Don't delay

Delay is usually not good. We all do it however. I"m a renown procrastinator. But some things we ought not delay.

Breast cancer treatment is one of those things we ought not delay. We kinda know that --I mean it makes common sense. And we have evidence in some other cancers that delay does make a difference. We know delay makes a difference in cervical cancer and head/neck cancer.

Well, a new study shows that delay or incomplete radiation treatment makes a difference to woman in terms of how they will ultimately do.

An analysis of the National Cancer Institute's cancer registry has found that delaying radiation therapy for women with breast cancer can lead to increased recurrence of the cancer.

The findings revealed that as many as one in five older women experience delayed or incomplete radiation treatment following breast-conserving surgery, and that this suboptimal care can lead to worse outcomes.

Delaying treatment by eight weeks or more significantly increased the odds for recurrence.

Patients whose radiotherapy was delayed by 12 weeks or longer were four times more likely to have a recurrence

Women who had incomplete radiation treatment - those who underwent fewer than three weeks of the typical five-to-seven-week regimen - had a higher rate of overall mortality.

As Ben Franklin used to say, "God heals and the doctor takes the fee". Wait a minute, wrong quote.
Ben also used to say, "You may delay, but time will not."

To be sure I know that some people have delays that are beyond control.

But if at all possible let us make a promise to eliminate all the kinda urgent but not really, I have a trip planned, but we bought plane tickets, I've never seen Mongolia, it's cold out there kind of excuses.