Spouse’s Journey With Cancer Of The Breast
The ultimate fear people have over cancer is that it is not diagnosed while in the early stages. That when the cancer is diagnosed it is already advanced. For example, with breast cancer this means that the woman already has breast cancer metastasis When that happens, the woman’s likelihood that she will still be alive five years after diagnosis drops substantially. Even with intense treatment a large number of women will die from the disease at that stage.
When my spouse learned that she had breast cancer was something I was not ready for. The most difficult part was waiting to find out just how bad her disease was. Even though she was asymptomatic my greatest worry was that she would have stage 4 breast cancer. Thankfully, her cancer was found before it spread. She did not have cancer in any of her lymph nodes and the cancer was relatively small. Yet she went through 3 tries at a lumpectomy. On all three occasions the margins were found to be positive for the cancer. After the third effort her surgeon suggested a mastectomy a more major surgery followed by breast reconstruction. Plus following that five years of hormonal therapy
Looking back we feel that she was lucky. She did not have advanced breast cancer. My wife did not require chemotherapy as her cancer responds more effectively to hormone therapy instead of chemotherapy. She is doing great now. This is an experience, though, that I would not wish on anyone else. I am not able to envision what families must endure in the event the diagnosis is one of metastatic breast cancer. My heart goes out to anyone touched by this disease.
Like with cancer of the breast there are different cancers which may be diagnosed early, giving one the possibility of surviving the cancer with appropriate treatment. For example, there are screening procedures available for men for prostate cancer , for women with cervical cancer and for both men and women with respect to colon cancer . By following the recommended screening guidelines one can greatly improve the chances of detecting the cancer early, before it spreads.
The above is meant only as general information rather than medical advice. You need to consult with a physician regarding any medical concerns or medical advice.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 at 4:35 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.