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Jay Harness, MD: Lisa did you have the same sort of "shock and awe" experience?
Lisa Schneider: Oh absolutely. Like I always say, it's that deer in the headlights, and
you're stunned. And so many people want to offer suggestions and advice to you, and yet
you're just kind of staring at them in disbelief that it's actually happening to you. And now
you have to find a team, and what's my next step. And until you settle down from the news
that' s just been given to you. I remember, we were out of town. We were up in the mountains
of Arizona fishing as a family and all of a sudden I get the phone call, "Yeah I'm sorry
it was breast cancer," and I'm sitting there by myself going oh my gosh.
Jay Harness, MD: There's a couple really critical points that I want to get across to our listening
audience. First of all, just like Anne Marie said, despite whatever your preparation is,
you're not actually ready for the real answer. Okay, that's number one. Number two: always
have people with you. Anne Marie, the way you did it with your husband there and your
mom and others, because what typically happens is your mind is going blank at that moment.
We'll talk about chemo brain later on, but this is called the "shock and awe" phase.
It's almost like you can't take the words in. It's hard for the people who are with
you, but they're able to absorb way more than what you're able to absorb, and the typical
surgeons like my colleagues and myself, want to start sharing information with you. And
your story about your mom is perfect, because that brain is not quite in shock and awe and
all of a sudden the questions start coming in. I just want to share with our audience
that this is a very very typical situation. Lisa I will tell you, I hate giving people
diagnosis over the phone, because I really want them to be here with me so I can interact
with them. So for phase one, that was really critically important.