The Common Fear

 I was talking with my cousin Penny (who is a phlebotomist)  and she was telling me about her 3 friends from work who have all had serious bouts with breast cancer. (Yeah...I said 3) I am talking  Mastectomy's and double mastectomy's here.  These women all work in the same dept. at the hospital she works in. Now... I am no expert in statistics...but that just seems like the likelyhood of that happening is astronomically high to me. I had asked Penny if she feared that she would too be faced with it at some point? She replied to me "Doesn't every woman fear it"? It set me back for a moment. Every woman fears getting breast Cancer?
After thinking about it for a moment, I realised  "Why wouldn't they?.... because I too fear it...not breast cancer (However I have started to develop some pretty good sized "man boobs") But Cancer in itself is something that I fear. I suppose in some way...every person probably fears getting cancer at some point in their lives. And rightfully so...percentages says that it is probable....quite probable in fact.

Women go through mammogram testing each year as an early detection process. A mammogram is something I never understood  until my wife explained the process to me....the fact that they must squish the breast as flat as a pancake to take pictures of it...just flabbergasts me. (OK that's a mans version of the test) But are you kidding me right now? We can do some amazing things in this world such as send robots to Mars, or replace organs in the human body...but we cant find a better method to check for cancer other than squeezing a boob to take a picture? All I can think about is "Thank God there is not such a thing for men." A "Manogram" so to speak. But even if there was...I think I would be forced to do it each year. What else is there? I was terrified when I had to go through  the whole prostrate exam. (Yeah that's the one where you hope your Dr. does not have "Man Hands") I went through this and will continue to do it because the statistics of a man developing prostrate cancer is  1 out of  every 6 men. And Breast cancer is not a whole lot better with a 1 out of every 8 women.

 Although the survival rate is fairly decent for both of these cancers ...dieing from it is not what scares me....its the treatment that scares me the most. Radiation, Chemo therapy, and the possibility of many surgery's that one must endure, all of it just scares the hell out of me. I have seen first hand what chemo does to ones body.... not a pretty sight. I have always wondered if I would put myself through all that if  I was faced with that decision. My heart goes out to all those men and women who have suffered and survived such a horrible disease and treatment. You talk about inspiration?...these are the people where you can draw enough inspiration and adoration that you will ever need. I also have much adoration for those who have forgone the treatment and said..."enough is enough".
Fear of cancer is in my head...but also in my head is knowing that I cannot control what happens to me. Only god decides what he wants me to be faced with in my life. Another thing that I do know for sure is..... that whatever God decides...I will face it with pride and dignity.