Theme: Breast Cancer
Topic: The impact of breast cancer on the physical and psychological health of women in Jamaica
Can you imagine losing all your hair, losing your breast the essence of your femininity? These are just some of the side effects of being diagnosed with breast cancer.
According to the Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary, one of America’s most trusted dictionaries, Breast cancer is a malignant disease which results in an uncontrolled growth of breast cells caused by mutations or abnormal changes in the body.
It is the leading cancer women. Did you know that for every twenty one women,one will develop breast cancer in her lifetime?
Women are encouraged to do their annual mammograms or self examinations in order to check for lumps in the breast. If a lump is detected it must first be tested ; if found to be malignant then the necessary treatment options are put into effect depending on the stage of the disease ,that is ,how far the cancer has spread throughout the body. There are three possible treatment options that a woman can undergo. The most common treatment is a mastectomy. This involves the woman undergoing surgery to remove the entire breast and the surrounding tissues.The second possible treatment is radiation. High energy X-rays are used to kill cancer cells that may still linger after surgery. Although radiation is focused on the cancer cells it may also damage normal, healthy cells causing fatigue and also burnt, itchy skin of the area being treated.The third and last treatment is chemotherapy. In this treatment, medicine is injected into the woman's body in order to destroy cancer cells by interfering with the rapidly dividing cells in the body. This as well affects the normal healthy dividing cells causing hair loss, nausea and vomiting. So what is the impact of all these physical effects on the psychological health of the Jamaican woman? In the book, she said and I quote “My hair was no longer attached to