Something to get off my chest

I’m just going to have a little rant.

Recently there was a very brave lady who posted on Face Book about her diagnosis of breast cancer.  She said that she had never done anything like it before but she posted a tastefully edited picture of her breast which had a tiny ‘dimple’ for the want of a better word.  This dimple was the symptom of her breast cancer.  She was urging people (men get breast cancer too) to be vigilant and to get any changes in the breast checked out quickly to give yourself the best chance to fight it.

My breast cancer didn’t give me any symptoms.  Even the breast specialist didn’t feel it in an examination.  It was only the mammogram that showed where it was.

So yes, being vigilant is critical, we should all check ourselves regularly and have the courage to go to the doctor if we feel unsure about anything.

What is equally as important is that if you receive an invitation for screening of any kind GO.  I have spoken to a couple of people since my diagnosis who have said – “oh yes, I had a letter about ‘X’ screening, I really should follow that up”.  I said “Yes, you really should!”

I’m 44 so not in the high risk category yet and was not invited to have a mammogram.  Things may be very different if I had.

So please promise me that the next time you get an invitation to go for any tests, just do it.

I’m all ready to head off for reinforcement deployment three tomorrow morning.  I’ll let you know how it goes 🙂

Talk to you soon

Lots of love Mand xxx