She rates June 15, 2014 as one of the worst days of her life and now wants to talk about her experience so others don’t have to face a similar ordeal.

“I could say ‘too bad for other women’ but I do care about my fellow women,” the St Georges Basin resident said.

She wants women to get a second opinion.

“I am just wondering how many women in this area have had unnecessary mastectomies because in Sydney they do [the operation] very rarely now and it has to be stage three or four cancer and no other option,” she said.

When she arrived at the hospital to have a double mastectomy, she knew it would difficult but did not expect the trauma to last so long.

Mrs Loudon arrived at the hospital with her husband Col at 7am and was not operated on until 6pm.

Mr and Mrs Loudon needed to be together but were separated which caused them both much anguish.

“We have since complained and their excuse was ‘confidentiality’,” she said.

As she waited to face this major operation all alone Mrs Loudon worried about her husband when she should have been thinking of herself.

“At no time did they contact Col to tell him I was still waiting. He has MS and stress is the worst thing for him,” she said.

“He was so stressed and thought I was dead.”

She said all they had to do was bring Col in and allow him to sit with her.

“It was appalling. I am not complaining about the nursing staff, they were brilliant. It was the hospital and the system,” she said.

She still can't understand the confidentiality explanation as she has had other operations and always had a support person.

“It was the first hospital I have been in where nobody had a support person with them - it was appalling and I get emotional talking about it,” she said,

Mrs Loudon was then put in a noisy ward despite being a private patient.

“Because of the experience I was stressed beyond measure. I refuse to go back anywhere hear that hospital,” she said

She did not get the date of her follow-up appointment and is not even sure who should have given it to her and missed an appointment to have her scars reviewed.

For her reconstruction operation she went to Westmead Breast Cancer Institute and the news continued to be bad.

She has since been told by three doctors that they have not done the surgery she had at Shoalhaven for 10 years.

“The plastic surgeon just looked at me in horror,” she said.

Mrs Loudon  said the government has to get out of what she called postcode medicine.

Since the operation she found that current research indicates that mastectomy for DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer)  is rare and current research in Europe is investigating a ‘watch and wait’ approach in low grade breast cancers instead of rushing into surgery.

She wants all the up-to-date procedures available at the Shoalhaven and more operating theatres to open.

“It’s a systems failure,” she said

She has heard of similar horror stories.

“They are selling it like we have the services down here but we don’t have the services and we don’t have the manpower and we don’t have the money,” she said

She would have had one operation at the Westmead and now she has had three.

Mrs Loudon is still getting help two-and-half years later for the pain and has gone from full-time to part-time work.

She will have to have physiotherapy for the rest of her life.

Mrs Loudon is more than happy for anyone to email her on abby1956@bigpond.com for further discussion.

THE Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) received a formal complaint from Jan and Col Loudon two years ago and issued an apology.

The apology was to Mrs Loudon and her family.

ISLHD management also reinforced to all staff the importance of timely communication with a patient’s family.

“Should the family wish to raise additional concerns they are encouraged to contact the ISLHD directly,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson, in regards to updated procedures, said all medical staff are required to undertake continuing professional development (CPD) as part of the renewal of their registration and this includes updated treatment techniques.

“Shoalhaven Hospital provides a clinical environment that attracts and retains competent and skilled clinicians,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the Shoalhaven Hospital was in the middle of some redevelopments aimed at making its services even better.

“With regards to hospital facilities, the ISLHD recently announced the commencement of a $5 million redevelopment of Shoalhaven Hospital,” the spokesperson said.

“This includes the $1.5 million construction of an additional operating theatre suite, designed specifically for endoscopy services; a $1.8 million re-configuration and expansion of the Emergency Department and the $1.5 million redevelopment of Medical Ward B into an Aged Care Unit.

“All works are scheduled for completion in early 2017.”

In regards to why it took so long for Mrs Loudon to be operated on ISLHD, in writing, stated  that the decision to delay planned surgeries was not taken lightly.

In Mrs Loudon's situation an emergency case needed to be completed which is why her procedure was delayed.

The ISLHD maintains the reason why Mr Louden could not stay with his wife was to maintain patient confidentiality and privacy.