LUMPECTOMY FOR BEGINNERS - Post - surgery followup and a Rant

This afternoon, the surgeon.  My incision looks as good to me as before radiation.  We'll see what the doctor says. I wanted to see the medical oncologist before today, but it didn't work out. Time seems to slip through my fingers since the lumpectomy.

***

Now for the Rant:  Last night I read the Yahoo news blog on the World Health Organization report that cancer will have a huge upsurge worldwide in the next two decades.

The blog said nothing about what the WHO bases this prediction on. 

 Diet, exercise, and early detection were mentioned as possible prevention for half of us.   Alcohol and tobacco were mentioned as causes.  But tobacco use has widely declined here.  Will we all start eating more fast junk, sit more than we already do with our horrendous commutes? 

Nothing about the environment!  Not a word about carcinogens around us and in our food and our sunscreens and, and, and.    

There was a photo of a cancer patient resting.  He didn't look as if too much red meat and too many martinis were his lifestyle.  Much of the world does not get a lot of fast food, alcohol, lengthy commutes, and lolling in front of tv.  Their air is not full of vehicle exhaust.  What gives them cancer?

My main Rant? Calling early detection "prevention" always makes  me furious!  We can detect a polyp and prevent some cancers. But detecting cancer means you've got it!    

Early detection of breast cancer in situ doesn't prevent cancer. It finds unhealthy cells.  We may need surgery and perhaps radiation to get what is detected. We hope that's all of it. If not, we hope our own immune systems will kill some rogue cells. We may take preventive medicine for years, enduring the side effects. And we wait.  

Some of us do believe that exercise and good eating habits help keep cancer away or keep it from showing up again.  Dr. Salwitz believes in exercise, and I believe him.  

Some of us, like me, believe the science published in books like The Immune Power Personality, and we work on our minds and behavior to help keep us healthy.

But some of us want to know what our governments are going to do about environmental causes.  Some take action with petitions and letters about pollution.  Obviously, that's not enough!