A gamble, a test or a sign?

The scenarios of newly diagnosed women with breast cancer are almost always very similar. With shock and fear dominating the woman and her entire family, there is a rush for quick answers and solutions to a crisis never thought to come their way.

A visit to the hospital and a cancer specialist becomes the first step in the confusing web of breast cancer. Decisions are hurriedly done, assured by the most recent advances in science and medicine. The patient mainly relies on her attending physician.  But as the days and weeks go by, more questions arise and doubts of cure start trickling in. Entering the hospital for a sure cure has become like entering a casino to win a quick fortune. Having sufficient funds, whether savings or insurance is likened to having enough capital to gamble....and what first appeared to be low risk turns out to be high risk!  As they say, the casino never loses.....it's the gambler who will lose his shirt! A woman and her family bet all their money on perceived odds that surgery, chemotherapy and radiation would work.

For other patients though, they would rather not "gamble" but opt to try various options and alternatives that have been said to be of real benefit. This places much of the burden on the patient and her family. It will be a continuing search for positive experiences in curing breast cancer. With so much information from so many resources, the patient will test one after another for as long as her resources can manage to. From one experience to another, she will hope to conquer breast cancer with whatever may come her way and for as long as she does not turn for the worse. At the very least, testing non-toxic and non-invasive methods will not complicate or compromise her. "No harm - No foul!"

Yet in either scenario, it is only what is clear and visible to one's heart which will spell her journey in the unknown depths of breast cancer. There will always be events that will happen - good and bad - and most often it will be the sudden and unexpected ones beyond her control which will become crossroads for her. To resign from a job or not. To relocate residence or not. To let go of a troubled marriage or not. To continue chemo or not. To continue alternative treatment or not. To fight or to surrender. To live or to die.

There always will be signs.

A woman with breast cancer will have to reach out in the deepest bottom of her heart and soul for the very purpose of her life, that she may find strength and courage to confront the disease with full honor and dignity. Breast cancer is an environmental disease which is preventable. Like so many other victims today, she has become the one in thirteen women in the Philippines to get breast cancer. It was never her fault.

                       Breast Cancer is a sign of the times!