In her article, Barbara Ehrenreich discusses her personal experience with being diagnosed with breast cancer and the journey it put her on, both emotionally and spiritually. Physically speaking, Barbara experienced what we all know to be the painful affects of being diagnosed with breast cancer but on other levels she was rocked worse. Initially receiving her diagnosis after a routine mammogram that her health insurance company recommends to all women after reaching the age of 50, Barbara’s world was suddenly turned upside down. She instantly went from a life of normalcy; running errands and having the confidence of knowing what each day held to being a member of support meetings, maintaining a positive attitude, donning pink ribbons and feeling anger for her situation but disguising it as acceptance. She talks about the frustration and fear people are subjected to with regard to the mammogram machine and the painful experience of having one’s breast squished for an excruciatingly long period of time while it’s being examined. The fear she went through when the radiologist will not answer any questions about what they may or may not have seen on her mammogram results was apparent and the length of time she had to wait to get her mammogram results bothered Barbara as well. While most of us are privy to the information we might see on a television special about breast cancer or what we see at a pink ribbon rally, Barbara tells of the experiences that she faces when one is diagnosed with this incurable cancer that most people, especially those with the disease, rarely discuss. Barbara writes about the “unmentionable” in her article, honestly sharing her feelings on how awful it is to be diagnosed. She quickly discovers it is inappropriate and taboo to discuss breast cancer in a self-defeating way and rather it is more accepted to remain upbeat, happy and feeling beautiful.
To date, there are 2.2 million women in America going through various stages of breast cancer. Of these people diagnosed Barbara explains, each is supposed to think of their cancer cells as “the enemy.” Always told to remain positive and keep a positive attitude, Barbara discusses her inability to keep such a happy facade during her time of diagnosis and during the chemotherapy and terrible medications that followed. There is already a mapped out plan for treatment for each women diagnosed, Barbara explains. While she might have been able to decide whether or not she wanted a lumpectomy or a mastectomy, because of the results, Barbara and most women prefer the first anyway. “The pressure is on, from doctors and loved ones, to do something right away—kill it, get it out now,” she says. A breast cancer cure is not in existence so regardless of which path Barbara chose to take with regard to her surgery, she was painfully aware that the death rate for people who have breast cancer has changed little in the last seventy years. There is also still no decisive determination on what causes it. Alternative methods for treatment are available; numerous celebrities like Suzanne Somers have also published books discussing their success with alternative medicine in destroying cancer. Studies have shown that alternative methods have proven unsuccessful in most of these cases, however, so Barbara chose to put her faith in science and take the chemotherapy route.
Numerous organizations exist to support people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer that were not available thirty years ago. Barbara discovered hundreds of websites dedicated to the issue, breast cancer pamphlets, several books cited within the article, a monthly magazine called Mamm, and she also found out that there are four, nationally supported breast cancer organizations that financially support many programs geared toward breast cancer awareness and funding for a cure. One of the more well known organizations is The Susan G. Komen Foundation. Barbara admits that while most of these “Race for a Cure” marathons and “Pink Ribbon” events held by such companies spend more on decorations than they make on donation funds, she believes there is a comfort in the discovery that no one has to go through dealing with breast cancer alone. Hesitant to use the word, “victims,” Barbara and other women joined together as “survivors,” learning through the battle stories each one would share and rejoicing in their victory. Counting the days that they have lived through since each was first told they had breast cancer. Barbara and her peers remember the people who had succumbed to the disease with candle light vigils. Also referred to as those people who have “lost their battle” with breast cancer. Barbara and others like her struggle to accept the survivor’s guilt they feel for still being alive yet remain optimistic because for the time being, at least, they are ahead of the disease for which there is still no cure.
1. The history of medicare