Susan Reimer, a columnist at The Baltimore Sun newspaper, wrote that she failed to get her annual mammogram because ”the prospect of getting a very sensitive part of my body pressed between two pieces of cold glass — the greater the pressure the greater the accuracy — had driven me under an afghan and in front of a soap opera.” After her commentary was published, by her own admission, she was scolded.
Everyone from radiologists to cancer survivors let her have it for having second thoughts about the procedure. It’s a very interesting column; well worth the read.
COMMENT: I don’t understand the hysteria women have over annual mammograms. It’s almost like, if you don’t get one, you are ostracized from The Club. The same thing that happened to Ms. Reimer happens to most of us if we dare to say we’re skipping the torture this year.
Yes, mammograms can “find cancer early.” But when are women going to demand widespread use of a technology that can identify concerns years before cancer is identified on a mammogram? When are women going to insist that the millions raised by running races be used to identify and elimate the Cause?
One reason given for not investigating The Cause is that “breast cancer is complex.” Well, doing heart transplants and disconnecting Siamese twins is complex too, yet we have found successful ways to perform those medical miracles. The truthful answer is that there’s no money in cause: The Money Is In The Medicine, Not The Cure.
Woman need to push for tools–like thermography and others–that can redefine the meaning of Early Detection. Let’s make all the fund raising activity count for something that can make a substantial difference in Women’s Health.
