RX: Early Detection - A Cancer Journey with Sandra Lee

I was diagnosed with breast cancer ( invasive ductal carcinoma and DCIS ) in August and have a bilateral mastectomy scheduled in January after 12 weeks of chemo. I had read about this documentary and had looked forward to watching it to garner more information from someone who had already experienced a similar journey. My husband and I came away totally confused and quite frankly a bit outraged. Sandra Lee had the opportunity to inform and educate. She never once mentioned the type or stage/grade of cancer she was diagnosed with, why she did not need chemo or radiation and if/when she had reconstruction surgery. The kicker was the seven night VIP hospital stay. "Regular" breast cancer surgery patients are allowed a one night stay and go home with four drains. Let's not even talk about her conversation with a 16 year old cancer patient or Andrew Cuomo going into the OR with her. She did a grave disservice with this skewed account to all women experiencing the trauma of a breast cancer diagnosis.

As a 15 year post-lumpectomy/ chemo/ radiation female, I applaud Ms Lee's desire to encourage early detection. However, so many women and men face this process w/o designer sheets, 7 day hospital stays and special accommodations because of their "connections." I thought that this was about cancer, not these lovers' chance to puff their careers.Additionally,have they never heard of HIPAA when pressing the young lady for her reason to be hospitalized? Disappointing.

As just gone through the same surgery as Sandra Lee I believe she does a great disservice to the Breast Cancer Community. 1. No one walks into the OR. You begin at Preoperative where many things are gone over with your doctors and nurses. 2 No breast cancer patient stays in the hospital for 7 days. It's normally a 1 night stay. Then again you can personally pay for everything you want. 3. Your husband/boyfriend cannot come into the OR to say good luck... that is not done. 4. She had more cancer than they thought? If so she would have had chemotherapy and radiation. 5 ridiculous to show with such graphics the mastectomy. Somethings no one needs to see.

I applaud Sandra Lee for getting the word out that early detection for breast cancer indeed saves lives. However I feel she did an injustice to the breast cancer community with her very specific non educational portrayal. She could have made clear that because she had very early stage 0 she luckily avoided chemo therapy and radiation. However, no where did I hear her stage of cancer or the mention of additional treatment.

As a recent breast cancer survivor diagnosed with Stage 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma dual sited Triple Negative AND Er+, my surgery stay for a double mastectomy was overnight at one of the finest cancer institutes in Manhattan, Memorial Sloan Kettering. Her one week stay didn't portray a standard depiction of breast cancer surgery. Perhaps it was her "connections" or due to another reason she didn't divulge, but I found it in poor taste to act like this was a normal part of a breast cancer journey.

Breast cancer is unique to everyone. I pray that Gov. Cuomo doesn't use her journey as a publicity stunt on the campaign trail to appeal to women voters. However, I know we, as women, are smarter than to fall for that.

Could not agree more with previous reviews. I found this doc infuriating to watch. And zero points for "education". Hey Sandra, you had stage 0 cancer - your chances of dying of breast cancer are literally no greater than someone with no breast cancer at all. Several professional orgs have been proposing to take the word "cancer" out of that diagnosis "stage" for over a decade for that very reason. You headed out on a "look at me" self-pity tour over something that you vastly exaggerated. The reason you had a longer hospital stay was bc you elected to have your almost-certain-never-to-spread cancer over-treated with a double mastectomy and got an infection as a result (current medical thought is to do nothing with stage 0 except watch). I had cellulitis from radiation, you could have avoided it totally. You carefully seemed to avoid discussing staging and treatment (because you needed none). The callousness of your attitude towards that poor teen was beyond belief. Sorry, this stage 4 bc patient thinks you're a big, attention seeking phony. I have tons of compassion for my fellow bosom buddies but when it comes to you, I'm not impressed one little bit. We would all swap places with you in a New York minute, we all had the same response. The difference is, the rest of us don't go around courting attention. I might have felt differently if this doc had any redeeming educational value...