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Is this attitude common?

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Juno56 Fri 11-Sept-20 11:44:56

I don't post much (more of
a lurker?) but I had to ask for opinions because I am quite perturbed.
I had coffee this week with a good friend whom I would have said I knew well. The conversation got around to the "joys" of getting older and "you know you're getting on a bit when....". I said: "when the bowel cancer test kit comes through the box a few days after your 60th birthday ?". I was amazed when my friend said that she had never returned her test. Not only that, she had never responded to a breast cancer test invitation and had only ever had one cervical smear test because she found it all too embarrassing and distasteful! She changed the subject, we finished our coffee and parted soon after but it set me thinking, is this attitude common? I wondered what GNers thought.

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MissAdventure Mon 14-Sept-20 15:53:40

That's true.
So many different outcomes, cancers, people and perspectives.

That's why the answer can never be clear cut.

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Madgran77 Mon 14-Sept-20 17:42:18

I think some people avoid it because they feel they don't want to know. "Bury their head in the sand" I suppose or just think it will never happen to them. In the end I think it is all about fear!

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NotSpaghetti Mon 14-Sept-20 23:21:18

Madgran77 please read back over the posts. You will see it's not a fear issue for most.

Thanks!

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Marydoll Tue 15-Sept-20 06:58:16

Elegran, as usual, a sensible post.

All through lockdown, my friend was convinced she had cancer, as she was suffering from stomach pains and was constantly constipated.
Her words to me were, I'm sure it's terminal.
Despite having countless blood tests, bowel screening etc.
She hassled her GP constantly and eventual she had a CT scan which showed up nothing.
She then phoned the consultant' secretary saying she was sure he had missed something.
She got an emergency CT and endoscopy, which revealed mild diverticulosis. No treatment at all was necessary, apart from a high fibre diet.

I'm relating this to show the other end of the argument. Some people would like to find something wrong. Nothing would convince her she wasn't dying.

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