BlondGirl
Aim for the Bullseye ; )
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2000
- Posts
- 2,092
I have a patient. Let's say her name is...um...Lori.
Lori had a routine mammogram in January. It came back clean.
In March, she took a vacation out of state. While in Florida, she was doing her routine post-period monthly breast self exam. She noticed a lump on one side. It felt monstrous to her. When she returned to Texas, she immediately made an appointment with her doctor. He sent her for an ultrasound. It came back as most likely benign (safe and without cooties).
Lori had a biopsy the following week to be on the safe side and the result was that she has invasive carcinoma. Cancer. A very nasty and aggressive cancer that is very, very fast growing.
She has had the whole battery of tests for invasion throughout her body (called "mets" for metastasis) and has come back clean. No spots anywhere except in that one breast. Things are looking positive. Lori is expecting to have surgery before the end of the week and has big plans for the end of May that she intends to be well for.
Of course, if Lori was too lazy to be doing her regular self exams, that thing would still be growing unchecked and getting ready to party all over her body.
The lesson here is for you, the reader. Both male and female alike.
Gentlemen, male breast cancer cases are 1 out of every 10 total cases. That does not mean that men develop breast cancer less often than women, it simply means that it is not diagnosed as often. Usually because most men are too ignorant to bother touching their bodies or looking in the mirror for lumps. Women have a better chance of surviving, especially the farther away from the chest wall the cancer is. Men typically have the growth right there, ready to move into the lungs and spread. There are various extimates concerning the numbers of lung cancers in men that are really misdiagnosed breast cancers.
Everyone, please check yourselves today. Even if it is just to humor an old blond lady.
Be sure to check the tail of the breast area, that is the area that extends to the far side of the armpit.
If you do find a lump, take a piece of paper and draw a circle on it and then make a plus sign to divide it in to quarters. Map the lump(s). Then call your doc or the nearest breast cancer center. Most lumps are nada, but don't gamble. (When you go in to see the doc, always mark the lumps with a Sharpie. It really makes things easier on both of you. Ditto's for your mammos.)
Lori had a routine mammogram in January. It came back clean.
In March, she took a vacation out of state. While in Florida, she was doing her routine post-period monthly breast self exam. She noticed a lump on one side. It felt monstrous to her. When she returned to Texas, she immediately made an appointment with her doctor. He sent her for an ultrasound. It came back as most likely benign (safe and without cooties).
Lori had a biopsy the following week to be on the safe side and the result was that she has invasive carcinoma. Cancer. A very nasty and aggressive cancer that is very, very fast growing.
She has had the whole battery of tests for invasion throughout her body (called "mets" for metastasis) and has come back clean. No spots anywhere except in that one breast. Things are looking positive. Lori is expecting to have surgery before the end of the week and has big plans for the end of May that she intends to be well for.
Of course, if Lori was too lazy to be doing her regular self exams, that thing would still be growing unchecked and getting ready to party all over her body.
The lesson here is for you, the reader. Both male and female alike.
Gentlemen, male breast cancer cases are 1 out of every 10 total cases. That does not mean that men develop breast cancer less often than women, it simply means that it is not diagnosed as often. Usually because most men are too ignorant to bother touching their bodies or looking in the mirror for lumps. Women have a better chance of surviving, especially the farther away from the chest wall the cancer is. Men typically have the growth right there, ready to move into the lungs and spread. There are various extimates concerning the numbers of lung cancers in men that are really misdiagnosed breast cancers.
Everyone, please check yourselves today. Even if it is just to humor an old blond lady.
Be sure to check the tail of the breast area, that is the area that extends to the far side of the armpit.
If you do find a lump, take a piece of paper and draw a circle on it and then make a plus sign to divide it in to quarters. Map the lump(s). Then call your doc or the nearest breast cancer center. Most lumps are nada, but don't gamble. (When you go in to see the doc, always mark the lumps with a Sharpie. It really makes things easier on both of you. Ditto's for your mammos.)
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nahh, I promise to try to be good every month- for my own sake. Thanks, BlondGirl!
