Thoughts About Breast Cancer

I was reminded this week of how important it is to keep fighting the war against breast cancer.

Reminders

1. Another friend from college was just diagnosed with breast cancer.

2.I saw the story in the news about the porn star and the boob bus in New York. If you haven’t read about it (and you want to) you can find it here http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/04/24/save-our-boobs-bus-features-porn-star-free-breast-exams/

3. I received a message on Facebook from a cousin asking for prayers for a young mother she knows who was just diagnosed.

4. I read a really good article about cancer treatment that offered hope. You can read it here,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marlo-thomas/hope-in-cancer-research_b_1441357.html

5. And then I found myself in a room with three other women who were all breast cancer survivors.

Their Stories (Not using their real names)

Janice has been a survivor for over 20 years. I know her professionally, but didn’t know she was a survivor until this conversation.

Mary has been a survivor for ten years. She had a double mastectomy and then had plastic surgery a year later. The reconstructive surgery almost killed her. She was on a ventilator for weeks.

Sue just had a double mastectomy about three months ago and is finally feeling better. As the newest member of the club that no one wants to belong to, she started the conversation about breast cancer when she told us about her new boobs.

“These are so much better than the first ones I bought,” she said with a laugh. “The first ones were so heavy they weighed me down. These are so light I hardly know I’m wearing them!”

That might not sound like a big deal to you, but to the three women in this conversation, it was extremely important. Try to imagine attaching lead weights to your chest and carrying them around every day!

Mary is comfortable with the fact that she had surgery now, but says she did it for the wrong reasons. “My family wanted me to do it. I really didn’t want to. I let them talk me into it.”

Janice said that when she first got her mastectomy bra it was so heavy she walked with one shoulder drooping. “I looked ridiculous. I’m not sure what the thing was made of but it felt like it weighed five pounds.”

Standing there listening to them I realized a few things.

1. Statistics say that at some point during a woman’s life one out of  8 women will get breast cancer.  I might have been the only woman in the room that day that hadn’t had breast cancer, but I can’t count on two hands how many friends (and relatives) who have. I may not be the one in 8 who gets it, but then again I might. Regardless, do I really want to sit back on my laurels and wait to see who gets hit with it next? Or do I want to be proactive and remind others how important check-ups and self exams are and help raise money for research? I don’t want my young granddaughters to have to continue to fight this fight when they are older.

2. We’ve come a long way but we have a long way to go. As long as treatments are still making women sick, as long as there are difficult choices that have to be made, as long as the options are confusing and frightening, as long as expense is still a factor in treatment choices, as long as women have to lie awake and night and worry about the breast cancer monster, we still have work to do.

I had no idea about all the different treatment options for women until my friends and cousin told me. If it’s confusing to me, what about the women who have to make the decision about having reconstructive surgery or not? And if a woman chooses not to have it, can she afford comfortable options that make her feel good? I think we all know the answer to that question.If it comes down to paying the rent and feeding your children or buying the newest and most comfortable bras for mastectomy patients, which do you think they’ll choose?

Like I said, we still have work to do.

3. Way too many women are living with this disease. For them breast cancer awareness month isn’t just October, it’s twelve months a year…day after day…decision after decision…test after test….prayer after prayer.

Your Life….Your Questions

Have you done your self exam this month?

Have you had your mammogram this year?

Have the women in your life had theirs?

If not, why not?

To borrow an over used phrase….just do it, and then do a little more.

Participate in a Relay for Life, Walk the Avon Walk, Join a Susan G. Komen team. Let’s not stop fighting until this war is won!