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Sep 11, 2019 05:00PM
AliceBastable
wrote:
I've lost two aunts (one was step, but I loved her dearly), a sister-in-law, and several friends to breast cancer. I think the whole "awareness" issue needs to be revamped from the ground up, so it's not boiled down to "Love your boobies! Have a mammogram! Bald is beautiful (but only if it's temporary)! Everything will be fine!" I'm one of the lucky ones (so far) in that mine was an early stage, uncomplicated variety. But that aspect, of making it all so ... I don't know ... frivolous? glamorous? just really steams me. I keep remembering my one aunt, who had been a loud, jolly, adventurous woman, sitting in a chair with a headscarf to hide her bald patches, not talking to anyone, bad-tempered due to what her body had done to her, and from the pain, but mostly from the heavy dosage of morphine that (barely) allowed her to function at all, and I see nothing pink and beribboned. I think of my sweet, funny sister-in-law who had her first chemo treatment shortly before our pre-Christmas gathering, so she was tired and groggy, and then going to her funeral just three months later, and I see nothing pink and beribboned. Quit treating it like it's some damn sorority initiation! I know there's been some blowback on depicting breast cancer patients as feeble, chemo-induced walking scarecrows, but now the flip side is that it's NOT taken seriously, or that it's some wonderful sisterhood of warrior women.
(While I'm bitching) I'm also not thrilled with the "Stand Up to Cancer" name. Glad it includes all cancers and emphasizes research, but the name makes it sound like it's the patient's fault if they're not fierce! enough to battle! and be a warrior! It's about endurance, not fighting.
Traveltext, I understand how invisible you must feel. I've tried so many times to find good, scientific-but-readable material on women with kidney cancer, and haven't found crap. I know we're out there, because we're well-represented on the few forums I've found, but medically, it seems to be seen as a men's disease. And for my particular sub-type, I found ONE freaking article after months of searching, and even that was not broken down by gender.
Endometrial cancer 2010, basal cell multiples, breast cancer 2018, kidney cancer 2018. Boring.
Dx
5/2018, ILC/IDC, Left, 2cm, Stage IA, Grade 2, 1/1 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-
Surgery
7/11/2018 Lumpectomy: Left; Lymph node removal: Sentinel
Surgery
8/8/2018
Radiation Therapy
10/29/2018 Whole-breast: Breast, Lymph nodes