THREE TESTIMONIES OF SURVIVAL: Dealing with abuse, depression and cancerART COSGROVE: Last November I went for what I thought would be a routine internal examination of my abdomen.
Over the years I have had a number of such examinations on the advice of my GPs after telling them that my father had died of cancer of the colon. All previous examinations had shown no cause for concern. Polyps removed from the colon had been benign. On this occasion, however, a biopsy revealed that one of the polyps was cancerous. When informing me of the outcome, the consultant took the optimistic view that the rest of the growth could be removed without major surgery and told me that he would refer me to another consultant with special expertise in the area. I would see this latter consultant in January.
After discussing the issue with my wife, we decided that we should say nothing to anyone else, not even the children. My GPs expressed their confidence in a positive outcome and, since nothing further would happen until January, I found that I was able to put the matter to the back of my mind and enjoy the Christmas season.
In January I met the second consultant. An examination confirmed the existence of a small cancerous growth inside my rectum. At this stage he felt it necessary to outline the possibilities to me. While the optimistic scenario could be having the growth removed without major surgery, there was also a risk that the cancer could have spread, necessitating more radical surgery which could mean a colostomy and the future use of a bag. Worst of all was the danger that it might have invaded the lymph glands. Neither of the latter possibilities could be ruled out until I had undergone a series of tests.
It was at this stage that we decided to tell the children with the exception of one who was in Australia. One reason for this decision was to ensure that, if the tests showed that the cancer had spread, this would not come as a bolt from the blue. More generally I think that they would rightly have felt aggrieved if they had not been told the real reason why I was going to the hospital for tests that spread over two days.
On the evening after the completion of the tests but before I knew the results, I kept a scheduled engagement to chair a meeting at Trinity College. My main concern was that the after-shocks of the enema I had received earlier in the day might drive me precipitately from the chair, causing me to reflect that death from embarrassment was a bigger fear than death from disease! On the following day I learnt to my huge relief that the early detection of the cancer meant that it was sufficienly confined to be removed without major surgery, and subsequently this was done.
Should you tell other people why you were in hospital, thus admitting that you had cancer? There are few things in life more boring than other people's ailments, but an admission that you had a broken limb, a stomach ulcer or a heart bypass will normally elicit some sympathetic queries. Cancer does not always produce a similar response. Many feel embarrassed and don't know quite what to say. Yet cancer is not contagious and it is curable, particularly if detected at an early stage. Nevertheless, the continuing assumption that its effects are inevitably lethal explains both why sufferers are reluctant to talk about it and why others are equally loathe to hear about it.
My own experience has naturally changed my views. If anybody now told me that he or she had cancer, I would at least give that person the opportunity to talk about it. There is no reason why someone suffering from cancer should feel the possessor of a guilty secret because of a fear of telling others. After all, this is a disease which will strike up to 40 per cent of the population and from which an increasing proportion will recover.
From my own perspective, I believe my prospects of longevity have now significantly increased since I shall be subjected to much closer scrutiny for any signs of cancer from now on. But I could still be run over by a bus!
Dr Art Cosgrove is a former president of UCD