Friday, December 08, 2006

Breasts. Boobies. Or, as my friend Sean calls them, “Woo-Hoos”



“Whoever thought up the word "Mammogram"? Every time I hear it, I think I'm supposed to put my breast in an envelope and send it to someone.”
- Jan King

If you are anything like me, you aren’t feeling your boobs often enough. I know I’m supposed to give myself a self-exam once a month, but the closest I usually come to that is when I push and prod them to make sure they are appearing to their best advantage in my demi-cup bra.

It is a serious matter, however, and we should all be giving ourselves self-exams (all straight men will probably be amazed we don’t mess with our breasts all that much but I guess they just don’t hold the same level of fascination for us) and women over 40 should be getting annual mammograms. Early detection is the best possible way of ensuring survival and no one thinks it will happen to them. Like all disasters, Breast Cancer is something that you think “happens to other people”... right up until the moment that it happens to you or someone you love.

I’m younger than the recommended age, but I’ve had a mammogram once. In spite of having some frame of reference, when I hear the word “Mammogram”, I picture someone in a large breast costume doing a tap dance and singing a little ditty at my front door. I assure you that the actual mammogram process is far less frightening than having a singing boob at your front door.

Go here for an FAQ about Breast Cancer, and here for instructions on giving yourself a self-exam (I think it would be much more entertaining and user-friendly if they called it “How to feel yourself up.”) There have also been attempts by anti-abortion groups to link breast cancer to abortion. If you’ve heard that and want to get more information, I recommend reading this.

5 comments:

  1. I don't want to read about my sisters boobs. :(

    But YAY BOOBS! I got to feel up some nice ones in Canada. Bwa ha ha, how do you like that visual?

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  2. I'm right there with you making sure they look their best in my padded bra...what was it you called it? a "demi-cup" LOL actually I think I have both :)

    Dez (I'm signing it anonoymous cause Daisy is barking and I don't have time right now to sign up for anything LOL :) )

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  3. hey - this isn't about MY boobs. MY boobs are no one's business. But it hit me out of the blue that I haven't done a serious self-exam in ages. I think we all forget to.

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  4. I'm signing this one annoymous because of what i'm about to say...

    I have large boobs, larger than most, and i can't say that i've ever seriously done a self breast exam. Why, here's the embarrasing part, i kind of figured that if there was something there, my boyfriend would find it.... I know it's lame but it's scary that a woman, with large breasts, over the age of 25, with a long string of cancer in her history cannot be bothered with something that takes 5 minutes a month...

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  5. I think this is important for all women to do. And if you want to support other women to get their mammograms. You could post a link to this site.
    http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites.woa/wa/gotoSite?destSite=BreastCancerSite&ThirdPartyClicks=prcnbcf
    All you have to do is "click". If you want you can buy stuff from the site too.

    -Penny

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