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Are you Afraid of your
Breast Biopsy?
Medical procedures scare
a lot of people. Even simple procedures like giving blood can
illicit fear in some individuals. If this simple test could cause
fear, can you imagine what more could complicated procedures like
colonoscopy or breast biopsy do?
Such fear of medical
procedures may be due to different reasons. One could be the fear
for the procedure itself. Knowing what will be done or how painful
it will be already causes fear. Many kids, for example, are afraid
of going to the dentist for tooth extraction. This is because they
know that it is going to be painful when the dentist pulls out a
tooth. You cannot even fool them by telling them that anesthesia
will be used to avoid pain because they know that a needle would
have to be used to administer it.
Another reason could be
the fear of knowing that one is sick. There are people who would
rather not know they are seriously sick so they can go on living
their lives as usual. Symptoms of serious illnesses are usually
just ordinary day-to-day sickness like cough, colds, nausea
or fever. They would prefer to know that they have these ordinary
sickness so they can dismiss them as such rather live their lives
constantly fearing that they may be confined in a hospital or worse,
die any moment.
Misconception could also
be one of the causes of fear of medical procedures. We sometimes
build a picture of how a procedure is done based on what we hear
from our neighbors or friends. I, for example, had the notion that
biopsy is a surgical procedure. Even my mother had the same idea
about it because it was how it was done to one of her friends when
she had her breast biopsy. When my mother felt that she has a
growing lump in her left breast, she ignored it. She didn’t go to
the doctor for examination because she was afraid that she will be
asked to go under the knife. It was already too late for anything to
be done when she was convinced to see a doctor.
I was still young when my
mother felt that lump in her breast. At that time, I didn’t think of
researching to help her understand it more. It was only years after
she passed away did I get interested in finding out about it. It was
only then that I learned that it can be done in ways other than open
surgery. I found out that there are non-invasive or non-surgical
procedures to conduct it like fine needle aspiration biopsy, core
needle biopsy, and vacuum-assisted breast biopsy. These procedures
are quick, and confinement in a hospital is not required. Had I
known this earlier, my mother would have learned about her cancer
while it was in its early stage.
Whatever one’s reason is
for fearing medical procedures, it has to be dealt with properly so
that further problems will be prevented. Regular visits to the
doctor can be done for consultation. They can explain procedures
properly and they can also help prevent, or at the very least,
lessen one’s anxiety. Researching about the procedure could also
help. A lot of discussions are available on the internet to help one
understand different procedures. There are also support groups and
organizations for specific diseases or illnesses. They conduct
information dissemination campaigns and seminars about handling and
managing such diseases or illnesses.
The next time you’re
faced with fear about any medical procedure, don’t be afraid. Be
correctly informed!
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