A Public Service Announcement

To my dear girlfriends,

You know how I told you that my cancer was small (like .o1mm actually), it was contained in the ducts and slow-growing? They found it during my routine mammogram. Because they found it early and because it had not spread I didn't have to have any chemotherapy or radiation. Praise the Lord! Well, I know a lot of you out there are 40 and older but have never had a mammogram and I feel quite sure you don't do self-exams either. So I want to encourage you (beg you) to schedule one right away. One in eight women will now be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their life time. Mammograms are the most reliable method of detecting breast cancer early. Oftentimes if you wait until you can actually feel it, it may have already progressed.

I can hear your excuses now. I don't have time. I can't get a sitter. I keep forgetting to call. It sounds embarrassing/painful/ridiculous. I don't have insurance. Whatever your excuse is, it's not a good one. If you don't have the money, there are funds out there to help women pay for them. Mammograms are uncomfortable but they do not take very long.

It would have been real easy for me to put off having my routine mammogram. But what if I had and it had spread to other parts of my body? I would have had a big battle to fight then. It was an inconvenience for me to find a sitter and to drive all the way to Greenville. But what if it had not been contained and chemotherapy had been necessary? What an inconvenince it would have been for me to go through the treatment and the side effects and all that goes along with chemo. And yes, it is painful to have your breasts smashed between two plates, but let me assure you, a mastectomy is much more painful. And it could be costly to pay for a mammogram out of your own pocket, but I promise it's cheaper than surgery and a hospital stay.

Please take the time to do this for yourself and for the ones you love. As women and moms we often put our health on the list way below our children and family. But if we are sick, we can't be what we need to be for our children and family, right?

Having a yearly mammogram could save your life-it did mine.

Love In Christ,
Alisa