On The Beach....Easter Sunday 12 April 2009

I went to a Spring Festival at a coastal town over the weekend.

There wasn't much there besides the usual touristy local crafts stuff, none of it really worth bothering over, at least not for me, except the one table, where two women were collecting money for a raffle for a framed painting of some sort, the proceeds to go toward care bundles for women going through treatment for Breast Cancer surgery, and Chemo.

I gave a donation, and asked them to please remember that there are other kinds of "woman" cancers out there--other reproductive cancers that strike women, and that perhaps those women too would appreciate such support.

A couple of years ago I presented a short paper at a roundtable session at a conference that I went to about how there was no t-shirt for my cancer. And there really isn't, not that there "should" be, rather, I think sometimes that with the incredible emphasis on Breast Cancer, as a "cause", that other kinds of diseases, and other kinds of cancers, sometimes become forgotten.

Today there was a short CNN news item about Farah Fawcett, and her struggle with Anal Cancer. About the "stigma" for such cancers of the anal, rectal, colon, and how she is hospitalized right now.

While I can't empathize with her pain, I can empathize with the sense of fear, and uncertainty that she is likely to experience.

I wish her the very best, and would also like to understand this idea of a so-called stigma for a cancer--certainly there's no stigma for "cancer", and to potentially imply that there should be any stigma, is cruel, and totally unkind.

The CNN article cited that some of the risk factors for that kind of cancer make it an uncomfortable topic for patient and doctor alike.

Think about how unreasonable that whole idea is--a person's life is at stake, and the Doctor is uncomfortable with the exam, the cancer? How is a patient supposed to feel?

Also that the idea of HPV is somehow connected, therefore, the Gardasil vaccine might be useful? as a preventive vaccine?

THAT's worth looking into!

Lila