I'm with you on all the prevention stuff. You can't prevent breast cancer. However, I do like the early detection message - mainly because I skipped 8 years of mammograms. Nobody knows whether it would have caught anything or not - I've heard many women who got their mammograms faithfully and a month or two after a clean one, discovered cancer.
I had dense breasts - a risk factor I was unaware of. Would it have made me go had I known? Probably not but maybe.
Maybe I wouldn't be Stage IV now had I done it.
Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference.
But, I don't have time for rage. People are people, they make mistakes. As I well know, life is way too short. I have used humor to get my point across - my blog now gets 30,000 hits a month. I am against all the pinkwashing and planned some October blog posts to point out the flaws - I was asked to do an op-ed story in the newspaper, but with my upcoming surgery I may not be able to now. This is just to say that anger is not the only way to get a point across - my blog is humorous
Raging against people who make a mistake, or aren't as smart as you, or are overworked or just incompetent - it won't change them and it doesn't help you. Maybe you'll feel better in the short term for getting your anger off your chest, but you are intelligent enough to know that those people aren't the real reason you are angry. You are angry because you have cancer. Those people didn't cause it, and even the one who forgot to order your pre-mix made a very human error.
Your original post didn't mention joining an anti-pinkwashing campaign or turning anger into positive change. You stated that you are railing at people who have annoyed you.
Admittedly, you said yourself, your way of dealing isn't healthy. I don't think it is either. You are very newly diagnosed though and in the early stages, so maybe you'll end up finding some inner peace after time goes by. I hope you do, anyway.
__________________
http://butdoctorihatepink.com
08/17/09 Dx'd.
Multifocal/multicentric IDC, largest 3.4 cm, associated ADH, LCIS, DCIS
HER2+ ER+/PR- Grade 3, Node Negative
10/20/2009: Right mastectomy, reconstruction with TE
12/02/2009: Six rounds TCH, switched to Taxol halfway through due to neuropathy
03/31/2010: Finished chemo
05/01/2010: Began tamoxifen, the worst drug ever
11/18/2010: Reconstruction completed
12/02/2010: Finished herceptin
05/21/2011: Liver Mets. Quit Tamoxifen
06/22/2011: Navelbine/Zometa/Herceptin
10/03/2011: Liver Resection, left lobe. Microwave ablation, right lobe - going for cure!
11/26/2011: C-Diff Superbug Infection, "worst case doctor had seen in 20 years"
03/28/2012: Progression in ablated section of the liver - no more cure. Started Abraxane, continue herceptin/zometa
10/10/2012: Progression continues, started Halaven, along with herceptin and zometa.
01/15/2013: Progression continues, started Gemzar and Perjeta, an unusual combo, continuing with herceptin and zometa
03/13/2013: Quit Gemzar, body just won't handle it. Staying on herceptin, zometa and perjeta.
04/03/2013: CT shows 50% regression in tumor, so am starting back on Gemzar with dose reduction, staying with perjeta/herceptin/zometa. Can't argue with success!
05/09/2013: Discussing SBRT with Radiology due to inability of bone marrow to recover from chemo.
06/07/2013: Fiducial placement for SBRT
07/03/2013: Chemo discontinued, on Perjeta, Herceptin and Zometa alone
07/25/2013: SBRT (gamma knife) begins
08/01/2013: SBRT completed
08/15/2013: STABLE! continuing with Perjeta, Herceptin, Zometa
06/18/2014: ***** NED!!!!***** continuing with Perjeta, Herceptin, Zometa
01/29/2014: Still NED. continuing with Perjeta, Herceptin. Zometa lowered to every 3 months instead of monthly.
11/08/2015: Progression throughout abdomen and lungs. Started TDM-1, aka Kadcyla. Other meds discontinued. Remission was nice while it lasted.
5/27/18: Stable. Kadcyla put me right back in the barn. I have two teeny spots on my lungs that are metabolically inactive, and liver is clean.
I’m beating this MFer. I was 51 when this started and had two kids, 22 and 12. Now I’m 60. My oldest got married and trying to start s family. My youngesg graduates from Caltech this June. My stepdaughter gave me grandkids. Life is fantastic.
Threaded Mode