Monday, September 09, 2013
Rare women’s cancers cannot be ignored
In today’s world, everyone has heard something about the
many types of cancer that exist. Breast cancer is a prime of example of a
cancer that has a high degree of awareness.
But there are a
few cancers that for some are uncomfortable to talk about that people are
dealing with every day: cancer of the vulva, cancer of the anus or cancer of
the penis to mention a few.
A co-worker of
mine approached me a few months ago, and confided in me that she had stage 4
cancer of the vulva. I knew it was
possible to get cancer anywhere on the body, but I never knew anybody who had
been diagnosed with that particular cancer before.
She felt so
vulnerable and alone, explaining that it was a rare cancer, people didn’t talk
about it, and she didn’t have any support system. I thought she was quite brave to reveal this very personal
problem. She decided to go public
with her personal struggle to help convince parents to have their young girls
vaccinated with the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine, and bring awareness of
this type of cancer.
I subsequently did some research and discovered cancer of
the vulva is indeed a rare tumor; The American Cancer Society statistics report
that approximately 4,700 women in the United States are afflicted annually. It
forms in a woman’s external genitalia. Fortunately, vulvar cancer is highly
curable if detected at an early stage.
Some of the warning signs and symptoms are:
• persistent itching, burning, or bleeding on the vulva.
• skin changes including what looks like warts or rash
• pelvic pain or pressure especially during urination or after
intercourse.
Any of these signs should be reported to your health care
provider for evaluation.
Protection from infection with the Human Papilloma Virus
including an HPV vaccination reduces the risk of vulvar cancer. Examination of
the vulva for changes by a woman at home or by her gynecologist during her
annual pelvic examination can lead to the detection of pre-invasive disease or
early vulvar cancer. Suspicious or unexplained changes on the vulva should be
biopsied.
Should my pre-teen-aged daughter get the Human Papilloma
Virus (HPV) vaccine? This is a
dilemma many parents face. One of
the barriers for making this decision is that the optimum time for getting the
vaccine is before the girl becomes sexually active, 11-16 years of age. Most parents do not want to deal with
the fact that their child will become sexually active.
As a parent of
a daughter, I understand that. But
the truth of the matter is that this age group has the best response of the
immune system. The older the girl
is, the less effective the immune response is to the vaccine. This is certainly a discussion
all parents should have with their health care provider.
The Foundation for Women’s Cancer has good information and
has created a very interesting video called, “What every woman should know” on their
website www.foundationforwomenscancer.org.
Bringing awareness of these “unmentionable” cancers is so
important to make survivors feel supported and spread their message of the prevention
measures we should all be aware of.
This health column is a good place to start spreading the word.
Alice Facente is a community education nurse for the Backus
Health System. To comment on this column or others, visit the Healthy
Living blog at www.backushospital.org/backus-blogs or e-mail Ms. Facente or any of the Healthy Living columnists at healthyliving@wwbh.org.
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