educate yourself reasonably on your health condition. It helps to spend a bit of time analyzing your report. Invest effort in studying the terminologies to get more thoroughly acquainted with what you have been diagnosed with.
Rather than just forsaking everything to the supposedly infinite authority of the doctor, you should know fairly enough to have meaningful dialogues with your healthcare providers. This way, there will be a fluid flow of communication and trust both ways as opposed to the one-way flow of orders from the doctor to you.
If you have any reservations about your treatment, be bold to voice it out – and on time. Don’t be diplomatic at the expense of your life!
It is vital to air your perspective when you have questions, doubts, or symptoms contradicting what the doctor is saying.
According to Monica Gray, a breast surgical oncologist and medical director of the Cancer Program at Grand View Health in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, “young women are confronted with severe challenges when procuring resources for diagnosis.”
This is commonly seen in breast-related cases where physicians brush these patients off with the likes of “Oh, it’s fibrocystic changes…Oh, it’s a cyst. Oh, it’s… whatever. You’re too young for XYZ.'”
And these patients either docilely or nice cave in, shelving their deep yearnings. One thing to point out here is that instead of readily kowtowing to your physician at the slightest disposition, you have to be aware of your “royalty” in that you hired this physician.
Your world isn’t mandatorily tied to that one physician – despite his intimidating portfolio of success or hefty bag of degrees. If you are not fine with him (or communication is rickety), drop him and get another one. After all, is there a better expert than you living with the disease?
Oh yes, society and institutions have their role to play too
If you said you couldn’t do it all, I wouldn’t blame you much. The big guys have a crucial role as well to play in improving equity, advocacy, and access to care for breast cancer patients today. One crucial way is by the integration of Black breast cancer patients or survivors indecisive leadership positions.
This will give these women the crucial platform to directly influence policy ideation, as related to breast cancer. This way, there will be a larger (and more effective) representation of the Black breast cancer community in the vital conversations that shape drug policy, insurance packages, and overall healthcare infrastructure relating to the Black breast cancer community.
We will enjoy incredible progress if only a slice of the attention society (and the big manufacturers) places on beauty products are transferred to the Black breast cancer community. Rather than the hyper-sexualized marketing women of color are involved in, would it hurt if that energy was more meaningfully diverted into marketing healthcare information?
Conclusively, given the heaps of billions insurance companies and big pharmaceuticals make, it would yield astronomical development for Black women if a fair fraction of these billions were invested in empowering African-American women researchers and scientists, as well as mentoring Black people in underserved communities to grow and take up crucial roles in advancing healthcare for people of color. With all this put in place, breast cancer would be far less of the death sentence it is today for Black people.