“So, how’s the vulva going?” said the locum oncologist in a loud voice across the crowded chemo ward. Sounds like fiction but it is not. It is an example of a comment from one of the many uncomfortable conversations that Nicola has had in her six-year lived experience of cancer. Diagnosed in 2018 with a rare cancer, Nicola has been a patient, a survivor, a carer for a terminally ill cancer patient and a supportive best friend to a friend with ovarian cancer. She will present her personal experience dealing with uncomfortable conversations in these roles.
Cancer is awkward making communication about it challenging. She will describe encounters with health professionals, talking to family and friends about cancer and treatment, and awkward discussions about death and dying.
“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influence by them for good or ill.” Buddha.