“The women who should be especially on their guard are those beyond the age of thirty, although the cancer is not rare in women below this age. The point which should perhaps be most emphasized is a negative one, viz. pain is not a sign of cancer, except in a very late incurable state, so that just because the woman has no pain whatsoever and perhaps feels at her best, she should not take it for granted that she cannot possibly have a cancer. This cannot be too strongly stressed, for about the only thing which seems to bring many women for medical advice is pain. I have often thought what a godsend it would be if cancer started with terrible pain, for then all cases would come to the doctor in an early stage.
“The sign which more than any other should put a woman on her guard is unnatural bleeding of one sort or another. Especially important is irregular staining or actual bleeding occurring in between the periods, often after intercourse, with defecation, or after physical exertion. The menses themselves may be normal or they may be rather free. Of great importance also is bleeding after the menopause, perhaps many years after the cessation of the menstrual function.
Such warnings should never be neglected, although in perhaps the majority of cases some other cause than cancer will be revealed. But there is no way for the woman, or for the doctor, to know this unless the proper sort of examination is made. If the doctor consulted merely pats you on the back reassuringly or ridicules your fears without a proper examination, he is not a good doctor, and you had better consult someone else who is more conscientious.
“In some cases the first suspicious sign is a watery or slightly stained discharge, and this likewise should be investigated, while in a few there are no symptoms whatever until the disease has secured a serious foothold, so that the woman, no matter how intelligent and alert she may be, really hasnt a chance to suspect serious trouble until too late. But such cases, fortunately, are exceptions.
A fact which cannot be too strongly driven home is that excessive bleeding or flooding at the menopause is not normal, as so many women seem to think. This belief has cost thousands of women their lives. It is true that many other things than cancer can cause such bleeding, but here again no woman is going to gamble with her life if the matter can be definitely cleared up, as it always can.
“It is not strange, in view of the great frequency and the gravity of cancer, that many women develop a fear of cancer which reaches morbid proportions. Thus many a woman dreads going to a doctor because she is sure she will be told that she has cancer, and in the majority of such cases there is no ground for her fears. Such women suffer the tortures of the damned, often for years, rather than brave the medical consultation, which would probably send them on their way with a great load lifted from their minds.
If by any chance cancer actually exists, valuable time is lost by this dread of facing the truth, and of bravely doing all that can be done to fight the disease. It is as if a soldier shuts his eyes so as not to see the enemy instead of girdling up his loins and putting up the very best fight he can, with often victory as a result.
“There has been such a widespread campaign of popular education on cancer that almost inevitably many women have come to think about it much more than they should, and cancerophobia has become quite common. A healthy fear of the disease in the sense of being on the alert for warning signals is highly desirable, for there is no human being living who theoretically may not sometimes fall a victim to it. But it would be a miserable world if we all developed such a panicky fear of it as to spoil the happiness which life can bring.”.
“The breast gland is an appendage of the reproductive system. With the awakening of the latter at puberty, the breasts become developed, and during the whole reproductive period of life they are under the influence of the ovarian secretions. It is even believed by some investigations that certain non-cancerous tumour-like conditions of the breast are due to disturbances in the secretory function of the ovaries. It is not strange, moreover, that some women at the time of menstruation experience soreness or even pain in the breasts.
“During pregnancy the breasts increase markedly in size, forming at this time the preliminary milk or colostrum, a thin silvery fluid which can be pressed out of the nipples. The real milk, however, does not appear until the third or fourth day after childbirth. The cause of this phenomenon has been studied for many years, but only recently has a satisfactory explanation been forth-coming.
It appears now to have been established that the motivating force is a hormone (prolactin) produced in the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland, but that it can produce lactation only when the breast has been previously under the influence of the ovarian hormones, as it is during pregnancy. Once lactation has been initiated, the process is kept up by the suckling act of the infant, though the continued activity of the pituitary is also essential”.
