Feb 10, 2017 07:28PM - edited Feb 10, 2017 07:31PM by ChiSandy
Is there anyone not living in a cave who isn't “aware" of breast cancer? What the public needs to learn is:
1. It's not about "saving the breast." Early detection doesn't always mean being able to have just a lumpectomy. It's about saving a life.
2. Not everyone diagnosed with breast cancer will die of it. Some will live out their allotted lifespan, living with it (knowingly or unknowingly) rather than dying of it.
3. Not everyone diagnosed and treated will be “cured." 1/3 of early stage breast tumors come back at one stage or another, some of which will be metastatic, aka Stage IV.
4. There is no cure for metastatic breast cancer. If no other cause of death intervenes, it will eventually kill its host.
5. Some Stage IV patients have a shorter survival period than others. But many achieve a long “no evidence of disease" period (what in other cancers is called “remission").
6. There are many kinds, not just stages, of breast cancers. There are subtypes as well. Breast cancer (just like heart disease or infection) is not one single disease.
7. Everyone born with breasts is at risk. Men get it too.
Leaving aside “pinktober" and the commercial exploitation thereof, I must confess I like the color pink. It looks good on me. It has a new significance (a certain shape of hat) which cannot be further discussed on these open threads without incurring the Moderators' (and many members') wrath. I wear pink whenever I wish, without regard to “awareness" events (to some fundraisers, I wear whatever is flattering, appropriate, in good repair, clean, and fits me. Usually not pink). We need to reclaim pink as just another discretionary color, without regard to its connotations—be they gender-specific or “awareness"-related.