Advocate for your health

There are some doctors who just cannot seem to believe that a healthy woman under the age of 45 can get breast cancer. I am running into far too many younger women who tell the same story, "They said I was too young to have breast cancer. They said it is probably nothing at all. They said let's keep an eye on it".

Younger women do get breast cancer and it is often more aggressive. Younger women are also more likely to have a re-occurrence.

You need to advocate for your own health. No one knows your body better than you. If you notice a change and think something is wrong with your breast(s), push until it is looked at and you have confirmation that it is 'nothing'. Note the key word "CHANGE". We all have lumps, bumps and shape things going on - it is when there is a change that you need to have it looked at.

Many young women have no idea what to look for to know if something is wrong. Every women is as different as are the symptoms. In some cases there are no overt clues at all. Here are some of the symptoms to look out for (could be one or a combination of the symptoms):

• the nipple inverts
• there is a painful hot spot
• there is a protrusion, puckering or dimpling of the skin
  
• pain in the breast
• nipple discharge (and you are not breast feeding)
• blood from the nipple
• skin colour or texture changes
• contour of the breast changes or there is notable change in size of one breast (smaller or larger) or
• there is a lump you can feel that is just not right.

In my case, I had a lump that felt like a candy coated peanut and was the size of a shelled almond. When I think back I realize that the offending breast also was different in size, it was smaller and did not have the same round shape of the healthy breast. I had a doctor who knew that this disease did not pick favourites and any age was vulnerable. Not everyone has my good fortune.

I was reminded of this today and of the importance for advocating for your health. I learned that a gal I met in Toronto, a few years back, lost her life to breast cancer yesterday. Tracy was diagnosed with breast cancer just before her 40th birthday, but only after extensively advocating for testing and then treatment. She went for initial treatment on her 40th birthday. At 44 she learned it had metastasized in her hip. She turned 47 nine days ago.

Here is my broken record speech - please do your breast self exams - if you do not know how, go to your doctor and ask them to teach you. There is also an excellent site that gives a detailed review of what to look for and how to do a breast self exam - visit www.breastselfexam.ca