The pink ribbons are back. Not only pink ribbons, but hats, gloves, shoes, key chains even flip flops - all a gentle reminder that it's October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month , and time to once again take a deep breath and schedule our annual mammograms. Early detection is our major line of defense in the battle against breast cancer. So call and remind a friend, or better yet, take a friend and go together. Chicken that I am, as I wrote last year, that's what I do.
It's an easy procedure to procrastinate about getting. Aside from the knowledge that we know we must, it's got very little going for it. First, there's the dreaded fear and then there's the discomfort of the exam. Do the words freezing cold and hard as steel mean anything to you?!
Going with my best pal is a great distraction. We keep each other company in the waiting room, talk about our anxieties and most of all make each other laugh. If you know me at all, you know that I'm a big believer that laughter is a great antidote to anxiety. And if I'm going to have to traipse around in that stiff paper robe and undergo that awful procedure, I'm going to want my best friend by my side to keep the giggles coming. And being there for one another is our way of committing to taking care of our own health, and each others. It's a way of saying I want to be sure I'm ok, and I want to be sure you're ok too. And then, when it's all over and we're both done, we always go out for a big lunch and big glass of wine!
So, I encourage you all to call a friend, or your sister, or maybe your mom. And for God's sake, make each other laugh! To help get the laughter part started, we've put together a little slideshow of videos, cartoons and jokes that we found on the subject.
So, take a look, have a laugh, send it to a friend and make that appointment. Because that's what friends are for!
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The technicians have ranged from okay to awful. The first one I had done the woman was so rude to me, like I WANTED to be there "wasting her time" as she put it. I told her the test was ordered by my specialist and I wasn't just there on a lark. She literally YANKED my breasts around, jerking them wherever she felt they needed to go. She repeated the test over and over and over to the point where I was bruised, just to make me suffer for talking back to her.
I filed a report with the clinic, and never had to deal with her again. But if you don't "fit the description" of someone who should be there they treat you like dirt.
I dread the appointment, and cant wait till they have a less painful and invasive test.
What you do with life of yours is your affair, DC, BUT a ounce of prevention is a pound of cure.
We have colon cancer in my family and colonoscopy is another one I do not mind having done. Again, it may save my life. It depends on how one views these "tests". If they are beneficial, why not, if they are pain in the rear skip them. To each her own.
You think for a minute that ANYONE will be able to afford the pills for "the cure" aside from the very wealthy??? No, NONE OF US will EVER have access to "the cure". So keep on pouring money into those accounts people, theres a rich lady who wants her pills you know.
My husband accompanies my to my mammgrams.. and a big lunch with significant amounts of wine follow. However the ride by myself in the elevator to where the mammogram is taken and sitting in the waiting room with the other 'pale faced ladies' promted this written on the back of a 'must be filled out form.'
The Magician
I am the magicians best trick...the number one illusion...the illusionist final delight.
I appear and disappear with ease.. first you see me then you don't.
You are the magician and I your final trick--- you weave your magic and my head turns
round and round and round again.
Facing east then north then south...turning and turning..not remembering how it all began.
As nature offers me her hand begging me to follow offering to guide me through
the wind and the trees I wander on untouched and alone.
I do like many of the jokes though.
It is wonderful the amount of attention now paid to Breast Cancer Awareness. And it’s great that there are companies and organizations out there funding research. What I don’t understand is why there aren’t low-cost or no-cost cancer screenings and mammograms.
I commend the Memorial Healthcare system (South Florida) for their $50 Mammos during October. Unfortunately, the “deal” falls through since they still require a prescription in order to obtain one. For those of us without insurance there is no real way to obtain a prescription.
If mammo’s are so strongly recommended for women over 40…then shouldn’t proof of age be sufficient?
If we really ARE attempting to provide service to women TODAY…then offer a REAL deal — low-cost mammos to women over 40. No prescription required.
So while the CAUSE has received a great amount of attention…and RESEARCH has received a great deal of funding…and companies have grown strong and profitable selling pink things…there are still millions of uninsured women, like me, who can’t afford a mammogram and all of it’s associated costs.
Why should you need to take a friend, like it was some sort of traumatic, invasive procedure?
Maybe she needs a new doctor, one who makes it, if not comfortable, not something to dread!
Have you noticed how quickly people die after their diagnosis of cancer? Once a surgeon breaks the envelope surrounding the cancer the cancer can spread and become aggressive. Many people die from the orthodox "cure". Request to see the movie Cut Poison Burn at www.cutpoisonburn.com and you can leave a donation in memory of little Thomas Navarro.
There are safe alternative approaches that cure cancer naturally by treating the whole body, not just the symptom or the cancer bump. You don't need chemotherapy, radiation or surgery to reverse cancer. You need a strong immune system, good nutrition, and a healthy and happy life. These alternative doctors won't mutilate or debilitate you.
You may sign up for the Healing Cancer World Summit at http://www.renegadehealth.com/cancer2012/ if you want information on some alternative therapies. There are also many radio stations that broadcast alternative cancer practitioners such as www.oneradionetwork.com if you would like more information on your health conditions.
If your doctor has advised you to schedule your first mammogram, just do it and ignore the nonsense written here. It does not hurt. It does not take long. It's not something for which you need a strategy (or a friend with you) to "survive." And you'll probably find that everyone at the mammography center is very nice, because they understand nobody really wants to be there, and that they're probably scared. And as far as embarrassment, the technicians who do the mammograms--this is all they do. They do this all day, every day. They have seen it all.
If you want to focus your mind on how uncomfortable the compression is, then it might be uncomfortable. But compression is necessary to get a good picture, and it lasts literally a few seconds. I'm personally not bothered by it.
Waiting for the results is the hardest part for me, but that part will be easier too if you've stayed on your screening schedule because then you know that even if the worst did come to pass, it will have been caught early.