I swiveled on my ultrasound chair after writing a report. As the patient was leaving, the door of the ultrasound room was ajar, and I could see the waiting lounge seats occupied by other patients awaiting a scan. My noncommittal trailing eyes returned and fixed on a pretty face, a young beautiful lady – my guess probably late 20s.

Work ensued and I continued to do another couple more scans. Then my colleague came to scan this pretty lady. As she walked into the room, I noticed she had significant hair loss, the type we commonly attribute to post chemotherapy. My colleague divulged that she is a breast cancer patient on follow up.

Cancer does not adhere to caste, creed, sex or age. It can happen to anyone at anytime. It is in moments like this that I wish sometimes if only I had the common man’s perspective, unbiased and true. Confounded with disparity of extremes of illness with symptoms and signs, we become more and more circumspect about the symptoms we see. With available modalities for screening and detection of early breast cancer, it is of utmost importance that women especially post menopausal visit their doctor and do a routine screening mammogram.

We may not be able to avoid it, but we should at least give ourselves a chance to fight it.

Medical breast cancer