first, my older sister, the eldest in the family took back the good news about a clear CT scan when she was sent to the oncologist instead of being sent back home immediately. somebody forgot to have the scan of her lungs printed and that's where they found the very small, "immeasurable", she said, thing. it's her first anniversary of the phyllodes diagnoses and eventual mastectomy of her left breast. it was jsut 4 months after she had given birth to a daughter, a first born. she's just turned 30 that time. she has actually written an article about her medical condition on an online magazine and you can read it here (but that didn't work...eeehh, i can't find the site).
(okay i cannot find the article so i will just direct you to her blog.)
second, almost three weeks ago a colleague mentioned to me in passing about feeling a lump on her right breast. instinctively, i told her to go to her gynecologist and have it checked as soon as possible. any lump, especially on the breast, is always something that has to be checked. having been a caregiver to her family members who have had cancer she immediately went to get the series of tests, see the necessary specialists and prepare herself for the news. yesterday she finally had it confirmed: carcinoma. stage 2 breast cancer. she said she was willing and prepared to die. she has been thinking about it, she said. it is sad but i think she'll be happier that way.
she sighed as she took a spoonful of the vegetable soup. she's not so much into vegetable, you see.
this week is just cancer news week.
last night my younger sister told me her gynecologists also requested for a series of tests because the lump she has been feeling pain in the area where her second lump was. she's had two lumps taken out at separate times of the year. the second one was bigger and deeper than the first. the other younger sister also had a lump in her areola taken out about 2 years ago. i had nothing taken out of me except maybe for my sanity, but that doesn't give an excuse for me to be complacent. there is a very large possibility that i'd have what my sisters have/had, apparently because of our very immediate/direct relationship. however, the difference is that i was vegetarian for 10 years, beginning when i was 16 and ending when i was 26 for pregnancy reasons.
my family is not very fond of eating meat. in fact, my parents and siblings are pecto-ovo-vegetarian but my sisters and i thought that my almost vegan diet (i still ate dairy products, except for cow's milk, from time to time that is why) and my regular running program did much to lessen the possibilities of me contracting these kinds of diseases.
my grandmother died of breast cancer when she was in her mid 40's. before my mother started having children and none of us even got to meet her.
my grandfather died of colon cancer in 2005 (i think). but he was alcoholic and smoked a lot. he lived a very hedonistic life until he encountered his very first stroke and it was downhill for him from then on.
and we are of the third generation.
i have to go back to being vegetarian. really.
and get new shoes for running. really.
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