Thankful for Medical Advances

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Continuing my quest for thankfulness this month, this week’s post finds me being thankful for medical advances. Over the years, we have learned so much. Here’s a personalized look at a timeline of breast cancer treatments.

A person of my grandmother’s generation who was found to have breast cancer would have had a radical mastectomy. By the time the cancer was found, it would have been likely to be quite advanced.

My mother’s generation would have been the first to have mammography available to them, enabling early detection before a lump was able to be felt. They would have had the benefit of modified radical mastectomy, a less aggressive surgery.

My generation saw widespread use of lumpectomies, and the use of sentinel node biopsy, less invasive than axillary node dissection.

Currently, dependent on the diagnosis, there are varying degrees of chemotherapy and radiation therapy available instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.

Treatments that are experimental today will be considered commonplace for the next generation.

To see the progress we have made over time makes me hopeful, and I am thankful.

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