Does this go only for the women? I also write it for all men. Everyone, even from afar, has a wife, mother, aunt, daughter, or friend. So they are interested. Also, no man is free from this type of cancer.
October is a very "pink" month - the color is not one of my favorites. On many sides, there are tasks to inform about breast cancer and sell "pink" products (which I'm not sure at all seriously help prevent cancer). Where do I start to do something concrete? To take care of and carry away this message of prevention against breast cancer?
Think about this: when a child, 3 or 4 years old, wants to know how babies are born, he does not do so because he has doubts about how an egg is fertilized with sperm. The child wants to know how new babies “appear”. At his age, he does not need such detailed information. The child will be happy with a fairy story for his age.
The same goes for breast cancer and the information we have access to today: it is important to know what you NEED to be well. No more no less.
There is so much information that knowing it all could do us more harm than good. What is really worth knowing about breast cancer? I share my experience:
It is important to know that it exists and can be close to you. Open your eyes and ears wide. Breast cancer is not a myth, not a legend, not a science fiction novel. I invite you to find and meet people who have breast cancer. You will be surprised to know that it does not matter your age, or education, or the country where you are born, whether it gives you or not. There may be trends and statistics; however, breast cancer exists, it is not noticed and it is just around the corner: in someone from the family, from the group of friends, from the college classmates, at work, the friend's cousin, etc...
It is important that you know that, first of all, it is your task to help detect it in time. How? Learn to explore your breasts well, and to recognize what you have inside them, what your tissue is like if something appears that was not there last month. And don't miss anything. In these cases, where your health and life are at stake, it is better to be exaggerated or meticulous. You will always come out winning.
It is worth knowing that if you are not good at self-exploration, go regularly to your gynecologist and know how to ask for help. Regularly means at least every six months ...not every four years or more. Going to ultrasounds and mammograms have more good than bad.
It is important that you know that breast cancer is treated with many very advanced medical resources, and there are incredible improvements every time. However, no medium works at its best if you do not have a positive attitude and strength in the soul. Now, if you tell a person with breast cancer to have a positive attitude and strength in the soul so that the medicines do him good… he will send you flying; insurance. So how is this accomplished? With company and showing love to the people who live it. Have you thought that maybe your company, without much fanfare or long stories, can be the motivation and strength for someone who has cancer? Accompany people in the way you can and how best you are born. Be cautious.
It is worth knowing that you have great power to prevent cancer -and cure if it were the case- by CHANGING YOUR HABITS. This is very serious: How is your diet? Have you decided to find a nutritionist? What are you drinking? What do you put on your face, hair, and body? What do you wear makeup with? What do you wash your clothes with? What do you usually have in your pantry and refrigerator? How do you have fun? What feelings do you have? What do you think? Do you live with stress? Do you exercise I highly recommend reading Anti-Cancer by David Servan-Schreiber, a book that we must read if we DO NOT HAVE cancer. Well, put a "like" on Facebook pages or follow a "health coach" on Twitter.
It is very important to know that breast cancer prognoses and comparisons between patients are...BS! (for its acronym in English). Help people not get bogged down in cancer terminology: What kind of cancer do you have? What stage? What grade? 5-year survival? 10 years? What if…? This kind of thing doesn't help at all. There are very serious studies that speak of how the power of the mind helps to cure even the most complex of diseases, to extend the life of those who have one, and to give quality of life. Take care that your mind is fed, and help take care of the minds of those around you. With this, I am not saying that you do not "educate yourself" on the subject of breast cancer. Only with good education do you make good decisions, hand in hand with the medical team and your family. It is important to have and know the basic information (and from good sources) to "survive" and not screw up. However, the temptation to continue reading and see what happened to the neighbor, why she was given the red one and I was given the blue one, why she was operated on first and not me, why did they remove lymph nodes and me no… .it is useless (if you trust your doctors). What's more, it's bad. Each body and each specific case is TOTALLY different from the one on one side.
It is worth knowing that, if you have to have it, you waste time and energy looking for culprits (if the genes, if I ate well if I drank if I wake up if I got angry ...). You will never know with total clarity. Never. If it touches you, I am sure that you will have the strength to get ahead and to learn a lot. You will learn to surprise yourself every day: of your strength to eat the world in one bite, lift an elephant with one finger, move a mountain from the place, put out a fire with a drop of water ...... all this if you put your mind to it. You will be a different person, without a doubt. And different means, for me, BETTER.
It is important to know that you are not alone. You will find the best company in the people who love you the most (family, friends) and whom you love the most. Be patient; not always family and friends know how to say what you want or need to hear, or do what you expect or want. It is also a fact that you will find, in other people who are going through or went through the same things as you, unmatched understanding and empathy.
Since I can remember I have had "close encounters" with cancer in my family and friends; very close: my mom, my dad, my second mom, my grandmother, some of my best friends. Even so, at 36 years old, being married, with a daughter of 3, very healthy, with very strict control of my cysts and fibroadenomas in the chest, with many plans and work ahead, breast cancer caught me off guard. For 8 months it has led me on an incredible path of discoveries and very valuable learnings. Thanks to cancer, I love and value my life as I never imagined it.
The pink color of October I wish it was better Red. Well, Red for me means life, strength, courage, joy, passion, energy, health, God. This is how I see my October. And this is how I have decided to paint for the months to come.
By: Aidee Granados
