Breast Cancer Awareness month

I have an aunt and 3 cousins who are all survivors of breast cancer. Anything that helps forward research toward beating this scourge, even if it is a bunch of foo foo pink ribbons, is okay by me.

As I said to you privately, you (and they) are an example of why the education and research is so important. This is a good thing to celebrate and a good reminder to all of us.

By the way, there was a balloon there with the roses. Hope it was still there when you got home.

I missed it... was it blown up? I'll look in the morning, it being dark and drear now.

On education, I'm all for it. I'm a big fan of Susan Love's Breast Book, for example. But my interest flagged at the awareness campaign, slightly because it tends to preach to the already converted (at least the Walks/Run in my last home town), partly because I'm just chary about some organized causes, a kind of personality defect of mine, perhaps an artifact of very insistent United Way campaigns in an old work environment.

But maybe it isn't just to the already converted. I read a day or two ago about some ball players wearing pink for a day.... and I can see that as useful. Maybe some sports follower will turn to his love and say, 'honey, don't you need to get a mammogram?'

That was a nice touch of Buttrflynt and BBB to give you pink roses, osso.
Yep, I made my appointment on Friday - next week I'll have a mammogram!

Good then, CJane.. I'll send you a virtual pink rose for the doing.
Hah, I've changed my tune, pink and roses are good.

I started with mammos back in the early eighties. It was something like twenty years later that something serious showed up. I'm glad I did have the habit of getting them.

Yes, helium. Was a metalic pink ribbon image, about 14 inches wide, floating on a ribbon that was anchored to a weight thingy. I had it wedged behind the shovel that was in the corner of your porch.

I didn't look up..
My peripheral vision is life long compromised - not new, just the way I've always been. I'm apt to have more visible darting with head and eyes than the norm, at least when I need to. But I just looked down and saw roses.

Mystery will be solved tomorrow. We'll have a flyaway or ..

Diane tells me repeatedly about how she learns anew about how I deal, and that she will start a thread on it. I get this, it is about her renewing amazement over a few years.
My RP has been steady.
I am glad if anyone can learn from me.

On breast cancer, I'm not all that smart, just lucky.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/2009/10/11/20091011bland1011.html

Bland: Mammogram need is pressing
by Karina Bland - Oct. 11, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

I don't mind my annual mammogram. It's the only time anyone really wants to see me with my top off.

Hugging a monster piece of equipment with your breasts flattened between two plates is not my idea of fun, but both my grandmother and great-grandmother died of breast cancer. I figure I'm fortunate to live in a time when there's a means of early detection that could save my life.

Other women are less enthusiastic. In the past 10 years, mammography use has dipped slightly in nearly two-thirds of the states, according to a study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in February. In 17 states, mammography use increased slightly from 2000 to 2006, but it fell by 0.3 to 5.3 percent in 34 states, including Arizona, and in Washington, D.C.

The drop is so small that researchers are hesitant to call it a trend. Still, it echoes similar findings in recent years, and the decline, however slight, is worrisome.

Sure, going for a mammogram can be inconvenient, uncomfortable and, depending on your insurance, costly. But mammograms allow doctors to diagnose breast cancer at early stages, often before a lump can be felt. Honestly, getting a mammogram is not that bad. Done properly, a mammogram shouldn't hurt, though some women are more sensitive than others. (You can get an idea of what it's like by closing your breast in the refrigerator door at home.)

I know, you've heard all the terrible stories, like that of my friend Yvette, who passed out during her first mammogram two years ago. (Yvette, 38, was nervous and stressed out, and her technician was rough, she says. She had another mammogram last year and did just fine.)

My friend Kerry went for her first mammogram at 40, nervous because of the tales of horror she'd heard.

"I had women tell me they were bruised, and they were maimed, and their boobs would never be the same," says Kerry, now 45. "Anyone who tells you that is in the same category as the women who say, 'Oh, I was in labor for 40 hours, and then they took the baby out of my ear.' "

Kerry's first mammogram and the ones since have been painless.

The National Cancer Institute recommends mammogram screenings every one to two years for women age 40 and older. Most health insurance covers an annual screening. It's also imperative that you examine your own breasts regularly.

On Tuesday, I went for my annual mammogram at Solis Women's Health in Chandler. Jacque, my "squeezer" as she introduces herself, has done all five of my mammograms.

A heating pad lies on the metal plate, making a cozy spot for my bosom. I don't even bother with the pale-pink paper jacket, since she's going to get her hands on both of them anyway.

As the plates come together, my breast spreads out like spilled milk. Suddenly, I'm thinking about pancakes. I wonder if there's an IHOP nearby. Thankfully, the second the machine lets go, my breast springs back to its former self. (I wonder how many years it will rebound before it stays that way.)

Jacque turns the machine for the sideway shots.

"I wish I could get a picture of this," I said. "I look like Pamela Anderson." Jacque giggles.

I checked in at 1:45 p.m. and was out the door at 2:04 p.m. Wham, bam, mammogram.

My friend Kim, who's 45, got her first mammogram at age 30 after a woman she knew got breast cancer at age 26. Another friend died of breast cancer in 2008.

"Most of the things that happen to us now, if we know soon enough, we can stay boss," she says.

We do a lot of things to stay healthy that are less than pleasant, she points out: "It's not a trip to the park, but are Pap smears a joy?"

As wives and mothers, Kim says, we owe it to our families to take care of ourselves.

We have pink ribbons on our socks and pink-ribbon magnets on our cars. We're saving the pink lids off our Yoplait Yogurt to raise money for breast-cancer research and walking in today's Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure.

But the most important thing we can do in the fight against breast cancer is stop scaring each other about mammograms and get them regularly ourselves.

Breast cancer kills more women in this country than any other form of cancer, except lung cancer. Some 200,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.

Now, I'm attached to the girls after all these years. As a kid, I spent years waiting for them to grow. But they're not worth dying over. If I get breast cancer, God forbid, I'll have them gutted and rebuilt using the fat from my tummy. I'll have new perky breasts and a tummy tuck. And because I would have caught it early, I'll live long enough to see them sag.

Just thank god you's don't have a prostate. You should try getting THAT checked!

Congratulations, osso! It's a nice feeling to have beaten such a horrible thing. I'm a cancer survivor myself.

My wife had her annual mammography done just earlier this month ..... and, so far, no phone call for follow-up. If we don't get a call, it will be the first time in 3 years that she hasn't had to have further x-rays and ultra-sound done.

We're attributing this to the new digital equipment that has been installed in our new local hospital. They've been able to map out previous "false readings" and make it so further follow-ups are not necessary.

Thanks, Reyn. I had great care, so my real thanks go to my smart and fast md's at that time. Luckily, I was a compliant patient then, going to the docs when I should, had good doctors that I knew the reps of and liked, and, most important, regular insurance, albeit with very high deductibles (that stripped my savings) - that being important in the US. I had surgery six days after my pathology came out "invasive ca", which might be some kind of speed record.

Would that all could have the kind of sharp attention I had back then.