Big D
Welcome back to Breast Cancer Self-awareness Month.
It dawned on me today that in dealing with breast cancer, you're either on offense or defense. That is, you're either aggressively fighting the disease once it's struck, or you're digging your heels in and doing everything you can to keep it at bay.
I've been on both sides, and I have to say that offense is easier.
Not better.
Not preferable.
But easier.
It's in our nature to fight back when we're attacked. We close ranks, marshal our resources, and start firing whatever we've got at the enemy.
With breast cancer, what we've got is surgery and radiation and chemotherapy and targeted drugs. Sometimes we need only one. Sometimes we lob everything we can and hope we don't run out of ammo. But whichever weapons we deploy, we do it in a heightened state: the adrenaline has kicked in, and it keeps us focused on the mission at hand, and that keeps us moving forward.
By contrast, the periods before and after cancer are quiet. We do everything we can to prevent the enemy from sneaking up on us, but it's like standing watch or riding patrol: there's no underlying sense of urgency, and therefore it's easy to slack off. Every day without an incursion seduces us just a bit more, makes us comfortable with the status quo, and convinces us that the danger has passed.
It hasn't.
And that's the problem with playing defense. We're basically waiting for cancer to make a move so we can react. And even though there are many proactive things we can do—under the rubrics of prevention and screening—it's just a much more passive posture. And that makes it hard to rally a lot of energy for the prevention and screening we need to do.
Cancer has many shortcomings. But you can't say that the specter of active disease fails to motivate.
My challenge this month is to find a way to play defense as doggedly and aggressively as I've played offense, and to combat the Big C with the biggest D I can muster.
And even though you can't typically put up points on defense, I'm going to find a way to keep score.
It dawned on me today that in dealing with breast cancer, you're either on offense or defense. That is, you're either aggressively fighting the disease once it's struck, or you're digging your heels in and doing everything you can to keep it at bay.
I've been on both sides, and I have to say that offense is easier.
Not better.
Not preferable.
But easier.
It's in our nature to fight back when we're attacked. We close ranks, marshal our resources, and start firing whatever we've got at the enemy.
With breast cancer, what we've got is surgery and radiation and chemotherapy and targeted drugs. Sometimes we need only one. Sometimes we lob everything we can and hope we don't run out of ammo. But whichever weapons we deploy, we do it in a heightened state: the adrenaline has kicked in, and it keeps us focused on the mission at hand, and that keeps us moving forward.
By contrast, the periods before and after cancer are quiet. We do everything we can to prevent the enemy from sneaking up on us, but it's like standing watch or riding patrol: there's no underlying sense of urgency, and therefore it's easy to slack off. Every day without an incursion seduces us just a bit more, makes us comfortable with the status quo, and convinces us that the danger has passed.
It hasn't.
And that's the problem with playing defense. We're basically waiting for cancer to make a move so we can react. And even though there are many proactive things we can do—under the rubrics of prevention and screening—it's just a much more passive posture. And that makes it hard to rally a lot of energy for the prevention and screening we need to do.
Cancer has many shortcomings. But you can't say that the specter of active disease fails to motivate.
My challenge this month is to find a way to play defense as doggedly and aggressively as I've played offense, and to combat the Big C with the biggest D I can muster.
And even though you can't typically put up points on defense, I'm going to find a way to keep score.
posted by Jody Rosen Knower at 7:34 PM
1 Comments:
Amen! I know what you mean.
But maybe the alternative is to just move on with life? Make the changes that you think are healthy (higher priority on exercise, better foods, etc.), be on the watch for potential symptoms, but then just . . . live.
Hope Murtaugh
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