Your breasts or your life!
It may get down to that when it comes to breast cancer. This post has questions and a few tips on that. I am not a doctor though in my journey I’ve met some wonderfully caring ones. (Photo: Michele Y. Halyard, MD, Mayo Clinic Radiation and Oncology) I am a woman’s advocate and now a cancer conqueror – a term I prefer over survivor. If my headline made you queasy – good – especially if it moves you to do something about protecting your health and/or the health of other people you know and care about. The question: I’m wondering whether women especially Black/African American women are choosing not to be treated, diagnosed, or have a mammogram, change life styles, and do other things to take care of themselves and their bodies out of their fear, family history, cultural beliefs about hospitals, or myths about the Big C… What do you think? Or maybe it’s just not knowing or having the ”It couldn’t happen to me” mind set that I had. Was I ever wrong. It did happen. I‘m a public speaker, trainer, and coach with a BA, MA, and PhD. As I say when I speak, I had all of those letters after my name but I was ignorant of the ways to “prevent” cancer.
Regrettably, there is no total and complete cure for cancer although in some cases the cancer will go into a partial or complete remission. The term remission is used to describe the shrinking of cancer and it is used by doctors to categorize the extent of the shrinkage of the cancer…..The good news is that the earlier the cancer is discovered the greater the chances of treating it successfully and early detection most often means that less extensive treatment will be required. Click here for more.
Last February, I was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. My breasts or my life? I chose and choose life. I caught it early and took swift and drastic action including change of diet, end to procrastination on exercise, and de-stressing my work load and diet. I look and feel a lot healthier now! Here are some tips:
- Find a primary physician and team you know and trust.
- Trust your body’s signals and your intuition about your health. If you feel a lump, it’s not an accident! Have it checked out no matter how scared you are.
- Learn about the difference between alkaline and acidic foods. I shifted my diet to mostly fruits and veggies (alkaline) and cut out the fried foods that I previously loved.
- If you are diagnosed, Mayo Clinic and the Cancer Centers are doing breakthrough work in treatment.I didn’t learn about the survivor programs until after my treatment. I am learning about them now.
- Educate yourself. Visit the sites of the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen For The Cure for example.
- Learn about the high risk of breast cancer for African and African American women.
- Don’t go it alone. Ask for support. Give your care givers appreciation and support. While they may not show it to you, they have big feelings going on inside. Dread. Love. Concern.
- Learn what is going on where you live. Here in Arizona Michele Y. Halyard, MD, of Mayo Clinic radiation and oncology, convened a meeting of like minded women with the assistance of Marion Kelly, Director, Community & Business Relations Public Affairs. The objective is create a strategy to combat breast cancer. I will keep you informed. The Mayo Clinic is the world’s largest medical center. They are physicians, researchers, hospitals, fellows, administrators, community advocates…..learn more about the options they and other large centers provide online. Cleveland Clinic is another.
- In AZ I know of Bosom Buddies for breast cancer support, education, and advocacy. Their site has videos and is dedicated to “survivors helping survivors”. In LA, I discovered the Living Beauty Foundation.
- Share what you know that will serve others! Respond to this post with your info.
From the National Cancer Institute: In the United States, White women have the highest incidence rate for breast cancer, although African American/Black women are most likely to die from the disease. Breast cancer incidence and death rates are lower for women from other racial and ethnic groups than for White and African American/Black women.