When I talk about this, I want to really make it clear that this wasn't a case where I was advocating hard and my doctor denied me something. Every year I go to see my family doctor. There are certain things we've done—a pap, for example. By the way, I've never been asked about my personal preference or my values and whether or not I want to have a pap. That's kind of interesting to me.
It was just about the things that needed to be done. I needed blood work. I needed my tetanus shot. When I asked if I needed to have a mammogram, since I was 40, the response was, no, the Canadian guidelines now say that you don't need to have one until you're 50. I asked again later on, I believe when I was 45, and received a very similar response. It was a very casual discussion. I think that's probably more reflective of the types of conversations that are happening between patients and doctors in busy family doctor offices.
I was also told that I had no family history, and therefore I was very low risk, which I have now found out is not true. We know that the majority of breast cancers that are found in women are found in women without a family history.