Are We Aware Yet?
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I'm sure you agree nothing says "Breast Cancer Awareness" like a Pink Smith & Wesson Pistol. This is not meant to be a rant about the right to bear arms although I stand pretty firmly on one side of that argument. It is meant however to re-examine what "Breast Cancer Awareness" is all about. Does the sight of this Pink Pistol entice women to "feel your boobies", "save the ta-tas", or get on your pink smart phone and schedule a mammogram? Or, better yet, what message is it meant to give? What message do the pink products send? Early detection? Well, early detection can lead to false positives or "over treatment" and early detection does not always save someone's life. Breast cancer could have been found early and still metastasized. Is early detection the message we want to give? Or is prevention or cure a more surefire way of keeping people safe from this disease?
When talking with my friends, a generally well educated group of women, many believe if they find a lump "early" the cancer can be treated and "cured". Most don't know about metastatic breast cancer and all have trouble saying the word. Therefore I have to assume that if my friends (who have been around for my diagnosis as well as numerous diagnosis' of metastatic breast cancer in my family) can barely pronounce the disease, then where do others who have had no personal contact with breast cancer stand? Sadly, the answer is somewhere at the back of the line. People want their information short and concise. 40 characters or less in some cases. The general population is now comfortable with the fact that women, even young women (and men) can and do get breast cancer but if they find it early, this will save their life. True enough in some cases. Very untrue in other cases. There is no awareness campaign for the population that continues to "fight" advanced breast cancer daily, often for numerous years. The women who were initially diagnosed with stage 4 or the early stage cancers that metastasize are not a part of this awareness message. Here is an excerpt from an article written by Christine Grundoon and published on the National Women's Health Network website which clearly spells out what it's like to live with metastatic cancer.
"Fighting pain is exhausting and my body turns into a rag bag. Not only from pain, but also from Other Unpleasantness: reflux, nausea, skin lesions…wounds that won't heal. Digestive malfunctions that I will let you imagine for yourselves. Swollen feet and lymphedema (which is pain and swelling in my right hand and arm). Neuropathy in my feet, which in English means constant pins and needles or, when it gets bad, burning. As in, I will happily put my feet in a bucket of ice for 20 minutes if it will get me two hours of relief or let me fall asleep. Trivial each in their own, possibly. When you are enduring most of them all the time, and expect all to get worse over time, not so trivial". She goes on to write: "Seriously, every woman who is coping with metastatic cancer in any form is wonderful, brave, an Amazon and a badass. Guts, grace, and grit".
Where is the pretty pink pin or the soft cuddly teddy bear that conveys this message: "I found my cancer early but guess what? It came back and will be with me forever and ever". Or "I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and will be in treatment for the rest of my life". There is no such thing. Perhaps the Pink Smith and Wesson is the appropriate symbol for Metastatic Breast Cancer. After all, the woman that carries a pink pistol is not going down without a fight.
Posted October 18, 2011.
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