Pink ribbons
Breast cancer awareness becomes a personal issue
Pink ribbons sprouted on shoulders and posters during October, Breast
Cancer Awareness month. However, my pink jeweled ribbon pin that I was
given a couple years ago stayed in my jewelry box. I didn’t think about it.
It wasn’t my issue. Our family does not have a history of breast cancer.
October was, however, a good time for my New York sister and I to have
those yearly check-ups. I should be more prompt; my mother discovered her
ovarian cancer too late. But I had put-off trying on this year’s pink paper
ensemble in the examining room and the accompanying poking, prodding,
mashing and draining of my blood by the vampire in a lab coat.
My sisters and I were encouraged to have a blood test a couple times a year
that is better than nothing for detecting ovarian cancer. My twice a year
test has slipped to once-in-a-while. In spite of my “I’m too busy to sit in
a waiting room” attitude, my physician assured me I was breaking out in
healthy and he could not do a thing for me.
My sister’s physician was not quite so lighthearted. He invited her back
for a little chat about those calcium deposits that showed up on her
mammogram.
A couple years ago, her physician had prescribed birth control pills to
regulate some hormones needed to reduce the odds of ovarian cancer.
Although breast cancer is a bit higher in women who take birth control
pills, she knew her odds were decreased because she had elected nature’s
best for feeding infants, had not used birth control pills when she was
younger. Plus, we have no family history of breast cancer.
She did not really want to hear that she needed to schedule an afternoon
breast biopsy at the out-patient clinic. Then, she decided it was time to
quit taking the birth control pills that were supposed to regulate her
hormones and reduce her chances of developing ovarian cancer, but had
increased her chances for breast cancer.
The biopsy only took an hour. The clinicians left a tiny, seed of a
detector in case she needed future treatment. They released her to go home
and wait for the results. Fortunately, one of her two sons married this
past year, so she had a feminine family member to drive her to and from the
out-patient clinic and hang around afterwards if necessary.
The days between biopsy and test results are mighty long days. Work always
helps pass the time when life’s harsh realities are waiting in the wings.
I was distracted with a rush to meet a deadline at the newspaper. She
returned to her job as office manager for a busy doctor.
I was still at work when she got the biopsy results. She left the test
results on my answering machine and in my e-mail. “The tests were negative,
I have to go back in six months for another mammogram.”
When she called one of her friends to announce the results, the friend
hesitated, “Negative, that’s good, right?”
Negative was definitely, positively, wonderful in this situation! I found
my metallic, pink, ribbon pin for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and pinned
it to my shirt to wear the next day. All our family medical history aside,
breast cancer awareness is my issue.