Series 1, Episode 2 - Surgery

Surgery may be your first step in your cancer treatment.  What are the surgeons looking for when they’re operating on your cancer? 

Once you've discovered you've got cancer it's understandable you want it out.

For most of us surgery is the first step in the journey to recovery. It's a relief to think of the cancer as gone from your body.  But doctors are not always as quick to rush into surgery as they once were.  New treatments designed to shrink tumours and check their spread can make smaller less invasive operations an option.

So what are surgeons looking for when they decide to operate?  What does cancer look like?  Is cancer a big black alien lump?   How have cancer surgery techniques changed and improved?  What can you expect when you meet your cancer surgeon?

In this podcast you'll be meeting Miss Caroline Baker Head of Breast Surgery St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and Mr David Deutscher - a Surgeon based in Ballarat, Victoria.