The Problems with “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”
Now that it’s almost over, can I complain for a bit about this October designation of “breast cancer awareness month?”
Because now that I have the disease I have to say that I don’t think one month is going to cut it. Plus, we’re all AWARE of breast cancer. Too many people know someone who’s suffering with it, is a survivor, or has died of it. You’d have to be living under a rock to not be “aware.”
In my opinion, we should call it “breast cancer prevention month” and do a hell of a lot more to help people prevent it.
How about teaching them about the dangers of thinking your yearly mammogram is going to keep you safe? My mammogram didn’t catch my 2nd tumor on my right breast, or the mass I apparently have on my left breast that I’m getting biopsied tomorrow. An MRI did. When I told a female friend this, she audibly gasped. It’s frightening to know that a test you’re told over and over again to take, to save your life, just might not.
MRIs are not standard diagnostic tools for people at risk of breast cancer; however. I think they should be. I get that they’re expensive and a lot of insurers won’t pay for them unless you already have cancer. But when people have clear risk factors, I think it would save lives to allow a yearly mammogram for those people.
And let’s talk about risk factors, shall we?
I think people are under the misguided assumption that the only risk for breast cancer is the genetic mutation list we KNOW about — for example, BRCA1/BRCA2 (the mutations that prompted Angelina Jolie to do a preventative mastectomy). Well, I have a sister with breast cancer, and neither of us have those mutations. I’m not sure what accounts for TWO of us in the family getting this awful disease, but so far, it has nothing to do with any genetic mutations you can now test for. I know this because I got tested for EVERYTHING, and the test was negative across the board.
Also, I bet a lot of people don’t know that only 10–12 percent of breast cancer is caused by genetic mutations, anyway. I was pretty shocked to learn this myself.
I’m the type of person who researches things exhaustively, especially when my life is at stake. I even bought a book about breast cancer geared towards physicians. I figure I should know what they know, since I’m trusting them with MY LIFE. I’ve discovered what the medical establishment knows about breast cancer risk, and gene mutation ain’t the half of it.
Apparently, I was at huge risk because I’ve never had a child. Never breastfed. Started my period early (at the age of 13). And while I’m not “fat”, per se, I do have a BMI of about 24.5, which is borderline. Everything in my case seems to be all about the estrogen. I’ve been pumping out estrogen practically nonstop since the age of 13, especially since I’ve had a period every month for almost half a century. That’s a fuckton of estrogen. And on top of that, I have baby fat in my tummy pooochie, thighs and butt, which all produce estrogen.
This is one of the reasons we’re seeing more breast cancer these days — back in the day, women just pumped out rugrats nonstop, which halted their periods. And breastfeeding apparently causes changes in the milk ducts that protect them against cancer. Apparently, one side effect of women being able to control when and how often they give birth, and their liberation into the workforce, has been more breast cancer. (Not that we would trade the advances we’ve made to not have cancer; it’s just been one unforeseen result.)
Now, it’s not like I would’ve just had a couple of kids to prevent breast cancer, had I known this ages ago. I’m just not the motherhood type; and that would be pretty extreme. But this book I got recommends that doctors inform their pre-menopausal patients, once they’re in their late 30s, about their potential risk. There’s even a “GAIL test” you can take to assess a patient’s risk. Then, the patient can decide if the risk is high enough to maybe go on a hormone-suppressing drug like Tamixofen, which I will now HAVE to take for 5–10 years because my tumors are hormone-positive (no surprise there, since I was an estrogen factory for my entire life, practically.)
Of course, there are the usual suspects that also increase risk — environmental pollution, toxins we ingest, etc. There’s been widespread anger lately that companies that pollute and produce toxic food and water suddenly get concerned about breast cancer every October, vowing to donate a portion of their proceeds to “breast cancer causes.”
As for my particular cancer, I do think estrogen, more than pollution, played a huge role in the development of my tumors. It didn’t help that for a good part of my 40s, I didn’t even have health insurance because I couldn’t afford it before Obama came along. Thus, I had no primary care doctor or OB/GYN to warn me about these things. Then again, I’m not even sure any doctor WOULD HAVE warned me. The closest I could say I got to a warning was a doctor telling me when I was 32 that “you better have kids now, before you’re not able to.” And I chalked that up to him being an old fart who thought all women wanted to have kids.
The fact is, society does a piss poor job of teaching women about their risks of breast cancer. Nor is the link between nutrition, obesity and cancer risk made clear, even though more and more studies are being done on these topics.
Did you know, for example, that flaxseed has been prove in scientific studies to have a protective effect, and can reduce breast cancer mortality? Just a few tablespoons a day is all that’s required. Especially for HE2+ cancers, which tend to be aggressive and fast-growing, flaxseed can act similarly to Herceptin, which is considered a wonder drug for those types of tumors.
Did you know that NIH did a study proving that when breast cancer patients eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, AND get 30 minutes of physical activity 6 times a week, their survivability rate goes WAY up? By a statistically significant amount. And this is after risk factors like obesity are controlled for.
So I’m sure there is so much more being discovered about the preventative benefits of nutrition and diet, and I intend to find as much information about it as I can to pass along to my friends. I wouldn’t wish this disease on anyone.
That’s my rant for the day. Oh, one more thing — making everything pink, which is supposedly a “feminine” color, also obscures the fact that MEN get breast cancer, too.
Copyright 2017 S. Wade
