Then on further reflecton, we all realized that oh man- here we are 4 single women in our prime, and 3 of us have had cancer in 3 different forms. All of us were diagnosed early and have good prognoses, but one of us has already had a recurrence. We all are healthy appearing, vibrant young women, none of us has that "woe is me" thing going, but yet how? That is rhetorical , obviously. It seems to me that you keep hearing more and more about younger and younger adults getting diagnosed. I like to hope that it is because of better screening leading to catching it earlier, but I don't know. I thank goodness for public awareness about mammograms that caught my friends tumor at such an early stage that she has an excellent prognosis. I am thankful that she, who had a lot going on in her life at the time, didn't cancel the appointment as so many (including myself) do. Thus, giving her the best chances possible. I continue to encourage everyone to get their own screening done- please
This post is dedicated to you my friend- may health and healing follow you and may you know that people are thinking of you.- Lisa
2 comments:
wow. I will keep your friends in my prayers. And yes, I won't shred the letter from the hospital when they start harassing me again.
Lisa--On the question of how could three out of four young women get cancer ... my first thought is that there is a certain amount of randomness about who gets cancer and who doesn't.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 43 with no family history and no (known) risk factors.
My second thought is that environmental pollutants and carcinogens are increasing--this we know, and that may be a factor. Obviously, I can't say--and neither could a doctor--that the cancers the three of you have had were caused by environmental factors, but I think this is something we need to get under control.
Actually, one of my next rants on my blog, The Assertive Cancer Patient, is going to be on this topic. Because when we export jobs to China and elsewhere, we also export pollution, and along with the pollution, we export cancer. I expect cancer rates in China to climb dramatically over the next couple of decades.
Good post!
Jeanne
www.assertivepatient.com
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