07-06-2008, 04:27 AM
Morning G & J
I was recently watching SKY news and they had as one of their main stories the alarming increase in cases of breast cancer. Currently in SA the stats say that 1 in 9 women will experience breast cancer at some stage in their life. SKY went further and said that by 2014 figures in the UK will be 1 in 7 women :wall:
The news of course sensationalise everything but there is some truth in there somewhere. The sister at the Hopelands Cancer Centre told me that what they are seeing is more and more younger women coming in. Breast cancer in the 'olden days' was an 'old ladies disease' but not today. Women in their 20's and 30's are not affected. The sister spoke about the food we eat, the processes the food undergoes, the fact that we feed hormones to chickens and on and on and on. The era of food manufacture and all that goes with it. The sprays used on crops and just general life on today's planet. Our bodies are under attack and very often this is cumulative.
There are of course many reasons why cancer can develop and I remember clearly the first words from Dr Jooste my oncologist, Sue, "You have done nothing to cause this cancer", and that was strange because I had never even considered I may have caused it but clearly from her saying that, many people do.
I will admit to not even considering my health. By that, I mean I do not go for regular check ups, in fact I cannot remember the last time I was ill or had to stay off work? I do not go for mammograms which I now hear you should have once a year over 40.
So here I was driving from hospital to hospital under going the various diagnostic tests and I thought to myself, "I take so much care of my car, I make sure the car is serviced regularly, I notice any slight change in the noise of the engine, if the tyre pressure changes, watch for warning lights and yet I expect my own body to go on and on and on without even an oil change"? Go figure?
I only got my wake up when I discovered a lump in my left breast. I thought to myself, it's age, it's hormones, it will go away. A few months later it is still there and now I was convinced it was slightly bigger and seemed to give me slight discomfort at night.It felt like a hard marble and so one day on my way to work, that inner voice said, "Go to the doctor's and get it looked at". I don't have a doctor because I am never ill so I went to the Medicross centre in Pinetown and as they say in the movies, the rest is history.
I have to commend the private medical health system in SA. Each specialist I saw told me the same thing, in the UK I would wait weeks, sometimes months for what I had done. From one hospital to another, test after test and results given the same day I was fully diagnosed, staged and within 3 days. The delay was then on my side because I had to make the choice of either a lumpectomy and reconstruction, a mastectomy and immediate re-construction or a mastectomy and delayed re-construction.
This was possibly the most difficult and emotional two weeks of my life. Each option had positives and negatives and you will never be told what the doctor thinks you should do, the facts are given to you and you make the choice. In the end I chose the mastectomy with delayed re-construction. My decision was based on the fact that I had stage 2 cancer, the initial tumour had spread to some of the surrounding tissue and only once I was operated on would the surgeon know if it had spread to the lymph nodes. I took the route of amputation and I also chose not to have re-construction. In theatre it was established that I had a tumour in one of the lymph nodes and so they were removed. I have made the right choice for me. Each women needs to decide what is good for her. I will under no circumstances have saline bags inserted into my skin. I am totally against implants and I am quite happy with how I look. My boobs (1 or 2) do not make me who I am and I am very strong here. When I have healed, I will take the next step and look into a prosthetic which is a silicone/rubber breast that is inserted into the cup of a special mastectomy bra. It gives your body then the right shape and for large breasted ladies, it helps with posture.
On a funny note, as I do see the funny side often, when I was asked if I wanted an implant/re-construction I imagined this 'pert' 21 year old breast sitting along side the '54' year old 'southern looking gal' on the other side and I said, naaaaaaa! Can you just imagine that girls???? :jester:
So my mate comes in to hospital to show me her 20 year old prosthetic and she 'flips out' this rubber thing on to the bed. I wish you could have seen the face of the poor women in the bed next to me. Well my mate told me all about her rubber friend and how at night she has to hang it up in a hammock to keep it's shape and of course that set me off again. I could picture my self in a few years time, teeth in a glass jar, boob in a hammock and what ever else has fallen off by that stage, propped up against the wardrobe. And woe be tide you if you get up in hurry one morning and try to put them all back in the wrong places..... :rofl:
So, ladies PLEASE check yourself regularly. If you feel ANYTHING, get it checked out straight away. Early detection is crucial and 90% of all lumps are benign. If you are over 40 go for your check up and mammogram. Forget all the 'scare' stories. A mammogram is nothing like it is made out to be. It is a little uncomfortable but nothing painful.
