What Breast Cancer is, and is not! (a response to Komen)
Comments
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I viewed this on Facebook a couple of hours ago and was incredibly impressed by this woman's courage.
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Thank you for sharing this Dory. Linda is awesome!
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Ya wanna talk about guts!!!!!!!WOW this lady sure has it!!!!!I
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AMEN sister!
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Omg i salute you linda x
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bump!
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LOVE THIS!!! She is awesome! I hope this goes viral!
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Wow, what a couragious lady. I have tears runnng down my cheeks as I write this. Thank you for sharing.
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I got a link to it on Facebook a couple days ago. She is incredibly brave!
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What a wonderful woman! I saw it on another, non-bc, message board, so it is indeed going viral!!
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PLEASE, please send the hyperlink to this video to everyone you know.
Angel posted it on another thread - but I can't find that post now...
thanks for starting this thread.
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Way cool!
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Wow, just wow. What a gutsy admirable wonderful lady. (I especially enjoyed the closing...
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I have to say, if there's one thing BC did for me in a positive way: it made me love and respect women more than ever. This is frank, wonderful, hilarious, and "for the team". I sure am proud to be a woman!
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Too bad we can't send Linda's video to Washington and direct it to everyone there instead of Komen. It's one thing saying you have bc but showing it to the world??? She sure speaks for millions of survivors. Now "that" is better than any letters, imo!
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I loved the video. Linda is powerful because she speaks the truth of her experience with breast cancer. I am moved by her bravery. Amen, sister
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Ladies: Am I the only one who saw something very wrong and harmful about this angry lady's video?
We, in this group, spend a lot of our time encouraging people how to survive bc. I remember not to long ago we had a member (she knows who she is) who was terrified of getting radiation. The members, including myself, did everything we could to convince her it could be very important to her survival. She conquered her fear, had the rads treatments and from what she posted, did very well with it. Not everyone has the horrible experience with getting rads as this woman did but her video just might keep a lot of women from having it done after hearing what she said about it. That "port" she showed which was a necessity for her chemo treatments is "not" necessary for everyone. I refused to have one put in and did find with the treatments without it. My nurse was very angry with me since it made more work for her but that is what "she" got paid for!
It's one thing showing anger in a video but, imo, it has to be done without frightening new bc patients from having the chemo and rads they may need to survive. If she wants to lash out at Komen, she needs to find a way to do it which will not frighten new bc patients. I have spent almost 9 years on Arimidex and am soon to end it. Even tho I had many side effects, I would only focus on the fact that it may be the reason I am still alive today. I would not do anything to scare someone from taking it.
I would hope that most of the ladies in this "support" group would not want to do anything that might keep someone from getting the help they need just because they are angry at this disease.
I can understand her anger but not the way she used that video to express it.
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It's not the woman that frightens - it's the disease and its Byzantine treatment which Komen glosses over.
I wish people would stop worrying about 'frightening women.' We are naturally a brave species. I am sorry if you didn't see the strength emanating from the woman Medipal. -
WOW!
Linda shows what a true hero is.
Just amazing.
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Wow, that took some guts.
And as far and frightening people goes, we need some of that. This crap is not all pink and fuzzy like we see on TV and cancer center ads. It is frightening. very much so. Maybe if more people knew the "real story" there would be more funding for research instead of awareness.
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I would have been a lot happier if the reality of everything had been stated in real terms. All of the sugar coating and all of the muddled explanations did nothing except make the whole process worse. Much, much worse.
I wasn't scared unitl I figured out pretty quickly that what I was being told was far from the hard facts truth.
Good on Linda. She is not responsible for the impact of what she says about her own experience upon others. Neither is anyone else.
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Based on my personal experience, there is a subset who dig their heels in against traditional treatment, no matter how dire their situation. In some cases I've seen, I consider this some form of control freakishness, and also a "god complex", those that think they "have a cure" the rest of us are just too misguided to follow.
