The Language You Don’t Want to Understand
Some people get excited to learn a new language. I used to be one of those people. As fascinating as it is, it’s a lot of work learning the meaning of words and putting together an unfamiliar combination of sounds, phonation, articulation, and sentence structure. From middle school through high school, I learned German every year. I thought it was so fun practicing with my friends, learning about a different culture, and talking about things that other people around us couldn’t understand. We were always amused to learn how to say new profanities or something generally inappropriate. Looking back on it now it seems immature but I miss those times we used to laugh and say outrageous phrases in the middle of class.
Fast forward almost ten years and I’m learning a new language now. Except, I didn’t choose to learn this language. I had to learn it in order to survive. As you might imagine, that kind of takes the fun out of learning new words and phrases. None of these words make me laugh like saying “Scheisskopf” would. I’m not sure if there’s an official name for this language so I’m going to call it “The Language You Don’t Want to Learn.”. It’s one that more and more people are learning to speak, unfortunately.
Doxorubicin hydrochloride, Cyclophosphamide, Paclitaxel, Pembrolizumab, Trastuzumab, Pertuzumab, Trastuzumab deruxtecan, Anastrozole, Leuprorelin, goserelin. Adriamycin, Carboplatin/Cytoxan, Taxol, Keytruda, Enhertu, Arimadex, Lupron, Zoladex.
Mammogram, ultrasound, breast surgeon, ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy, fine needle biopsy, invasive ductal carcinoma, oncologist, MRI, CT, PET scan, nuclear bone scan, bone density scan. Port placement, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, aromatase inhibitors, lumpectomy, axillary lymph node dissection, bilateral double mastectomy, tissue expanders, lymphedema, adenocarcinoma, triple negative, estrogen, progesterone, HER-2, FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) test.
I think you get the point. Cancer has its own, language, culture, and experience. It’s almost like it’s become its own entity. The way we describe it, how we respond to it, how it manifests itself. It’s something that becomes so deeply rooted in you when you become a part of this community you never thought you’d be a part of. Maybe your family member has it, maybe you have or have had it (hopefully not), etc. So many of us have had to learn this language without even realizing how much it has become a part of us. I hope that one day in the future the language of cancer becomes just a distant memory.