I recall several years ago feeling a sharp pain under my left nipple while taking a shower as my left arm brushed across the nipple. Women have told me that they first felt a lump in the breast while taking a shower. I felt a lump like hard glue under the nipple. I googled for information about lumps under nipples for men. It seems that a tiny, tiny number of men get cancer that starts with the first tell-tale sign of a lump under the nipple.
A few days later, I visited my local doctor. He examined the location and booked an appointment for me with a cancer specialist in nearby Torbay Hospital for a possible biopsy.
I recall having the appointment with the doctor on the Friday morning and on Monday morning I was a patient in the cancer clinic of the hospital waiting in line with around a dozen women, young and old. As you can imagine, there was a rather heavy silence in the air.
The cancer specialist called me into the room. He told me to lie on the bed and pull my shirt up. He felt beneath the nipple. “Not cancer.” and walked back to his desk to complete the form.” Not a word more.
I said: “I have questions. That lump did not come from nowhere. What caused that lump under the nipple?”
“You are probably eating too much red meat.”
“I am a strict vegetarian.”
“You are probably consuming too much alcohol.”
“I drink the occasional glass of red wine.”
“What kind of medication are you on?”
“I took antibiotics for severe diarrhoea in India two decades ago.”
The physician said: “Soya probably caused your lump.”
He opened his door and let me out. In and out within three or four minutes.
I told my family doctor later that the cancer specialist lacked humanity. Women were sitting there waiting, anxious about their condition while some were waiting results of their tests. I reminded the doctor that empathy matters as much as expertise. I told my doctor that the cancer specialist needed to develop loving kindness practice.
Soya Powder from Whole Earth store, USA
On the way home, I recalled going into Whole Earth store in Boston, Mass. USA, to buy a kilo of soya powder a couple of months earlier. I asked staff in the food store to tell me if it was organic. I also did not want to use soya from a GM (Genetically Modified) crop. Sales staff could not give me an answer as US food companies were not obliged to describe the origin of their products.
For several weeks, I had religiously poured my tablespoon of soya powder on my morning muesli. I stopped using the powder when I got home. The lump disappeared completely after about three weeks. I put the soya powder from Whole Earth in the dustbin. I buy here in the UK organic soya powder for the protein as I am an active member of the Church of Gymism – lifting the weights up to heaven with mindfulness of deep breathing.
I hadn’t thought about this incident for years until I read the Angelina Jolie article in the New York Times this week about her decision to have a mastectomy.
Angeline wrote: My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a “nipple delay,” which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area. This causes some pain and a lot of bruising, but it increases the chance of saving the nipple.
“Two weeks later I had the major surgery…..
“I carry a “faulty” gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. My doctors estimated that I had an 87 per cent risk of breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.
I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.”
We can appreciate the natural wishes of Angeline to be fully present for as long as possible to her six children that she shares with her husband, Brad Pitt, as well as her own survival. It is a difficult area in terms of the wisdom of such a situation which involves a decision whether to follow medical advice or not.
A so-called “faulty” gene
I have a concern from a Dharma perspective in terms of the nature of the view.
The doctors told her she had a ‘faulty’ gene with an 87% chance of breast cancer and 50% chance of ovarian cancer. It gives the impression that a specific gene is the cause of breast cancer, except for a lucky 13 women in every hundred.
Angeline also pointed out: ““Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 per cent risk of getting it, on average.”
A gene cannot cause cancer. If a gene caused cancer, there would be no exception. The removal of Angelina’s breasts means the surgeon has cut out the effect of a possible cancer. The cutting out of an effect does not eliminate causes and conditions for cancer.
A ‘faulty’ gene is a metaphorical abuse of language. There is no such “thing” as a “faulty” gene. A condition, such as a gene, becomes a cause when numerous other conditions impact on the named condition (BRCA1).
Other conditions that make a condition into a likely cause include junk food, toxins, absorption of chemicals, drugs, alcohol abuse, smoking, additives, body weight, asbestos, the sun, radiation, chemical weapons, carcinogens, fear, anxiety, stress, hereditary factors and much, much more. There is a long painful list of carcinogens as well as numerous other genetic and emotional factors. Without such conditions, BRCA1 cannot become a cause for cancer.
Incidentally, we may applaud Angeline for coming forward publicly. She is a woman of outstanding beauty. She wears the most lavish dresses created by the world’s top fashion designers to enhance every centimetre of her beauty. How long would it take for merciless press gossip to arise about her breasts? Did she have any choice in speaking up?
My great grandmother on my mother’s side died from cancer aged 53. My father worked with asbestos and lived addicted to smoking as two conditions for his death at 70. My mother is 93 – never smoked, no alcohol, no junk food – and is looking forward to getting a birthday card from the Queen in seven years time.
Yes, it takes extraordinary mindfulness and awareness into the conditions to reduce massively conditions for cancer. We need to absorb a skilful and healthy daily diet, clean air as much as possible, take great care with medical drugs, use of chemicals to beautify the body, electromagnetic waves, lifestyle and learn how to live a happy, content inner life.
The vast majority of women do not have the privileges of Angelina. While genetic screening is free in the UK, Americans must pay, as Angelina pointed out, around $3000 or more just for a screening. One in eight women will receive a diagnosis of breast cancer. The anxiety level for women must surely increase through hearing about the “faulty”BRCA1 and potential inner torment about early surgery espezcially for those with a mother or father who have died from such a cancer.
Is the proactive approach of a preventive double masectomy the solution to dealing with the causes and conditions for cancer?
Angelina has the privilege of immense wealth (around $140 million). She and her family can live wherever they wish in the best of conditions. If she lives mindfully, lovingly and wisely, she will not have to take the next step of removal of her ovaries. She does not have to say to her kids she has a 50-50 chance of getting ovarian cancer. Life does not offer guarantees. Death is never far away. We know she loves her kids. Her love will always stay with them. She has nothing to fear.
We wish her a long and happy life and all women and men dealing with these sensitive issues.