Bad news from a friend: her 35 year old daughter-in-law, mother of two, full of life, has just been diagnosed with multiple breast cancer tumors. Apparently, she'd been aware of lumps for some time, but had dragged her feet getting them checked out. What's ahead is chemotherapy, followed by surgery, it seems.
So it is time for another rant about how women must not be afraid to have lumps investigated, and, if they're over 50, to have regular mammograms. My own ductal carcinoma in situ turned up in a mammogram about four years ago, and treatment--lumpectomy and radiation--went very well, thank you very much. (Please note, though, that routine mammograms for women under 50 aren't very effective.)
Since then I've thought a lot about the scare approach to cancer education. In many cases, I think women are afraid what will happen if they do the prudent thing. It's magical thinking--what I don't know won't hurt me--so they put the doctor's visit or the mammogram off, sometimes until it's so late that things are much worse than they might otherwise have been.
Today's message, in short, is not to be afraid, Sisters.
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2 comments:
Oh, that is so sad. However I don't think it is so much magical thinking as sheer, utter, deer-in-headlights terror, in which all actions or non-actions seem horrific.
"Deer-in-headlights terror:" that's one of the things I reproach the cancer groups for. It is a serious disease, particularly in young women, but it is far better to catch it early. My own experience was that the treatment was no big deal, and I found myself growing very annoyed when people suggested that it was.
If you're 50 you ought to get regular mammorgrams!
Mary
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