Breast Cancer – Why You Need To Know What Kind of Breast Cancer You Have
Posted on November 30, 2010 by DFHS Article Team
When you get into the different types of breast cancer, it can sound like a deadly algebraic alphabet soup…ER+, ER-, HER2+, HER2-, triple negative, DCIS…
If you’re the one getting diagnosed, you probably don’t hear much past, “You have cancer.” (I know…I’ve heard those words myself.)
It’s important to know the type of cancer you have for a couple of reasons.
1. The type of cancer you have determines your treatment.
2. All cancer is not the same. Yes, it can all be deadly…even DCIS. (There I go with the ABCs.)
I’ve run into women with breast cancer who have no idea what type of cancer they have. This concerned me because after a while, I started noticing a pattern amongst the women who knew what they had, and those who didn’t.
Now, before I go any further, please understand that I’m not saying you HAVE to deal with cancer in a certain way. But, what I noticed was that the women who took a proactive, “I’m going to beat this” approach knew what kind of cancer they had. Those who were terrified (and rightly so) didn’t know the type. (I also saw an age difference. Older breast cancer patients usually didn’ know, but that’s a generational issue usually.) I’m talking about younger women with breast cancer.
When young women couldn’t tell me what type of cancer they had, there was usually an accompanying sense of defeat – a sense of palpable fear that it was just a matter of time. (Again, fear is totally understandable – a lack of fear would be worrisome.)
Fear and cancer is not a combination that helps with healing.
However, knowledge is power, and understanding can allay fears. Otherwise, our imaginations have a tendency to run wild with all kinds of dire possibilities.
When you can name something, you can know it better. When you name something, you have power over it. (This may sound odd to add here – but when Jesus cast out demons, he always asked their name first. Why? There’s power in knowing a name.)
That’s why I’d encourage all women with breast cancer (or anyone with any cancer) to know the name for what you have. Then you can know what it’s like and how it works – and most importantly, you can know how to defeat it. (And maybe even MORE importantly, you can be on the lookout for remedies and solutions that your doctor may not suggest – like meditation or reflexology or essential oils, and it goes without saying that you should ALWAYS run alternative therapies by your healthcare team.)
Knowing exactly what you have puts YOU in the driver’s seat, and gives you more power to make informed decisions.
If for no other reason, knowing the name of the cancer will allow you to get a specific image of it in your mind. This alone will get rid of a lot of confusion, and since confusion leads directly to fear, this will help you beat the disease.
Cancer is an unusual disease – it’s very much a disease fought in the mind and spirit. That’s where some of it’s most dangerous attacks occur.
Knowing the type of cancer you have can give you an edge – and that can make a world of difference.
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