Oct 3, 2009

Breast Cancer Awareness Month




October is a special month for me.  It is my birthday month, and a month that I celebrate  9 years of being free of  Breast Cancer.  Awareness is very important in treating this dreaded cancer, because with early detection you have a much better rate of survival.   It is also important that the person diagnosing and reading your mammograms are board certified in that field.

I have always been vigilant about getting my mammograms, and feeling confident after having them that I was cancer free.  Little did I know that many Imaging Centers are not trained to catch the very small pre-cancer calcifications that happen and can eventually turn into full blown cancer.  I was at 3 different imaging centers in an 8 year period, and two of them missed the spot.  Fortunately it was slow growing insitu-ductal, and I had a very well trained, Board Certified in Mammography, Radiologist the third time that caught it.   After a Lumpectomy, removal of a few lymphnodes and radiation, I am cancer free.

I encourage you all to visit this website for up-to-date information on the treatment of Breast Cancer.  http://nbcam.org/index.cfm

4 comments:

Dee said...

Hi Loretta, first I celebrate with you this month, I'm so happy that you are still cancer free. Second..what great information. i would have had no idea. With this knowledge, i'll be certain to make sure that whomever I go to is board certified. With a disease like this and the thousands that are affected every year, you'd think this would be a requirement.

Balance From Within said...

Hi Loretta, congratulations, and thank you for sharing your story. I also appreciate the information, both for myself, and for the patients and clients I work with.

Loretta said...

You are welcome. As you know, it's all about Awareness!

Vicki Bensinger said...

I'm so glad that you've been cancer free for 9 years Loretta, that's wonderful. I hope you have lots to celebrate this year for your birthday. Thank you for sharing that link.