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Don’t ignore the dangers of breast cancer
By Steven Clifford, MD
Contributor
Published October 23, 2009
Breast cancer awareness month is drawing to a close. All of this talk about breast cancer has been pretty uncomfortable, hasn’t it? You did have your mammogram last year ... or was it four or maybe five years ago? Has it really been that long? Still, why worry about breast cancer? It won’t happen to you.
So the thinking goes. If you are a woman and are in a room with 99 other women, look around. Thirteen of the women you see around you, possibly even yourself, will have breast cancer sometime in their lives. Thirteen. You won’t be one of those thirteen, will you? Go ahead and keep putting off your mammogram. Hope for the best. After all, you only have a one in eight chance of getting breast cancer. There is a seven out of eight chance that you’ll never have to worry about this disease. That seems like pretty good odds.
And there are so many other more important things that you need to concern yourself with ... your daughter’s soccer game, your son’s homework, what you are going to cook for dinner tonight.
But what if you are wrong? What if you are that one in eight? What about those who depend on you ... your family, your husband, your children, your friends? What would they do without you? Oh well ... You keep telling yourself that there’s nothing you can do about it. What will be, will be. Right??
You’ve heard that mammograms can detect breast cancers at an earlier, more curable stage. You know that breast self-examination can also lead to earlier detection of breast cancer. Still, it’s too much trouble ... too much expense. And it scares you just a little. You would really rather not know because, after all, you know deep down inside that it would never happen to you. Bad things always happen to someone else. Maybe a distant cousin or a casual acquaintance ... she might get breast cancer, but not you.
It would never happen to you.
Breast cancer can be a terrible disease. It tries to take away a woman’s femininity. It tries to rob her of her dignity. It can even take away her life. But there is hope. Today, there are far better diagnostic tools to detect breast cancer at an earlier, more curable stage than ever before.
Digital mammography, high resolution breast sonography, breast MRI — these and many other technological advances help doctors find breast cancers earlier when a complete cure is more likely. There have also been numerous advances in the treatment for breast cancer. Today, a woman who is diagnosed with an early breast cancer expects to be completely cured, living the rest of her life cancer-free.
But still the best tools for combating breast cancer are the simplest ones. Do a monthly breast self-examination and get an annual mammogram starting at the age 40.
Don’t bury your head in the sand and hope for the best. Get your mammogram! Do it for your husband. Do it for your family. Do it for your friends. But most of all, do it for yourself. You have so much to live for, and far too many wonderful people are depending on you.
Steven J. Clifford, M.D. is a board certified radiologist associated with Digital Mammography of Northeast Texas, 3170 Clarksville St.
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