October. To me October means the true beginning of Autumn. The leaves change, the light changes, the shadows are sharper and give the afternoon shadows a surreal quality. It’s the month of my birth, the month the trees turn the color of fire, the month of football, and also the month of breast cancer awareness.
When talking about what to write this week my husband said, “How about breasts? You write about things like that. You could do a whole month dedicated to breasts and breast cancer awareness. And hey, everyone loves breasts.”
Great idea! Last week I had fun with football so this week I think I’ll go more serious with football and talk about breast cancer, those who fight it, those who’ve fought it, and those who will.
Those who have.
I only know 2 breast cancer survivors, and as different as these two ladies are, they have traits that I believe are typical of many. Breast cancer survivors are strong. They share a bond that transcends a normal friendship. They know they don’t have to say anything to say everything. They hug, they love, they support each other, and they’re always willing to share their experience.
Those who do.
There are countless women out there who, right now, are in various stages of diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and survivor-ness (that’s right, I’m a writer, I can make up words) from breast cancer. They are undergoing surgeries to remove their traitorous breasts, and eduring radiation and chemotherapy to kill and eradicate the cancer cells. The side effects of the medication to treat cancer are often terrible, painful, and sometimes cause other kinds of cancer. (Both of the women-warriors I know had to have a full hysterectomy because the breast cancer medication causes uterine cancer).
Years ago one of my daughter’s friend’s dad’s girlfriend (go ahead, take a minute to get there…) was diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. The dad had two kids and the girlfriend had two kids too – quick math says that’s four kids and a man who are down a caretaker. My husband and I made dinners once a week and delivered it to them. My thought was if we can just lessen the stress a little bit, if we can give just a little bit of good, that’s what I want to do. As a woman I can only imagine how emotionally difficult it would be to be too tired, or sick, or in too much pain to care for your family.
Those who will.
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If you’re a girl chances are you either will develop breast cancer, especially if it runs in your family, or you know someone who has, or will, develop breast cancer. I’m thankful that breast cancer doesn’t run in my family, but that’s still no guarantee. Breast cancer can develop in anyone, at any age, regardless of family history.
Early detection is key. That’s in everything I read. Self-exams are the best way to detect early. Self-exams should be done monthly. If you don’t want to do these yourself, find someone who does. I’d wager that your boyfriend/husband/lover would be more than willing to help out.
Because dense breasts run in my family I had a baseline mammogram done when I was 40. It was as terrible as everything you’ve heard. I was pretty sure they reached around to my spine, pulled that skin to my chest, and then smashed it – and my breast, to the point I was actually alarmed and thought my skin was going to split and my breast was going to rupture.
This year I’m doing thermal imaging.
I love that that the NFL wears pink to promote breast cancer awareness. Oh sure, there’s tons of critics out there who talk about how much money, exactly, goes to cancer research, or whether or not you’d have heard about breast cancer if it wasn’t for the NFL. My thoughts? Any way to raise awareness is a good thing. We were watching the Seahawks game on Monday (Seahawks – 13, Detroit – 10) and my boys asked me about the pink the players were wearing. I was able to educate my children and have an open discussion about breast cancer because they saw the players wearing pink.
We talked about what breast cancer is, who gets it (yes, guys too, but that’s waaaaaay less common), is it curable, what can you do to treat it, and also how it affects whole families, not just the person with the disease. We talked about the strength it takes to fight the disease, the strength it takes others to support those who are suffering, and the strength of women.
The Seahawks have the Legion of Boom. They are fierce, they are driven, they are unrelenting, and they are unyielding. What do we, as women, have? We have the ferocity of love, we have the passion to fight, we have the unrelenting compassion to lift up those who are in need, we are unyielding. We are the Legion of Boobs.
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