Good News on the Boobie Front

From CTV.ca:

Hospital offers same-day breast cancer diagnosis

Canada's biggest cancer hospital is set to announce a clinic that can offer what no other hospital in this country can: same-day breast cancer diagnosis.

The rapid diagnostic breast clinic at Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital can provide a patient a diagnosis in a matter of hours instead of the more typical five-week wait. Patients also receive an immediate treatment plan based on their diagnosis, which explains their treatment options: surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy.

Women in Canada typically wait weeks for a diagnosis after finding a suspicious lump in their breast. But at Princess Margaret, almost 500 patients have quietly been undergoing rapid testing at the clinic as part of a pilot project that began in the fall of 2006.

The idea for the rapid diagnosis centre came from David McCready, a breast surgical oncologist at Princess Margaret. McCready had noticed that patients referred to him from Toronto and elsewhere typically waited about 37 days for a diagnosis after first seeing their doctor.

While that kind of wait does not typically compromise a patient's recovery as long as treatment begins soon after, it can cause enormous anxiety for the women who are waiting to hear if they have cancer. The clinic at Princess Margaret aims to change all that.

The key to rapid diagnosis is a costly piece of equipment, called the Xpress Rapid Tissue processor, which can prepare a sample of breast tissue for analysis in a matter of hours.

On that note, I'm up to 82% of my fundraising goal for the WEBC already! I'd love to get to $2000 by September to match the 2-day walking event, even though I'm only doing the one-day event. If you can donate, please visit my web page!

Thanks to everyone who has supported me through this!