I don't think normal, reasonable people turn away from life-saving treatments because of fear. In my case, and in my friends' cases, they feared death far more.
The old "slash, burn and poison" is the mainstay of cancer treatment. I've been scarred in so many ways, and only my family and husband who stood at my side when I was falling trying to get to the bathroom can possibly understand. And I was Stage 1! I cry a river every day for my later stage compatriots.
I understand the fear that this may turn folks off, but a lot more people need to be woken up. I'm sick to death of the "are you okay now" line.
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Wow! You mean I am allowed to share how they clamped my breasts in a vise and left me on a table alone while they checked the photos and told me if I "moved an inch" my breasts would be ripped off!! And how I was terrified and begged God to protect me and stop the pain from making me want to move! I forget what the name of that test was but it had to do with the bc and I was told I had to have it. If someone had told me ahead of time what I was going to face with two women under the table checking my breasts clamped to a vise, do you REALLY think I would have agreed to go through that?? The memories still scare the hell out of me!!
YOU don't have to tell me what hell we have to face to survive bc! I just think it's not necessary to get women so scared they refuse to have tests they need. This is MY opinion and I feel I have a right to it unless the rules of bco have changed. BTW, I have lots more gruesome stuff to share but I think I will save it for tomorrow! Have a great night, ladies!
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Medigal, you are heard, I think we, or at least I, respect your opinion. My point is, someone who would refuse life-saving medical help out of fear needs a lot more than to avoid said videos and such. They probably need counseling. Goodness knows, I need it after treatment.
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Lto: You are right. I tend to get a bit over-emotional at times but I can't find a therapist who will accept me.
Seriously! I apologize to all for my out-burst and tomorrow if the Mods haven't thrown me off the thread, I will delete my post. I have to go to bed now. It's after 10 pm here. Have a nice night ladies. -
Absolutely no need to apologize here, Medigal -- you told your story and gave your opinion, and both are totally valid.
Funny how different aspects of BC can terrify us in different ways. I had always been petrified of having a mastectomy -- turns out it was basically painfree for me, although the drain was a drag. I was also terrified of chemo (and scared not to do it, too!). It wasn't pleasant, but the nausea I feared the most didn't occur (good drugs!). There were some really annoying aspects of it, but at least I had the last tx to look forward to, and then I knew things would improve.
We've all experienced BC in different ways, and we all deal with it, and the ongoing worry of it, in different ways too. No one way is right, and the other wrong. I do commend Linda for having made her video. She believes in "telling it like it is", or at least how it is for her. Bravo!
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I saw the video a couple of days ago and I still say BRAVO - I get a little disconcerted when we are told on this board in various threads that our experiences might scare others - what are we supposed to do - I suffered in silence for a long while re AIs and when I decided not to be silent any longer I was chastised on one of the threads for my honesty BUT on the same thread others chimed in with their se's and I didn't feel so alone anymore and was able to talk to my onc about QOL instead of longevity - I haven't been on the AIs for a year and a half now - my choice. I guess a lot of us are pretty tired with the pinkwashing and want the reality out there - I agree with the view that if people knew what was going on we might get better drugs and treatments with fewer se's - shoot maybe we'll even get a cure!
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She is awesome.
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Medigal, no need for sorrys and don't delete your post! Your opinion is welcome and wanted! That is the whole point of these boards, to share thoughts, ideas, and feelings, even if they are conflicting. Just think how boring our world would be if everyone agreed about everything all the time!
And yes, I think if they had told you about the testing before hand, you still would have done it. You may have been scared to bits, but you would have done what was necessary to survive. We all do what we have to everyday, even when we think we can't do it anymore, we keep going because we have to.
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Stormynyte: Thank you for your nice comments. You are so right about my test. I have survived worse than that to stay alive so I would have still done it. I just think our Oncs should explain to us what we are in for.
The secret to surviving bc is in your last sentence "because we have to".
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