Please forgive my rude note earlier.  I just get very annoyed at anyone who
thinks that a disease like breast cancer, which takes YEARS to develop to
the point where it can be detected, is the result of stress.

I do not lead a stressful life -- I get paid more than amply for working at
a job I love, teaching students, researching, writing, lecturing.  I am home
every day by 3 pm to meet the kids off the bus.  I get 8-9 hours of sleep a
night, exercise regularly, eat well, and am one of the happiest people I
know.  I have a husband who is truly my soul mate, happily married for 20
years, and 3 perfect children who love me and whom I love dearly.  I have
the world's best mother, and the world's best friends.  I have no major
health problems in myself or the members of my family -- other than having
CANCER I am the epitome of good health.  My blood pressure is low, I seldom
have headaches or colds, I sleep like a baby, my fasting blood sugar is 92.
It takes me 8 minutes to drive to work, and I live in a community that has
no traffic jams, low crime, and wonderful weather (if you like heat, which I
do).  Every summer I get several months off from work to spend time with my
kids, as well as a month at Christmas and a week at spring break. I have no
money worries.  I have about as stress-free a life as anyone can have in the
US.

Breast cancer is present for an average of 10 years before it is detected by
mammogram or external palpation.  My current tumor was in exactly the same
location as a supposedly benign fibroadenoma that was removed in 1986.
There's obviously something not quite right about that spot in my left breast.

I thank Cathy Bargar for being more eloquent than I was about these "flaky"
ideas that we bring our specific diseases on ourselves because we have some
"issue" to resolve through having the disease.  I do not believe this for a
minute.  While stress plays a role in some diseases, and in the body's
ability to fight off disease, there is no evidence whatsoever to back up a
claim that breast cancer is the result of stress and wanting to "mother the
world."

These are my last words on this topic.

Kathy Dettwyler

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