Breast cancer: A woman’s ultimate woe.
Cancer, the very name sends a chill down the spine and the heart shrivels at the very thought of it. If any other mentions that they are suffering with cancer then we look at them as if they won’t be able to live any longer; like looking at Death standing right in front. A person gets numb and questions as to why Death did come uninvited. But that’s harsh reality; it comes when one doesn’t anticipate at all.
Fun, laughter and merry making comes to a cinematic stop and literally one hears the bells of temples ringing. It gets scarily alone and then one finds himself in a vast desert, deafening silence and dry of hope yet eyes hawk like crazily looking for an oasis of hope. Does hope dope a person affected with breast cancer? Usually this affects women and women can get very depressed.
So, when is it that one realises that she/ he is affected with breast cancer? Usually it is easy for person to see, feel or know any abnormalities in the body; when it comes to the breast it is very obvious one does understand the changes. A BSE (breast self-examination) about a week after periods is considered best as that’s the time when breasts aren’t swollen or different in texture.
Shania, a 43 year old woman mentions her alarm when she gets aware of her breasts, “I felt a hidden bump or lump which wasn’t there. My nipples were of different shape, rough and were firmer. The change wasn’t a pleasant one I knew for sure.”
Wahida, a lady in her late 50’s, was aghast when she found a discharge from her nipples, at times a bloody discharge with slight pain enhancing her trauma.
Amisha cried out to herself seeing an unusual lump in her armpit. She says, “My breasts seemed of a different shape but that didn’t seem so problematic, at least that was what I thought. But the nipples and were burning red hot! The shape of the nipple had changed; I needed a doctor for sure.”
Narola, 38 year old a model and socialite just couldn’t accept anything would go wrong with her figure as she took great care. “A lump in the collar bone was not to be so bothering, I assumed. But what worried me was something to be concerned about. The size and shape of one of my breasts seemed different from the other and in the same breast the nipple seemed sore yet was shrivelled with a dent. Ughs, I wasn’t well definitely.”
These were experiences of women who couldn’t understand what was going wrong with them or couldn’t accept that something was wrong with them. One should just accept the basic fact that something was actually wrong and not to use excuses and dilly dallying on this grave problem which doesn’t go thinking ‘Oh, it will go away, it’s just a small shrivel in the nipple or pain in the breast.’ This attitude of women tends to neglect and prognosticate their pain thinking ‘nothing to worry about will get over soon.
In simple words, any abnormality in the breast is a case to be examined by the doctor and only a doctor. The biggest self-harm a woman can do to herself is to neglect her health.
Men aren’t spared too, though rare cases are found. The symptoms are same and nothing differs. As one such patient narrated later that he was ‘flabbergasted to see a dent, a nipple that turned inward while the other wasn’t.
This horror could affect women usually above 50 years but can also affect girls in their twenties. Some researchers relate a possible link between obesity and breast cancer. Shockingly true. When the doctor declares the affirmation of the most unwanted disease breeding in the body or lying in a hospital bed, thoughts run wild as to ‘why the hell was I affected’, ‘from millions why me’.
Exactly. It had to be as there were valid reasons. Reasons that may never have come across the mind or never could in the wildest realms believe that such a dreadful disease would affect one. But on scrutiny one would logically decipher that ‘that they had to be a family history or inherited genes that were cancerous; that with breast cancer in personal history. Not only this, but could also be due to ‘just being a female, and a female in old age or formerly young’. The now common ‘trend’ of women not wishing to breast feed later on causes them this undesirable disease. At times the hormone replacement therapy causes enough problems leading to this biggest unwanted phase.
Physical inactivity, high on fatty diet could lead to problems in menstrual cycle, estrogen level; not ruling out the consumption of alcohol, smoking which all sadly turns to breast cancer. Women have many complications and this being the outcome becomes the saddest part. Lifestyle of women has drastically changed leading to what they never dreamt of. We cannot rule the exposure to radiation as something to be aware and careful of as it does cause cancer. So, pollution seems to surely be another cause.
Archita, whimpering after being detected with breast cancer, wondered what she should have done not to get into this disgustful state. The Doctor calmly said, “When you know the causes, you know the solutions.”
How true, in this new social thought pattern of women try to live the life of someone else, something the body rejects in the form of breast cancer. Women and men need to be grounded and take life seriously. Of course, one can’t avoid the other factors leading to breast cancer like hereditary or genes but one can surely consult a Doctor, who knows all and gives a chance for life, the life neglected and taken for granted.
