Dying of Breast Cancer
HIST- 1301
9/25/13
Essay 1
Our world is constantly changing, in many different ways and areas. A major change over time has been in the health field and the technology employed there. We have come a very long way since the 1800’s, specifically in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. We are now able to catch it in much earlier stages and give much better and safer treatment.
In the eighteen hundreds, the health care was quite different than it is today. Doctors did not know what really caused many diseases, such as breast cancer, which made them really hard to treat properly. They also had not yet discovered bacteria and harmful germs. Doctors used the same lab cloaks and utensils for each surgery without cleaning properly. They also never washed their hands or the patient’s area that was about to be operated on or wore gloves or facemask. This led to a high rate of infection upon surgery, usually leading to death. Now in today’s time, we know about germs, diseases, and all the infections that go along with not keeping things sanitary. We are now able to better prevent those things from happening, keeping the patient much safer and making surgery a much more common practice. Back then it was hard to combat the deadly disease because not much was known about it. Doctors did not know the way the cancerous cells worked and how they hid themselves in the body. This made it very difficult to really combat the disease in an effective manner. The knowledge we have of breast cancer has vastly grown with time and with that comes new methods of treatments and ways to deal with it. These had led to much longer periods of life after contracting the disease, as well as a much larger percentage of women being cured of it.
After reading Dying of Breast Cancer in the 1800s, my eyes were opened to the reality that people faced everyday in that day of time. Even though we do not have a cure for cancer yet we have still
9/25/13
Essay 1
Our world is constantly changing, in many different ways and areas. A major change over time has been in the health field and the technology employed there. We have come a very long way since the 1800’s, specifically in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. We are now able to catch it in much earlier stages and give much better and safer treatment.
In the eighteen hundreds, the health care was quite different than it is today. Doctors did not know what really caused many diseases, such as breast cancer, which made them really hard to treat properly. They also had not yet discovered bacteria and harmful germs. Doctors used the same lab cloaks and utensils for each surgery without cleaning properly. They also never washed their hands or the patient’s area that was about to be operated on or wore gloves or facemask. This led to a high rate of infection upon surgery, usually leading to death. Now in today’s time, we know about germs, diseases, and all the infections that go along with not keeping things sanitary. We are now able to better prevent those things from happening, keeping the patient much safer and making surgery a much more common practice. Back then it was hard to combat the deadly disease because not much was known about it. Doctors did not know the way the cancerous cells worked and how they hid themselves in the body. This made it very difficult to really combat the disease in an effective manner. The knowledge we have of breast cancer has vastly grown with time and with that comes new methods of treatments and ways to deal with it. These had led to much longer periods of life after contracting the disease, as well as a much larger percentage of women being cured of it.
After reading Dying of Breast Cancer in the 1800s, my eyes were opened to the reality that people faced everyday in that day of time. Even though we do not have a cure for cancer yet we have still