janprevent's Cancer Blog

March 25, 2008

I learned too late. Did you? Views: 259

I had been feeling ill for months. My job involved drivng thousands of miles each week and I was becoming a danger to road users as I felt like I had some kind of sleeping sickness. I started skipping apointments and sleeping on the roadside. My personal life became a shambles too as I was always too tired to make the effort.
I had been to my GP early on as I also had a rash and breast pain. He had decided that it was a recurrence of my old enemy mastitis and placed me on HRT. After a month of battling with my thoughts on Hormone Replacement therapy I took myself off the lethal drug.
I became a regular visitor to my GP. My trust in him was implicit. I begged him to help as I was in danger of losing my job and my partner. After being referred for a blood test he informed me that there was nothing physically wrong with me and prescribed anti anxiety pills.
I was 55 years old and two weeks after this I received my three yearly call from the county’s mobile screening unit. They immediately diagnosed breast cancer.
Having no family history of breast cancer I was shocked and combined with months of feeling so ill and tired did not accept the news well. Why had I been let down so by my own GP?
Had I read the Cancer bacup website I would have understood my reactions and probably been able to address and handle my feelings. It was only later that I discovered this wonderfully informative organisation.
After months of feeling ill leading to diagnosis my mental state deteriorated to a dangerous level during chemo, but being of a robust nature I pulled myself out of it eventually. By this time I had done considerable research and amongst other things discovered Cancer bacup. I hope that anyone out there takes the time to read their very informative and descriptive information on the emotional effects of cancer.
Following chemo/radiotherapyI was informed that I am HER2 positive, which as many of you will know is an extremely aggressive form of cancer which affects around 25% of breast cancer patients. After researching the side effects of Herceptin, I weighed the pros and cons of this additional one year of intravenous drug treatment and refused the offer from my oncologist. Being one of these oddities in today’s world I prefer quality of life to longevity and by this time and after much research my belief in N.I.CE. and the pharmaceutical industry had been totally destroyed.
Now I take no prescribed medication at all and prefer to give nature a chance. It’s my choice. I have to import my herbal remedy from the United States as it has been banned from sale in the UK. This in itself is a bit of a farce when you consider that you can overdose on prescribed medication anytime. I suppose I have to accept that if it was freely available and became widely used in this country it would dent in to the pharma industry’s pockets. That’s life!
So three years down the road I can say that I’m leading a reasonable life without too many chemicals flowing into my body. My values have seriously changed since contracting breast cancer. I have been saddened to see many friends contract and die of various cancers due to lack of early diagnosis. It is a terrible testimonial to our world when cancers such as breast and prostate are now viewed as acceptable and inevitable and as normal and everyday as the common cold, especially when some of the causes are known and avoidable.
My chosen cancer charities are now Marie Curie, The Chem Trust and the Environmental Working Group in America. They are doing more for potential cancer victims than all the other cancer charities put together. It’s too late for me and you. I didn’t know, but I do now and I care.