The zeal of the converted

It occurred to me today that I have started to do the thing that used to make me sigh and roll my eyes when my mother and her friends did it! What is it? I've started to support a cause and mention it at every possible opportunity.

The cause? Well, cancer research, of course. However, rather than simply getting on with fund-raising, I find the need to corner people and announce, "Well, when you've had cancer...". Sometimes I wonder if it's because I enjoy seeing them squirm with embarrassment - but, as I keep saying, we need to talk about cancer rather than turning away and pretending it doesn't exist, while secretly praying we never get it and, even more secretly, being thankful it isn't us when a friend or relative is diagnosed.

And that brings me to the other subject of my zeal - diagnosis. I see peoples' eyes glaze over when I start on that topic. Many are avoiding the challenge that talking about cancer presents to their comfort levels while others simply don't believe that the medical profession could make a mistake or a late diagnosis. Well, I'm living proof that they can (and I count myself very lucky to fall into the 'living' part of the proof; I know of too many people who didn't survive, despite numerous investigations and reassurances before the final diagnosis came...)

The reason for my insistence on talking about cancer is because of those who don't get diagnosed in time, because of those who believe - for whatever reason, but possibly because they want to believe it (the alternative is, of course, too awful to contemplate, isn't it? It's so much easier to believe without question what you're told - I know, I've did that myself for a few weeks before I realised that my symptoms were physical not pyschological) - that there are no errors in medicine, who don't understand that it's not an exact science and that sometimes, while we hear a lot about false positive test results, false negatives also occur, or the symptoms a patient presents with are wrongly attributed to another condition with similar symptoms.

I know errors happen and I know how important it is to insist on a second opinion if you have any concerns (or even if you don't). That's why I raise the topic of cancer whenever I can and zealously pursue the cause of better diagnosis and better patient education about how to ask meaningful questions and not to take, 'Doctor knows best' for an answer. If I hadn't kept asking for a second opinion, I might have been diagnosed eventually, but, by that time I would have had a procedure that would only have addressed part of the problem, requiring further surgery and I may not have survived this long.

Is it any surprise that I evangelise whenever I can?