Sunday, February 22, 2009

Taking Care of the Ladies

Late last year we lost a friend in our circle to Cancer. Since then we've all become more aware of our own mortality and have been a fair bit more proactive in getting our regular physicals and check-ups done. I received a clean bill of health a few weeks ago but a friend of mine had to go through a trying time to get hers.

She ~ like most women out there ~ is more than a bit lax when it comes to doing monthly breast exams. These are key to finding and getting any potential lumps checked out before its too late. Jen (not her real name) went a few months without examining herself and in her physical exam her doc found a lump that he thought needed investigating.

A mammogram and a few more tests later Jen's been given the all clear. With that bit of good news she's been emailing and calling all her friends to remind them to keep doing the self-examinations. She suggested - and I'm adopting this - that we put an Appointment on our monthly web based or pin-up calendars to get us into a regular routine. Now I don't know about you, but I've never been quite sure how to go about the actual exam. Some really good websites for information on this are listed below:

Mayo Clinic
WebMD
American Cancer Society

Who should do self-exams? All women over the age of 20. And once you hit the big 4-0 it's time to talk to your doc about yearly mammograms and more. Being proactive is the only way to take care of the Ladies. We all are, or will be - daughters, wives, girlfriends, friends, mothers, aunt, and grandmothers. If we don't take care of ourselves we will never be able to take care of all the people we love and care about. So please spread the word - Take Care of the Ladies.

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