Abstract

NUNEZ SARMIENTO, Marta. Speaking from a personal experience: the Cuban women at present and the breast cancer. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2013, vol.39, n.2, pp. 394-401. ISSN 0864-3466.

Over two thousand two hundred (2 200) new breast cancer cases are yearly diagnosed in Cuba, and I was one of them ten years ago. At the end of the year 2000, I was operated on from breast cancer at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Havana. My personal experience with this disease together with my experience as psychologist, who study the gender relationships at the University of Havana, are the basis of this article. It characterized the Cuban women at present, particularly those who have suffered from breast cancer o are prone to have it, and described my own response and the responses of other women to face this disease. My objective is to offer perspectives and ideas that might help physicians, nurses, engineers, physicists, technicians and service and administrative workers in the health care system, so that they can relate to us, they can be more aware of our situation and can make us feel more deeply understood and respected. In this context, I also made reflections on how the Cuban mass media present cancer and made recommendations for eliminating the frequent prejudices of fatalism and even feeling pity for them.

Keywords : cancer; breast cancer; survival; physician-patient relationships; professional education; Cuba.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )