The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1921-11-02
A MESSAGE OF HOPE
BY w. w. Keen, M. D., l.. l.. D.
Emeritus Professor Of Surgery
at Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia.


During an active surgical life of
almost half century, I have seen
many hundreds of cases Of cancer, and
am happy to assure my readers that
it is durable, provided the advice of
those who have been in constant con-
tact with this terrible disease is
sought and followed.
In a very large number of cases,
especially cancer of tho breast, the fol-
lowing represents the conversation
which followed careful examination:
How long ago did you first notice
this lump in your breast?"
"About a year ago" Cor it may be
even longer) This IS an astonishing
ly frequent reply.
"Why in the world didn't you come
to me at once? ?"'
"Why, Doctor, it didn't hurt me at
all" CAS- if "pain" meant that it
was dangerous lump. and "no pain"
that it was harmless lump! Cancer
at the beginning is almost never pain
full
81 am sorry to tell you that fear
you have come too late to expect a
cure. Had you come the moment you
discovered this lump, could have re-
moved it by very easy and safe op-
Grafton, from which you would have
been well within week. But now
can promise nothing, except to do my
very best for YOU"
A Little Fire Should BE Put Out
How often my heart has been wrung
by such a conversation (worded Of
course more tactfully and not in this
brusque, almost brutal, form) with
wife and mother, who, by her neglect
to seek aid at once, has condemned
her husband and her children to lose
SO dear Il wife, so cherished a mother,
just when she is mots needed! How
often have | said to myself, eff only
women knew; if only women knew!"
Sometimes they would declare, 'T
was afraid to come, for fear you would
tell me it was cancer" TO which |
smoke in your house would you sit
still and wait because you were afraid
that you would find your house was
afirc? Why not do for your own self
what you would do for your own
house? Find out the truth at once"
Sometimes she would say-I am al
most ashamed to admit it, but it is
true. 81 did see my doctor, and he
| told me to wait and see whether it
would grow any bigger" l am glad
to say this is not true Of the younger
men, but only of some Of the doctors
| who graduated years ago and have
les 'If you saw little fire in your
house, l would reply, "would you
wait to see if it would grow bigger
before you tried to put it out 2"
! If every woman who found lump
in her breast would consult compc-
| tent surgeon at oncc--that is to say,
within forty-eight hours, if possible,
but in any case within Il weel-I am
! sure that eighty-five out of every one
hundred, and it might well be ninety
out of every one hundred, would be
cured and stay cured. SO cancer is
curable-providcd you consult good
surgeon at once. Remember that,
when you find a lump already formed,
| the disease has been at work for
weeks, and it may be for three or four
months, before a discoverable lump
has been formed.
l have patients on whom | operated
| fifteen, twenty, and more years ago,
and they are still well; but they came
early, except one happy case of about
| twcnt wears ago. One breast had
| been removed before l saw her. The
| disease had returned on that side, and
had begun in the opposite breast l
operated for the recurrcnt disease, and
she is we'll today-twenty years later.
The complete operation is not n
very long one. 1t has today, remem-
Der, practically no mortality, and the
recovery is complete in week or ten
days without much suffering. Before
the days of antiscptic and ascptic sur
gerry, the suffering was severe and
prolonged, practically every case be-
came infected, and the mortality was
large. Usually the patient was in the
hospital for from four to six weeks,
! or longer, and if crysipclas or severe
infection occurred, it might be three
on four months before she was we'll
| If, indeed, she escaped with her life.
Another Danger Sign
The same rule applies to women who
notice any abnormal discharge Of
blood. Consult a competent surgeon
at once. Certain internal cancers that
were formerly beyond our power to
cure are now well within our power,
but solely on the condition noted-in-
slant competent advice.
Every man or woman who passes
blood from the bowels should at once
seek an examination. That is the anti
cancer slogan: "Instant, thorough
examination by a competent surgeon"
1t may come from a slight and easily
curablc affiction; but it may, on the
other hand, be the very first observed
sign of something serious. Here,
! again, pain or its absence is no critcr-
| ion of danger.
In men, cancer Of the stomach or
Of the bowels is the most frequent. II
a man steadily loses wcight-twcnty,
! thirty, forty pounds-and has indigcs-