family history. Oftentimes, we normalize things that happen with our periods, but when you begin to think or believe that there might be something wrong. The sooner you start documenting, the sooner you can bring those to your practitioner, the sooner intervention can happen. And again, all of those resources can be located on Spot Her.
Q: I know you talked about catching things early with these resources and being able to talk to your doctors to try and do more to figure it out sooner rather than later. On the other end of the spectrum, what would be too late?
A: What would be too late? Could you clarify a little more?
Q: Say someone has been having these issues for years, and their doctor never got to it, and then when they finally do, what would be the level of severity where they can’t do anything to help cure them or relieve or get rid of the cancer or something like that?
A: That’s probably a clinical question because I’m not a doctor I probably wouldn’t answer that with any assurance. But again, if not on the Spot Her for EC website, you can look into advocacy organizations such as FORCE, SHARE, Black Health Matters, ECANA, and Foundation For Women’s Cancer (FWC), all of which have resources where you can also find a gynecological specialist in your area that might help you to make sure you get intervention in time in a timely fashion.
Q: As a woman in this field, is there any information that you feel women should have that maybe I haven’t asked about? Or just any insight?
A: Speak with your gynecologist regularly, openly and freely. You want to start having conversations like this with the women in your community who you care about. Again, we talk about the normalization of heavy periods and, “Oh yeah, my mother has fibro, and my sister has fibro, so yes, it’s very possible I fibroid.” Just know that there are risk factors that you should also be aware of, heavy bleeding even before menopause and bloating; things of that nature when you’re younger are things that you should be talking about to your doctor. Then, you want to be sure that you are in tune with your body. I know that my periods come every 21 to 28 days. You should not be going two months without a period, and then one month you have a period, and then next month you don’t; there are so many things that we don’t have, and we don’t make space for to talk in our community because of the stigma that’s related to just having a reproductive cycle.
Q: And I guess that brings a question to mind. So, I have, if I’m not on birth control, irregular periods, my cycle is like 45-50 days or whatever, and I was never diagnosed with anything, but I feel like health class doesn’t touch on those things. So is there a way that we can, in your opinion, as far as schools and teaching young girls, these aren’t normal things they’re talking about (periods and the reproductive cycle), open up that conversation more? Because we’re sitting in health as high school kids, like, “Ew,” “Oh, I don’t want to talk about that,” etc. I feel like I didn’t know my body until maybe after I had my first child.
A: Like many of us, right? I just think the empowerment that comes from education is, that the more you grow, the more you know, the stronger you feel, the more confident you feel in saying there’s something wrong. You don’t want to have a tendency to be to feel bolder when you actually know the information in which you’re asking your provider to counsel you. Which is why Spot Her for EC is so important because it gives us all those tangible resources so that if you don’t have the language, we’ll give you the language. Spot Her has been in five cities, in five major metropolitan cities, as a mobile educational unit that provided resources for women, not just for themselves, but for their community at large. So that’s probably the most important takeaway I would say, is that if we can’t talk about it, we won’t be able to do anything about it. So, you have to be vocal. We have to start talking about what’s wrong and not just saying, “Oh, that’s normal,” or, “Oh, it’ll be okay”. No, it’s not okay. It’s great if it’s okay, but it’s not okay to not feel as if you can’t speak up and take action against something that is as devastating as a diagnosis of endometrial cancer.
Q: Right. If someone wanted to request you guys to come to talk at a school or a health class per se, do you guys do that type of thing?
A: Well, this is a collaborative effort. All the organizations I mentioned above probably have a place where you can go and request for speakers or presenters to come and talk to your community about endometrial cancer.
I do feel like there’s just not enough knowledge or importance placed around it, especially when it comes to high school, because a lot of the time, the students are goofing around, or as you said, there’s no pride in talking about things that go on with your body because of embarrassment or people telling you don’t worry about that. So then you become like, “Okay, well, this is fine. I don’t have to talk to my doctor.”
A: Exactly. We find comfort in something that feels like everybody. This is normal for everybody, but again, you’re not everybody. You’re only one person. What’s normal for someone else doesn’t mean it’s necessarily normal for you. Which is why it’s important for you to know your body to, you know, document what’s happening with your menstrual cycle, all of those things in which will help you to feel more confident and empowered when you’re talking about it with your healthcare provider. And the resources that we provide on Spot Her EC are resources that you can actually take and use. We give you the language, what you need to know regarding your research, your family or your person, gynecological history, all those things you can use when you’re in your provider’s office. So that you won’t be dismissed or feel like you’re being dismissed when you’re telling them there’s something wrong. You know, I’ve had this issue, and they’re like, “Oh no, it’s okay. You know, it’s normal for a person.” No, because these resources are telling me that I could be at risk for this cancer. So maybe we need to take the next best step toward making sure that I’m not having signs of this particular cancer.
Q: I definitely agree. I don’t have any more questions, but one last time, is there anything else you feel like you want to add before we decide to go?
A: No, well, first, I want to say thank you for the opportunity to talk with you. I look forward to your readers visiting the Spot Her for EC website so that they can learn more about endometrial cancer and then also be able to have any opportunity to share that with their own communities and feel as if they have learned something that they didn’t know about before. And that is endometrial cancer.