Blog 1

Option Number 1

I am concerned about many health issues like breast cancer, ovarian cancer. My mom had breast cancer. She was diagnosed at the age of 77, but thank God she only had to have radiation and is still here with us. My thoughts are very similar to my friend Vera, because she and her mom had breast cancer. When you hear the word cancer is very scary, on my last mammogram I received a call the day after my test for me to come back to have the mammogram retaken. I was in shock at first, a day later it sank into my mind what I was told since my mom was also a breast cancer patient.

I interviewed Sharon, a friend that works at my job. She is a middle class black woman in her late fifties.  She is battling breast cancer right now. When I interviewed her, I asked her how she felt when she initially heard the words that she has breast cancer. Breast cancer does not run in her family. She said her first reaction was out loud I can’t believe this. She did say she felt a nodule in her breast while taking a shower. She said after the initial shock wore off, she felt a sense of calmness.   She felt because she knew she worked a cancer hospital that she would get the best care possible and the breast center’s staff would expedite her paperwork through because she is an employee of such a well-known institution. She knew her testing would come quickly and a treatment plan would be designed quickly. She stated after that she was never panicked or got angry or depressed.

I interviewed another friend, Vera who has a history of breast cancer in her family from her mom. Vera comes from a middle class family; she is also in her fifties. She also said she did not panic, she knew today breast cancer is not the death sentence it used to be. Her mom was diagnosed in 1992 with breast cancer at the age of 71. Her mom had her first mastectomy in 1993 and her second mastectomy in 2003. My friend was 47 when she was first diagnosed she said her husband was upset. He thought at that time she might die, she never looked at it in that sense. She said that was the last of her fears, her fears were if she had to have chemo would she lose her hair. She never liked wigs; she imagined how she would look with a bald head. She was thankful she only needed radiation; she did get third degree burns from the radiation. She has been cancer free for nine years now. She and her mom are very strong women and all is well.

My third interview was with one of the patients where I work. She is a Caucasian, middle class woman in her early sixties. She was first diagnosed with cancer in the eye over 10 years ago. She is a flight attendant for a major airline company. Her initial thoughts were being in her profession, how would she be perceived by her coworkers and the customers that flew on the planes with her. She has done really well throughout the years. She is married with a grown daughter and son. In May of this year she was diagnosed with lung cancer, she told me that really terrified her more than the cancer of the eye because with cancer of the eye the hospital could make her eye prosthesis. She was unsure about the lung cancer; she has really huge nodules in her lungs. She is on a clinical trial where they basically use the patient as guinea pig trying to see what medicines will work and what won’t work.  She had to go part time at work instead of full-time because of the side effects from the medicines. She has to come to the hospital every month to have her condition monitored. She chooses to be optimistic and appears to be in good spirits. It is believed that your mental can help or hinder your health.