this episode I’m going to answer all your questions with this week’s guest, Anushka Chaudhry. She’s a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon and like me and is committed to making sure her patients get the best possible care. She also dedicates her spare time to helping her patients. She set up the Aurora Breast Cancer Wellbeing Charity and posts videos on Instagram to explain breast cancer treatment. We’re  really lucky to have her as a guest. 

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You can follow Anushka on instagram -  @askanushka

Or visit her website: www.anushkachaudhry.com

Her support group Aurora for younger women with breast cancer is here: @aurorabreastcancerwellbeing

And you can follow South Asian Supernovas here: @southasiansupernovas  

My amazing  podcast poet is Donna Ashworth and you heard  a poem from her new book ‘Wild Hope - available now in all online bookstores. You can find out more about Donna on her website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

If you’ve got a question for the show, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

You can also watch this episode! Head to my Youtube channel @DrLizORiordan to see this season’s episodes as they are released and lots of other useful videos full of reliable information. 

AND MY BRAND NEW MONTHLY NEWSLETTER IS HERE! Find out what I’ve been up to and get some useful recommendations by subscribing here 

Another place to find out more about breast cancer is my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’. And if you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is also available in all good bookshops.

Finally, if you loved the show and want to help other women like you find it, you can leave a 5-star review wherever you get your podcasts, or you can show your support to help keep the show going and buy me a coffee here.

I'm really excited to tell you that we're starting season 2 with a bit of sparkle. Amy Dowden is one of the highest ranked ballroom and Latin American dancers in the county, and star of Saturday Night blockbuster TV show Strictly Come Dancing.  And like many of you, I was so  angry and sad  when she told us that she had breast cancer in May last year at the age of 32. She’s bravely shared each step of her journey, and  I’m thrilled that Amy has joined me to talk about her diagnosis, dealing with breast cancer in public, and of course, her  dancing. 

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Amy’s new series of Dare to Dance will be available on BBC iPlayer from 10th March. 

If you’ve got a question for season two, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. 

You can find me on social media  -  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

You can also watch this episode! Head to my Youtube channel @DrLizORiordan to see this season’s episodes as they are released and lots of other useful videos full of reliable information. 

Another place to find out more about breast cancer is my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’. And if you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is also available in all good bookshops.

I’m  excited to announce that So Now I’ve Got Breast Cancer is back! Season two is coming soon, packed full of useful - and reliable - information for anyone who’s just been diagnosed, from how to tell your kids, to how chemo works, and what to eat… all powered by YOUR questions.  Here’s a little flavour of season one, and details below of how you can get in touch.

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If you’ve got a question for season two, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. You can find me on social media (see below), or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

You can also watch the podcast this season! Head to my Youtube channel @DrLizORiordan to see this season’s episodes as they are released and lots of other useful videos full of reliable information. 

You can follow me on social media for regular updates - Instagram, Twitter and Facebook 

Another place to find out more about breast cancer is my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’. And if you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is also available in all good bookshops.

Finally, if you loved the show and want to help other women like you find it, you can leave a 5-star review wherever you get your podcasts, or you can show your support to help keep the show going and buy me a coffee here.

To mark the end of the month I’m releasing another bonus episode! This is  a conversation I had in my previous podcast Don’t Ignore the Elephant which was hugely popular and I think could help you too.  It’s all about sex, and I’m in conversation with sex expert Sam Evans - aka Sam Talks Sex. 

After Annice’s episode on the menopause, I had so many questions about sex and intimacy, and a lot of your queries are answered in this show. We cover sexual health, sexual pleasure, why lube is your best friend and how to learn to be intimate again when cancer has stolen your sex drive. I had emails from women crying tears of happiness after listening the first time, thanking me for letting them know they’re not alone. I hope it can do the same to you.

Follow Sam on Instagram here

And find out more about Jo Divine here

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If you’ve got a question for me for season two, then please get in touch online or send me a voice note. You can find me on social media (see below), or e-mail me at [email protected] . 

If you want to find out more about breast cancer whilst you’re waiting for the next series to drop, you can watch the videos on my YouTube Channel  or read my book ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’

If you’re nosey and want to find out more about my life, my memoir  ‘Under The Knife’ - is available in all good bookshops.

You can follow me on social media for regular updates - Instagram, Twitter and Facebook