I was recently watching SKY news and they had as one of their main stories the alarming increase in cases of breast cancer. Currently in SA the stats say that 1 in 9 women will experience breast cancer at some stage in their life. SKY went further and said that by 2014 figures in the UK will be 1 in 7 women :wall:
The news of course sensationalise everything but there is some truth in there somewhere. The sister at the Hopelands Cancer Centre told me that what they are seeing is more and more younger women coming in. Breast cancer in the 'olden days' was an 'old ladies disease' but not today. Women in their 20's and 30's are not affected. The sister spoke about the food we eat, the processes the food undergoes, the fact that we feed hormones to chickens and on and on and on. The era of food manufacture and all that goes with it. The sprays used on crops and just general life on today's planet. Our bodies are under attack and very often this is cumulative.
There are of course many reasons why cancer can develop and I remember clearly the first words from Dr Jooste my oncologist, Sue, "You have done nothing to cause this cancer", and that was strange because I had never even considered I may have caused it but clearly from her saying that, many people do.
I will admit to not even considering my health. By that, I mean I do not go for regular check ups, in fact I cannot remember the last time I was ill or had to stay off work? I do not go for mammograms which I now hear you should have once a year over 40.
So here I was driving from hospital to hospital under going the various diagnostic tests and I thought to myself, "I take so much care of my car, I make sure the car is serviced regularly, I notice any slight change in the noise of the engine, if the tyre pressure changes, watch for warning lights and yet I expect my own body to go on and on and on without even an oil change"? Go figure?
I only got my wake up when I discovered a lump in my left breast. I thought to myself, it's age, it's hormones, it will go away. A few months later it is still there and now I was convinced it was slightly bigger and seemed to give me slight discomfort at night.It felt like a hard marble and so one day on my way to work, that inner voice said, "Go to the doctor's and get it looked at". I don't have a doctor because I am never ill so I went to the Medicross centre in Pinetown and as they say in the movies, the rest is history.
I have to commend the private medical health system in SA. Each specialist I saw told me the same thing, in the UK I would wait weeks, sometimes months for what I had done. From one hospital to another, test after test and results given the same day I was fully diagnosed, staged and within 3 days. The delay was then on my side because I had to make the choice of either a lumpectomy and reconstruction, a mastectomy and immediate re-construction or a mastectomy and delayed re-construction.
This was possibly the most difficult and emotional two weeks of my life. Each option had positives and negatives and you will never be told what the doctor thinks you should do, the facts are given to you and you make the choice. In the end I chose the mastectomy with delayed re-construction. My decision was based on the fact that I had stage 2 cancer, the initial tumour had spread to some of the surrounding tissue and only once I was operated on would the surgeon know if it had spread to the lymph nodes. I took the route of amputation and I also chose not to have re-construction. In theatre it was established that I had a tumour in one of the lymph nodes and so they were removed. I have made the right choice for me. Each women needs to decide what is good for her. I will under no circumstances have saline bags inserted into my skin. I am totally against implants and I am quite happy with how I look. My boobs (1 or 2) do not make me who I am and I am very strong here. When I have healed, I will take the next step and look into a prosthetic which is a silicone/rubber breast that is inserted into the cup of a special mastectomy bra. It gives your body then the right shape and for large breasted ladies, it helps with posture.
On a funny note, as I do see the funny side often, when I was asked if I wanted an implant/re-construction I imagined this 'pert' 21 year old breast sitting along side the '54' year old 'southern looking gal' on the other side and I said, naaaaaaa! Can you just imagine that girls???? :jester:
So my mate comes in to hospital to show me her 20 year old prosthetic and she 'flips out' this rubber thing on to the bed. I wish you could have seen the face of the poor women in the bed next to me. Well my mate told me all about her rubber friend and how at night she has to hang it up in a hammock to keep it's shape and of course that set me off again. I could picture my self in a few years time, teeth in a glass jar, boob in a hammock and what ever else has fallen off by that stage, propped up against the wardrobe. And woe be tide you if you get up in hurry one morning and try to put them all back in the wrong places..... :rofl:
So, ladies PLEASE check yourself regularly. If you feel ANYTHING, get it checked out straight away. Early detection is crucial and 90% of all lumps are benign. If you are over 40 go for your check up and mammogram. Forget all the 'scare' stories. A mammogram is nothing like it is made out to be. It is a little uncomfortable but nothing painful.