At the annual Relay for Life held in Greeneville, Tennessee, they make the following announcement: One in eight women and one in 1000 men will get

Transcription

1 At the annual Relay for Life held in Greeneville, Tennessee, they make the following announcement: One in eight women and one in 1000 men will get breast cancer. Imagine a woman walking into a room with seven other women. It is quite possible that one of those eight women has had, currently has, or will get breast cancer sometime in her lifetime. Imagine it is football season and there is a stadium that holds about 100,000 male and female spectators. As the men look around this stadium, close to 100 of those male spectators has had, currently has, or will get breast cancer sometime in his lifetime. This author was even one of those eight women. She was diagnosed with breast cancer early in January of At the time, had she been aware that there were five other symptoms to watch for other than a lump, she might not have ended up losing both of her breasts. By the way, she has been fully in remission since that August 2010 day of her double mastectomy.

2 Early detection is the key to saving your breasts and possibly your life. Be so aware of how your breasts normally look and feel that anything odd immediately alerts you to make an appointment with your doctor. It might be simply a cyst, or it might be malignant breast cancer. There are six main breast cancer warning signs you shouldn't ignore. The author learned about one of them through personal experience. The other breast cancer signs and symptoms she learned about from meeting up with other breast cancer survivors and from her oncology doctor and chemo nurses. Since that time, she has become a zealot on wishing to spread the news so that men and women everywhere will remain as safe as possible. Breast cancer warning sign #1 that you shouldn't ignore: Get every lump checked by a doctor. If you become aware that you have a lump in or around your breasts, immediately make an appointment with a doctor. Since only two out of ten lumps end up being malignant, you might have a doctor suggest that it is probably a cyst or that you are too young to be concerned. Insist on getting this lump checked out anyway. Breast cancer is no respecter of gender. It is also no respecter of age. Babies, kids, teens, people in their

3 twenties, thirties, and forties can get breast cancer just like people over the age of fifty. A friend of the author s was sent home by a doctor with the comment that you are too young and it is probably a cyst. A year later, she had to get a mastectomy. Then a couple years after that, she had to get the other breast removed. Therefore, don t let the doctor talk you out of getting it checked out. Find another doctor if necessary. Peace of mind is priceless. Breast cancer warning sign #2 that you shouldn't ignore: Detecting a dimple or indentation on your breast. This is the breast cancer warning sign experienced by the author. Around June of 2009, she was shopping for a new bathing suit in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In the dressing room, she noticed a tiny dimple on the left side of her left breast. Knowing to look for lumps, she felt all around the tiny indentation. She didn t feel anything. Since breast cancer did NOT run in her family, she decided that it was simply gravity kicking in. After all, she said to herself, you can t expect a fifty-one-year-old breast to look as pretty as a twenty-one-year-old breast. So, she thought no more about it.

4 Four days before Christmas of 2009, that tiny dimple was now a lump the size of a walnut with a crater next to it that looked as if somebody had stuck his/her finger into a pile of Play-Doh up to the first knuckle and pulled it out again. By January 4th of 2010, the day of her double mastectomy, that walnut had grown to the size of a 3x5- inch lemon. She was diagnosed with Stage 3A breast cancer on January 7th. She had two types of cancer: Ductal and Lobular Invasive Carcinoma. Her treatment plan included eight rounds of chemo which caused her to go bald for a few months, a double mastectomy, 35 days of radiation, and taking a low-dosage chemo tablet for a minimum of five years. If she had gone to the doctor in June of 2009 while the dimple was still small, she probably would have never had to lose her breasts or have had to deal with lymphedema as she also had to have ten lymph nodes removed. Early detection is the key! Breast cancer warning sign #3 that you shouldn't ignore: Detecting a rash on your breast. As you change clothes or step in or out of the shower, take note of the

