Breast Cancer - It's Time to End the Fear

Thanks. That was really interesting.

Liz,
Exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you for sharing this!
Mimi

Thanks, Liz M, for posting that article. I found it very interesting reading. I think I'll share it with some of my non-BC friends.

Lots more uplifting than than article on Elizabeth Edwards someone posted the other day. That author mentioned EE's dying nearly every other sentence.

Interesting article. The emotional struggle was definitely the hardest part for me too. Cancer is what it is- no "happily ever after" unfortunately. I am "mostly happy, each day after."

My husband and I are doing well, but every time someone says "You are in the clear now right?" "Doctors got it all and are giving you the green light, right?" It kind of feels like a slap in the face because no- it doesn't work that way.

That makes sense about the numbers Liz....thanks

Alaskadeb....44,000 is the UK annual bc number. I suspect it will be a heck of a lot more per annum in US.
The Telegraph is one of our more 'brainy' papers, USUALLY articles by them are believable.
I still cannot ever believe that bc will become a 'chronic disease', still cannot ever live easy with this thing, it is just too big a thing, for me at least, to think I will still be standing in 10 years.
We are told there are 44,000 new cases a year, we are also told there are 12,000 deaths a year, so that means nearly a quarter of all diagnosed will succumb......maybe not straight away, but it IS still happening, and it shakes me to my core.
Maybe it means that here in UK our treatment is so shabby, and the medical staff so unconcerned about how it REALLY affects us that thats just something we have to learn to accept. I have come up against drs that don't want to explain, don't want to give us the best shot, because the best shot is usually the most expensive option. Drs that want you in and out of their office as quick as poss. Drs who delegate to their juniors, who are only on the bc dept. for 6 months, so why would they bother ? A bc nurse who wanted to 'come and help me put labels on all my possesions' and get my 'house in order' 3 months after my dx.,4 years ago.
OK, so I am off on a rant here, but I can't ever see the end of fear in this country. Maybe if the medics succeed in telling us all 'there, we got it all' (as I was told after my bilat,)enough women will start to believe them !!Apart from, that is, the unfortunate 12,000 who die of this disease each year.

Isabella.

I just spent some time looking for worldwide breast cancer diagnosis numbers and was amazed how little I could find, and how vague the info I DID find was!

Maybe it is just American arrogance, but I had never “listened” hard enough to the statistics…I thought that the aprox. 200,000 women Dx a year was worldwide, but that is just North America.

I was further appalled that MANY countries have such poor health care and tracking abilities they have no idea how many women are dieing of breast cancer….it seems no one knows… I guess that is makes sense that if a country is immersed in civil war, poverty or oppression, no one seems to know or care how many women are dieing. How awful! After a bit of poking around the internet I think I need to quit complaining so much about my treatment glitches…there are thousands of women dieing of breast cancer that are going undiagnosed, untreated, even uncounted in their death..

On a personal level I was also spooked by statistics that broke the diagnosed people into states. It seems over half the folks Dx in Alaska die from their breast cancer! WAY higher than other states….I wonder why?? Maybe people living far from treatment options so they ignore symptoms? Maybe the high tobacco and alcohol use in AK??? It scared me…I should KNOW better than to play around with statistics. I ALWAYS find something to worry about…

Off topic a bit….sorry Liz. The article certainly made me think though

Deb C

I live in Washington DC, which has THE HIGHEST rate of breast cancer in the country. So if you are thinking of moving away from Alaska, don't think DC (though I do love my city).