Calendar Girl Blog: Swallowed by a Conference
First, the Calendar Girl weather report. From what I can see and feel out my shabby little window, the weather in Halifax is around 19c and slightly overcast with a very high ceiling of clouds.
I've just re-read some of my conference posts and realized that due to the fact that I've been attending BrCan conferences for five years and because they (brcan conferences) tend to swallow their delegates whole, I may not have been as accessible with my descriptions as possible. Let me fill in some of the blanks that I found.
"Tits in a Wringer"is how mammograms were described in the video of the same name. For many women, mammograms are extremely painful. I am one of those women. We rarely talk about this. (just like women don't describe and talk about child birth) I'm not sure why that is but I'm of the mindset that the more you know the less you fear rather than the ignorance is bliss club. So imagine a ringer from an old fashioned washing machine. Imagine your tits going through, one at a time, and then getting stuck. Imagine being told to "hold that pose." Did you cringe? Then you got the picture.
The demographics of the gig. I'd say 80% of the delegates are bracan survivors. The age range would be mid 20's to late 70's. To my eyes, there seems to be about 30% young women which seems higher than the last world conference in 2002. Some of the survivors are currently in treatment as evident by the number of women with hair loss. Many women are not wearing their prostesis or wigs. The few dozen men are scientists, media people and doctors. The remaining women, like myself, work in the field as support people, researchers, advocates and activists.
Several people told me they were 'cancered out' yesterday. Every speaker, every meal, every workshop has a thick ribbon of loss running through it. Loss of life, lost of self esteem, loss of breasts, loss of reproductive ability (many breast cancer treatments bring on sudden menopause or instantly sterilize), loss of family (the trauma can be too much for a spouse to contend with), loss of life savings (brcan is very expensive), loss of hope for a future.
Then there's the guilt. BrCan survivors with daughters suffer terribly. They struggle with the question of whether, by having breast cancer, they have given their daughters a death sentence. Even though less than 10% of ALL cancers are genetic. That's right folks, Cancer is our own creation.
Calendar Girl does her very best to listen to and comfort the women who tell her their story.
Calendar Girl thinks we all need to wake up.
Calendar Girl
I've just re-read some of my conference posts and realized that due to the fact that I've been attending BrCan conferences for five years and because they (brcan conferences) tend to swallow their delegates whole, I may not have been as accessible with my descriptions as possible. Let me fill in some of the blanks that I found.
"Tits in a Wringer"is how mammograms were described in the video of the same name. For many women, mammograms are extremely painful. I am one of those women. We rarely talk about this. (just like women don't describe and talk about child birth) I'm not sure why that is but I'm of the mindset that the more you know the less you fear rather than the ignorance is bliss club. So imagine a ringer from an old fashioned washing machine. Imagine your tits going through, one at a time, and then getting stuck. Imagine being told to "hold that pose." Did you cringe? Then you got the picture.
The demographics of the gig. I'd say 80% of the delegates are bracan survivors. The age range would be mid 20's to late 70's. To my eyes, there seems to be about 30% young women which seems higher than the last world conference in 2002. Some of the survivors are currently in treatment as evident by the number of women with hair loss. Many women are not wearing their prostesis or wigs. The few dozen men are scientists, media people and doctors. The remaining women, like myself, work in the field as support people, researchers, advocates and activists.
Several people told me they were 'cancered out' yesterday. Every speaker, every meal, every workshop has a thick ribbon of loss running through it. Loss of life, lost of self esteem, loss of breasts, loss of reproductive ability (many breast cancer treatments bring on sudden menopause or instantly sterilize), loss of family (the trauma can be too much for a spouse to contend with), loss of life savings (brcan is very expensive), loss of hope for a future.
Then there's the guilt. BrCan survivors with daughters suffer terribly. They struggle with the question of whether, by having breast cancer, they have given their daughters a death sentence. Even though less than 10% of ALL cancers are genetic. That's right folks, Cancer is our own creation.
Calendar Girl does her very best to listen to and comfort the women who tell her their story.
Calendar Girl thinks we all need to wake up.
Calendar Girl
posted by Sue Richards at 6:28 AM
1 Comments:
Sue, I once sat next to a breast cancer screening director at a dinner, she appeared to be in considerable discomfort. I attempted to console her and politely asked her the cause of the discomfort. As you probably guesssed she had just been through her own wringer for the first time. While I hope I was suitably sympathetic, I did hope this might lead to something positive for womanhood. Our 'wringer' has a cartoon on it, which says it was invented by a man. There is another cartoon showing a 'Manogram' machine.
Post a Comment
<< Home