Pinktober

It's October. Everything turns pink with a little pink ribbon on the package. . . . . clothes, socks, toilet paper and even soup cans! Consumers are led to believe that by buying these products they are doing something good for breast cancer research.  Not so. Much of the time the ribbon is there just to raise awareness of breast cancer, as if you did not already know that it exists.  Companies use our crappy cancer as a way to make money. Most cancer patients are offended by it.

Some cancer patients wear the pink ribbon proudly, giving thanks for both the symbol and its attendant charity-dollars to fund a cure. Others hate it with a passion. Not all the hype and commercialism is bad. Between 1991 and 1996, federal funding for breast cancer research increased nearly fourfold to over $550 million. And according to the American Cancer Society, the percentage of women getting annual mammograms and clinical breast exams has more than doubled over the last decade. That's a good thing!

44,000 women a year die from breast cancer.  A woman could develop a very early stage cancer, have it treated, and months later be diagnosed with stage four.  There's a woman in one of my support groups who had stage zero cancer, meaning it barely registered on the ole cancer-meter, but it came back months later as stage 4.  My cancer was caught early as stage 1 and didn't require Chemo or radiation. I'm blessed enough to just be given pills (with their own set of side affects) that is supposed to help prevent a recurrence.  BUT crappy cancer cells are devilish little things, you know. I never get cocky enough to think I'm never going to get it again. Breast cancer has a history of coming back in the lungs, bones, colon or brain with the intent to kill.

So, (I may have expressed this before) it's hard not to think about it every day. There seems to be a little black cloud hanging over me to remind me that I had it, along with the side affects and taking the stupid pills every day, that it's almost impossible not to think about it coming back at some point. The risk of recurrence for women with hormone positive breast cancer (the most common subtype representing around two-thirds of all breast cancer diagnoses- and mine was hormone+) persists after the five-year mark up to 25 years. I'll take the meds for 8 years according to my team of doctors, but there's still that 25 year mark of a black cloud over my head.

Pinktober doesn't make me nauseous or angry like it does most cancer patients. I encourage everyone to use this as a time to schedule their mammogram and I don't get upset when someone buys me a pink ribbon gift. I like them and I like pink. It's a month long parade of pink. . . . .  and just know that your purchase most likely doesn't fund a cure. But please consider giving directly to a breast cancer organization whose work you believe is most essential to addressing the breast cancer epidemic.