Humour is often touted as the best medicine.
For self-confessed “oversharer” and special care nursery registered nurse Joanne Morganson, it’s been a vital coping mechanism during her breast cancer treatment journey.
After being diagnosed by BreastScreen after a routine mammogram, Jo decided to take “her girls on their final farewell tour” to Tasmania before she underwent a bilateral mastectomy in April last year.
“Humour is very important to me – we just deal with things differently in our family,” Jo said.
“I’ve always been a pretty positive person but your mindset changes after you are diagnosed. I had to learn not to think too far ahead and just take this journey and my treatment one step at a time.”
After a dense mass was found in her mammogram in March, Jo was recalled by Breastscreen and underwent a 3d mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy the same day to detect a tumour on her breast bone.
Faced with a life-altering medical diagnosis, Jo was absolute in her treatment decisions; her mother had also battled breast cancer a decade before and undergone two separate mastectomies.
“I always said if I ever got breast cancer I’d have a bilateral mastectomy,” Jo said.
“My breasts don’t define me as a woman and I knew I’d be much happier to be rid of the problem, because the alternative would eventually kill me.
“It’s at this point you realise you have two choices in life – you let it consume you or you straighten your crown and keep going.”
Being proactive about her health prompted Jo to also have ovaries and tubes removed earlier this year, just 14 months after her mastectomy.
“My grandmother died from ovarian cancer, so I made that choice too. To be proactive about it was to try and maintain some degree of control over my health,” she said.
“But being told I still needed to have chemo after my mastectomy near broke me – that was the day reality hit as I had hoped having both my breasts removed would mean that I didn’t need further treatment.”
Six weeks after the breast removal surgery in April last year, Jo had the first of four rounds of chemotherapy.
After six months’ recuperation and many ongoing checkups, Jo returned to work in the special care nursery at Mackay Base Hospital in January.
She still finds great comfort in the breast cancer support group and in April this year, her 12-month scan was clear. She maintains oncology visits every three months and will be on hormone suppressant medication for the next five to ten years.
She credits regular breast screening with saving both her and her mother’s life.
“I had my screening done every two years since I turned 40. So did my mum. Early detection of breast cancer is the absolute key,” Jo said.
“This is a wonderful service and the staff are just beautiful and very supportive. Without BreastScreen the outcomes would be very different for a lot of women like myself.
“It’s free, it’s fast and it’s convenient – why wouldn’t you do it? We are very incredibly fortunate to have this service available.”
Jo said her outlook on life had changed significantly in the 12 months since her diagnosis.
“I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore,” she said.
“I feel like I have even more to give now – I hope I can help someone else on the same journey and as I understand how it feels to walk in their shoes. I know how they feel because I’ve been there too.
“And if sharing my story prompts someone else to go and get a mammogram, then that’s a good thing.”
