October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

The White House seen from the North Lawn is bathed in pink light in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month Oct. 14, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson) Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/10/02/white-house-goes-pink-breast-cancer-awareness-month

     The White House was illuminated pink last night to mark October 1st, the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. During October, President Obama wrote in a Presidential Proclamation, “we honor those we have lost, lend our strength to those who carry on the fight, and pledge to educate ourselves and our loved ones about this tragic disease.”  But this is a fight that goes on every day, by far too many women and, yes, men, too.

     For some being diagnosed with cancer is terrifying, for certain it is life changing.  Not just for the person with cancer, but for the entire family.  Not just breast cancer, but all types of cancer.  Far too few people get their colon cancer screening because it is no fun to drink the laxatives to clean yourself out for the test, but it is very treatable if caught early.  For our family, we were touched by colon cancer.   My mother thought she had a kidney infection, it turned out to be stage 4 colon cancer.  She had a baseball sized tumor removed from her colon just where the small intestine joins, loosing 13" over all.  Even if she wasn't worried, the rest of us worried for her, but she was one of the lucky ones, she had pain that lead to detection of her cancer.  She was even luckier that her chemo worked so well, stage 4 cancer is the hardest to treat, it was in her lymphatic system.  (Visit Livestrong.com to read their article "5 Stages of Cancer").   I thank God everyday that she is still here, I am a lucky kid, I grew up to be best friends with my mother.  Detecting cancer early is very important in your survival, no matter the cancer.

    So, now that we're thinking about breast cancer, we are aware, and we have begun to understand that early detection is very important, how do we find breast cancer early?  Self Breast exams.  You are the first line of defense.  You know your body best, listen to it.  Every woman should be doing a self breast exam monthly.  Become familiar with how your breast tissue feels when you are healthy, this way you will know when something feels wrong.  Some women have very dense breast tissue, others have lumpy tissue, others have dense areas while the rest of the breast is not as dense.  Get to know you.  Other than waiting until one week after your period (which is best because swelling will be down), there really is no other prep work to be done.  WebMd has a good article describing how to do a self breast exam, including what to look for, or feel for as the case may be. You can find that article here.

     Who and when should you do a self breast exam?   Since it is estimated that thousands could be saved from breast cancer alone with early detection, every woman should be doing them.  Following the American Cancer Society's guidelines for early detection improves your chances of early diagnosis and diagnosis at an early stage increases your chances of successful treatment. The American Cancer Society suggests that the Breast Self Exam (BSE) is an option starting for women in their 20's.  Women should be told about the benefits and limitations of BSE.  Any changes you find should be reported to your doctor right away.  Fear paralyzes many and cancer is scary  but it is taking quick action that increases your chances of becoming a survivor.  Visit the American Cancer Society's page to read more about Breast Self Exams, Clinical Breast Exams (CBE) and mammograms   

     Knowledge is power and that is the point of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Become aware, educate yourself.  These are but a few links to pages with credible information about cancer, early detection and breast cancer in particular.  However, remember that ovarian cancer is another silent killer, and most colon cancer can be prevented with polyp removal during a simple colonoscopy.  Your body is the most amazing thing you will ever own, take care of it.