Enjoy Every Moment

One of our WCBCF Board members, Nina, has recently had surgery to remove a lump, which she found herself. We exchanged emails today, after she told us that she is recovering well and gave us an up date on what she is doing. Here is my response to her:

"Thank goodness for Breast Self Exams. I too found my own lump. As far as the comment you made on "not been doing any housework, but taking it easy, exercising 3 x a day, reading, going for walks and enjoying sunlight" - that sounds like something everyone should try from time to
time - why wait until we are forced to."

Wishing Nina a speedy recovery.

Read more about Nina at http://www.wcbcf.ca/foundation/directors/archives/7

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

Only one thing worse than finding a lump - not finding the lump

You did it, didn’t you?

I asked you yesterday to encourage others to do a Breast Self Exam (BSE). I hope you did. You did a BSE on yourself too – right?

I just heard from a gal pal that she decided on a whim to have a mammogram. They found calcification. She has had it taken out and it is in pathology now - as she says, "sliced, diced, dyed green and squeezed under a microscope". Her docs are saying she is lucky because they caught it early.

Early detection is a leading cause of survival.

Preoccupation

I have never paid much attention to breasts, other than my own as I would do a monthly breast self exam. It was not until I was diagnosed and had one of mine removed that I started to notice the breasts of other women. I was not noticing them in the aesthetic sense but rather in the clinical.

I knew the statistic that said 1 in 9 women would be diagnosed with Breast Cancer in her life time, so I would think, “does she get checked by her doctor, does she do breast self exams (BSE), does she get screening mammograms?”

Today, I would like each one of you reading this to call a female friend or relative and ask her, “when was the last time you did a breast self exam?” or if she is over 40, “when was the last time you had a screening mammogram?” If it has been awhile or never, encourage them to get a mammogram or to start doing BSEs.

If it has been awhile for you – please get preoccupied by your own breasts and learn how to do a BSE. Here is a link if you need help getting started. http://breastselfexam.ca/

Check yourself out.