5 condition of your breasts. Be so aware of how your breasts normally looks and feels so that anything different draws your attention. Let s say one day, you notice a rash on your breast. Don t dismiss it by stating to yourself, Oh, it is probably a bug bite, and I simply scratched it too hard. OR, Perhaps I have allergies or am allergic to something. OR It was hot outside, so it is probably a heat rash. OR Maybe I got near some poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac. Keep a watch on it for the next week or two. If the rash remains or grows in size, make an appointment with your doctor. This is one of the potential signs of severe breast cancer. It might be nothing, or it might be breast cancer. It is worth it to go to the trouble to get it checked just so you know for sure. Should it be breast cancer, the sooner you start fighting it, the sooner you will achieve a cure. When the author had her first chemo session on February 4th of 2010, her husband ed a friend. Good news! My wife had her first chemo session today. Ironic sounding as that is, it was good news. Since her lump grew from the size of a walnut to the size of a large lemon in less than two week s time, they imagined that by the time she had her first chemo session a month later, it might be the size of a grapefruit. They were immensely relieved that the battle had finally begun.

6 Breast cancer warning sign #4 that you shouldn't ignore: Detecting bloody nipple discharge. This has happened to two women the author met during her own breast cancer journey. One woman had a small baby. She said that six months after she concluded her breast-feeding process, she started noticing a bloody nipple discharge. Originally, she dismissed it as being a late complication to having previously breastfed her son. But when the bloody nipple discharge continued, she finally decided to visit her doctor. Perhaps she waited too long as she did end up losing her breast. Unlike the author, she decided against having breast reconstruction. She got a silicone prosthesis that she can insert inside her specially made bra. When she comes home from work, she removes the prosthesis and hands it to her two small sons who eagerly wait to take turns to put it inside its storage box. The other woman the author met had not yet started her treatment plan. She did not have children and started having a bloody nipple discharge. She finally went to her doctor to get it checked out. She too was diagnosed with severe breast cancer. She did not yet know whether she was going to have to lose her entire breast. She was very

7 scared and was reassured to hear some of the positive stories about what a difference it makes to have a positive attitude, a sense of humor (even if it be only gallows humor), and the incredible power of prayer. Breast cancer warning sign #5 that you shouldn't ignore: Detecting your breast skin puckering. Once again, it is vital to be totally aware of how your breasts normally look and feel. What is the texture of your breasts? Is it normally smooth or rough? Notice the elasticity of the skin Stand in front of a mirror. Spend a few minutes examining the normal state of your breasts. That way, if one day, you notice that any part of your breast appears to pucker, you will think back to this article. If any part of the skin on your breast is drawing together like a pulled-up seam on your shirt, skirt, shorts, or pants, immediately call a doctor and make an appointment. This is alarming as there could potentially be a fast-growing cancer inside. The earlier you get it checked, the better outcome you will have. If you wait too long, the cancer could potentially have time to metastasize and spread to other parts of your body.

8 The author was very grateful that the cancer inside her body had only had time to spread to one lymph node under her left arm. The surgeon removed ten lymph nodes total just to make sure, but thankfully, it had only impacted one of the ten. Breast cancer warning sign #6 that you shouldn't ignore: Detecting your breast suddenly shrinking or growing. Thinking back to her teen years, the author recalled the girls in middle school (actually junior high) gym class singing a little ditty that began, Grow little titties, bigger, bigger. I have an underdeveloped figure. She never learned the words to the song about wishing your breasts to stop growing as until the age of 22, she probably had the smallest breasts of all her fellow classmates. So, I can imagine that initially, if you notice your breasts abruptly increasing in size, you might feel thankful or imagine that your former singing of that song or something similar finally came to fruition. There are also those women who have their breasts suddenly cave in or get smaller. A friend of the authors had this happen after giving birth to her third child. Thankfully, it was not a sign of breast cancer. It was simply

9 a freak side effect of childbirth. In any case, if you experience a sudden growth spurt in your breasts or a sudden shrinkage in your breasts, make an appointment with your doctor. This too is another potential sign of severe breast cancer. In conclusion, here are the six signs of breast cancer all in one image. If the American Cancer Society is correct that one in eight women and one in 1000 men will experience breast cancer sometime in their lifetime, they all need to be forewarned with the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. This is not to make you feel fearful. It is more to give you a fighting chance to save a breast or your life with well-informed knowledge. The earlier you detect one of these signs and visit a doctor, the better your chances are to deal with the breast cancer and then get on with your life. As the author has gratefully learned, there is life beyond breast cancer.

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