Avoiding the Breast Cancer ‘Warrior’ Trap

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cp418
cp418 Member Posts: 7,079
edited August 2014 in Clinical Trials, Research News, Podcasts, and Study Results

http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/08/avoiding-the-breast-cancer-warrior-trap.html


 

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  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited August 2014


    When I didn't take my doctor's advice of doing chemo I felt like I was just not brave enough to endure the treatment. Well that's what the nurses made me feel like, you poor ignorant fool your oncodx is a 34. Yes I do under the statistics behind it after all I have a masters degree in math that include courses in probability and statistics. I also realize we have a mind of our own for a reason I learned along time ago that doctors do not always have the answers you have to decide yourself what you are going to do. There are many women out there that want answers the intermediate Oncodx number is frustrating to them, because the doctor leaves the decision to you alone. The nurse said the 34 was taking away that decision.

    One nurse wanted me to write the word cancer on the bottom of my shoe and step on it everyday, fight, fight fight. I didn't want to do that and it doesn't make me feel better that I'm in a fight cancer against me. This is my body and I'm not going to poison it hoping to kill some cancer cells that is my immune systems job.

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  • riverhorse
    riverhorse Member Posts: 126
    edited August 2014

    fabulous article.  Thank you.  Should be required reading for all BC patients, families and doctors.   The loser in the "fight" is modern medicine which has failed to find a cure.   Everyone should realize that no one is cured until everyone is cured.  Symptom free or NED is not the same as cured.  

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  • Starlover
    Starlover Member Posts: 61
    edited August 2014

    whoa. great read. thank you for posting it.

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  • GemStateGirl
    GemStateGirl Member Posts: 168
    edited August 2014

    What a great article (as well as the comments following it).  Thanks for posting!

    This comment from a doctor who had cancer really hit home with me:  "The reality is that I followed my doctor's orders and it all worked. It's science, medicine and luck. The problem is that people like to have a narrative to suggest that their success is in their control because the alternative is too scary."

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  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited August 2014


    GemState I know I pray every day that this disease doesn't come back. Your risk of getting cancer will never be zero no matter if you've had it or not. Statistics are not an insurance policy.

    Just live everyday and let your mind dismiss your worries. It takes time but it will happen.

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  • inks
    inks Member Posts: 746
    edited August 2014

    Wonderful article! I especially like how he explains that the "fight metaphor" may be hurtful to those with metastatic disease. Can't help but quote the article: "They must be dying for their lack of fortitude." And this doctor and husband of a woman with breast cancer does come down on Amy Robach about spreading the false truths about BC. I remember a pretty lively thread about the same topic here on BCO too. Very well written article, thank you!

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  • Manu14
    Manu14 Member Posts: 153
    edited August 2014

    Thank you for posting this article. It is very well-written and from the unique perspective of an oncologist who lost a wife to cancer. There should be copies of his article in every physician's waiting room; every cancer organization office and every cancer-related event. 

    I am one who doesn't think "all things pink"; "fighting like a warrior"; or referencing breast cancer as a character or personality helps to educate the general public. Before my own diagnosis, I, like many others, generally thought that all breast cancers were similar; that tumor size and how early it was detected determined outcome; and that chemo could eradicate most women's breast cancer. I'm not sure how you can change that line of thinking when you have media women with breast cancer giving speeches such as this woman did.

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  • bt-nj
    bt-nj Member Posts: 4
    edited August 2014

    powerful... and sad...

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  • bt-nj
    bt-nj Member Posts: 4
    edited August 2014

    powerful... and sad...

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  • wallycat
    wallycat Member Posts: 3,227
    edited August 2014

    What a sweet, tender, kind, caring man this doctor must be (and had been for his wife).

    My only gripe (you knew I would have one ;-)  ) is that he states mastectomy is "overkill" or some such comment.

    Really?  When he finds the cure that assures women they don't need constant checking, monitoring, looking, touching, feeling of the boobs they have, THEN come to me and tell me I over reacted.  Till then, no more mammograms; no more MRIs...it does not mean I won't get a recurrence, but at least I am not popping valium annually to find out, never mind the financial drain on these exams for insurances that don't cover MRI (which is the only thing that found my cancer).  If BRCA folks lessen their chance of GETTING breast cancer, I would like to think my risk of local recurrence will also be lessened.  

    But sadly, yes, the risk of zero never exists for women.

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  • jessica749
    jessica749 Member Posts: 429
    edited August 2014

    this article is great.  Want to bump it up. Not a study or research news or a clinical trial but a great outspoken opinion, one written from a very unique position. Thx for posting

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  • Ariom
    Ariom Member Posts: 6,197
    edited August 2014

    Very succinct, great article!

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