From the first moment my wife discovered
she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even
ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than
mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started
this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for
answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The
following entry appeared in July of 2014…I will ALSO add here that this is one
of my favorite posts of all time!
(I am pre-posting this because MY DAUGHTER IS GETTING MARRIED TODAY!!!!)
I haven’t talked
about STAR TREK yet, which isn’t like me at all!
ST was my favorite
TV show growing up, as an adult and now as an “old guy”. During the opening
week of the STAR TREK 2009 reboot, my dad (who introduced me to STAR TREK), me
(a total ST fan) and my son (who grew up with ST and at whom the new movie was
targeted) – went to see it. None of the wonder was gone and I love the NEW as
much as all of the old.
At any rate, it
got me to thinking about a scene from STAR TREK IV: The Voyage Home in which an
elderly woman is laying on a hospital cot waiting to go in for dialysis:
McCoy: [McCoy,
masked and in surgical garb, passes an elderly woman groaning on a gurney in
the hallway] What's the matter with you?
Elderly patient: [weakly] Kidney [pause] dialysis.
McCoy: [genuinely
surprised] Dialysis?[musing to himself] What is this, the Dark Ages? [He turns
back to the patient and hands her a large white pill] Here, [pause] you swallow
that, and if you have any more problems, just call me! [He pats her cheek and
leaves]
…a few moments
later…
Elderly patient:
[the dialysis patient is being wheeled down the hall after being given the pill
by McCoy] [joyfully] The doctor gave me a pill, and I grew a new kidney!
It made me wonder
for two reasons. The first was that while today breast cancer survival rates
are as high as 98% (for early detection and treatment), at one time tumors
could only be detected when they could actually be felt – and then the ONLY
treatment was radical mastectomy which, in the late 19th Century
removed not only breast tissue but muscles and all lymph nodes as well. If a
woman survived that, she was profoundly weakened and handicapped for the rest
of her life.
The introduction
of modified mastectomies (1950s), mammogram advances (starting in 1967),
ultrasound (late 1970s), followed by MRIs, digital mammography, 3D mammography
and increasingly refined chemotherapy (introduced in the 1940s), radiation
(early 20th Century) and lumpectomies combined with radiation
therapy (1970s) and most recently, hormonal treatment and genetic testing
improved treatment – and subsequently survival rates.
I’m going to delve
into the history of breast cancer later, but for now, let me just say that
while it still terrifies me even now; I do have a daughter and hold VERY high
hopes that either her or her daughter will someday be able to pop a pill and
cry out, “The doctor gave me a pill and I’m cured of breast cancer!”
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