When I was told I had grade three triple negative breast cancer, I wasn’t surprised. That wasn’t because I had a dream about it a few months earlier, which I did, but because when I was lying on my back in bed one day and felt a hard lump, I knew immediately it was different to anything I’d found before. The problem is, I’m told, all boobs are different, and so are cancers.
I’d been to see doctors a few times before with what, I thought, were suspicious lumps, and all of them had turned out to be fine. When I was 18, I was even shamed by a doctor for showing her something I was worried about. Together, this meant I didn’t do regular breast exams before that point.
My cancer isn’t genetic or hormonal. When I asked an oncologist if it was lifestyle-related, she said she didn’t discuss those kinds of factors because it could come across as “judgy”. But for a lot of us, the two are intrinsically linked.
I would argue cancer and lifestyle are always linked in our minds; we’re told to avoid cancer-causing UV rays, preserved meats, chemicals, alcohol, high-voltage electricity – among many other potential carcinogens. And of course, we mustn’t overeat, be too sedentary, be too stressed. If you spent your life trying to avoid cancer, there’d be little time for anything else.
But nonetheless, cancer is often in the back of our minds. I was thinking about my lifestyle choices at the GP’s office the day after I found the lump. I’ve always enjoyed being soc.
