My snarky law clerk, Eric, came into my office today to remind me that it is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Eric is one sarcastic bastard, and for that I love him.
Eric's "reminder" got me thinking about what it means to me for this to be National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I've seen a lot of soundbites on TV reminding women about breast cancer screening or reporting the stories of various breast cancer survivors. I think back to last October, when my main health concern was my endometriosis and fibroids, for which I had surgery. Breast cancer awareness was definitely not on my mind.
I've also thought a lot about how breast cancer was not on my radar because I've been under the impression that my Mom had lung cancer that spread to her breast. At least that's what my Mom's doctors in the 70s told my Dad. Now, 30+ years of research has taught us that it was most likely the other way around. And to think, I am and have been an avid non-smoker forever. Don't get me wrong, I love not having: (1) lung cancer, emphysema, or any of the other lovely diseases associated with smoking; (2) ashtray breath; and (3) an addiction that costs me $5 a pack. My issue is I can't help but feel like a ninny for taking up the anti-smoking cause this whole time without bothering to check the research to verify my breast cancer risk. I've learned so much this past year, and it just sucks that all this information (or at least most of it) was available to me well before my diagnosis.
But then I think about what I would have done differently if I had known prior to my diagnosis that yes, my Mom had breast cancer first, and yes, I'm at a much higher risk of breast cancer than the regular population. Let's be honest -- it is likely that I would have done nothing differently. Maybe I would have gone in earlier for screening, but as for my day-to-day, it is very hard to break inertia. And if you know me, you know that that concept is doubly true for me. It took the actual diagnosis to shake up my world and get me to reevaluate the path I was on. It would have been nice, however, to be a bit more mentally prepared for that reality.
We continue to learn more about breast cancer every day. I don't mean just doctors and researchers, I mean everyone -- employees around the water cooler, people on the bus, and even friends sitting around a dinner table, which was my experience last night. I had dinner and great conversation with some old friends from Hawaii -- Rachael, Mike, and Marita (and Marita's husband, Ian). Rachael and Marita are sisters and they shared with me that their doctors advised them to start mammogram screening 10 years prior to the age of the youngest woman in their family diagnosed with cancer. Since they have an aunt who was diagnosed at 45, they both intend to start screening when they turn 35. I had never heard of this method of calculating when to start mammograms. And although when to start screening may be different for every woman, I realized today that there's a lot of information out there about preventive care that I don't know.
In a little over a week I will have both of my breasts removed. Although it may be too late for me to utilize information about preventive care, it is not too late for most of women out there to take control of their destinies and get educated about their own breast cancer risks. And that's exactly what National Breast Cancer Awareness Month means to me -- refusing to dwell in the mental "safe zone" of having a lack of information (or outdated information in my case). Rather, using this month as an "excuse" to seek the information to confirm one's actual breast cancer risks and when screening should start. Wow. I didn't mean to sound like a PSA, but hell, that's what motivated this blog post.
Original source: http://killkarla.wordpress.com/?p=410
