October is National Brest Cancer Awareness Month. This is a repost of a Simple Sunday that I posted a few months ago. Check it out. visit the links. Check yourself.
Someone in our family is battling breast cancer. Prior to her diagnosis, I was blissfully unaware of what breast cancer was, how it affects you, what the treatment consists of… I was oblivious. I would do my self-breast exams and then had my yearly exam when I went for my annual.
A couple of weeks ago, I took this person (I want to honor her privacy, so please forgive me on not being more specific) to her chemo treatment at the hospital. It was the hardest, most humbling thing I have ever done. I didn’t even make it five minutes in the chemo treatment room with her– I had to leave. Seeing all the patients in various stages of cancer, all hooked up to IVs freaked me out.
I went back and forth about a post like this, but decided it is much too important to worry about offending or boring my readers.
So, what I am trying to tell you is…
Feel your boobies.
Doing a self-breast exam is very easy. There are tips and instructions online, or ask your doctor next time you visit. They would be more than happy to show you. I also recommend– if you ever get the chance– to feel one of the “rubber boobs” that they use to demonstrate what a lump feels like. I was very surprised by what one felt like– it didn’t feel like what I would have expected. You can usually find these at health displays or at your doctor’s office.
There is an excellent video on the Susan G. Komen website concerning breast cancer awareness. I challenge you today to check it out.
According to the Susan G. Komen website, there will be almost 227,000 new cases of breast cancer in 2012.
227,000
Just let it sink in for a second.
So, I’m going to make it easy for you. A self-breast exam takes five minutes of your time. There is a link for instructions below. Above all, don’t panic if you find something… call the doctor tomorrow and make an appointment to have it checked out. It’s that simple.
Here’s the link: Self-Breast Exams
On today’s Simple Sunday task– I challenge you to go feel your boobies.
Julia is the divorced mom of twins, a blogger, a sometimes crafter, crazy snailmailer, and a corporate bean counter. In her "spare" time, she scrapbooks, travels, makes cards, blogs, designs jewelry, searches for missing cleats and pom poms, enjoys good dark chocolate, and sneaks naps.