I found out today that yet another one of my dear friends died of breast cancer. The first one died about two years ago and now Sue is dead.

I am in menopause more or less (skipping periods and then having one again), and I know being overweight after menopause is a real factor in causing breast cancer. This is really scaring me. I have my mammo in January. A few years ago I had a lumpectomy, but it was benign. This whole thing just terrorizes me.

Ladies, please keep on top of your checkups.

I am so sorry for your loss

Please try and keep a positive outlook. You are doing the right thing by having a mammo scheduled.
We just never know when cancer will strike it's ugly head, I know as I am in treatment know having been diagnosed in September of this year.

I am coming out of the closet here to acknowledge something to all here. I have not been to an appt. in almost five years.

Recently, I have returned to my dentist for work that had to be done. My next step is to stop at my docs for whatever needs to happen there. It is to the point I am embarassed to see him. Gosh, what will I say?

Thighs, it is important that you are doing it now and no explanation is necessary.

So sorry for your loss. It scares me, too.

So sorry for your loss.


But thanks for the reminder - I've had the number for like a year to make an appointment for my first mammo. Time to "just do it".

I am really sorry for your loss. The reason I finally decided to start really trying to loose weight is because I am getting older and I was really tired all the time. I have to also admit it has been about 3 years since I have had any kind of medical exam. I need to get going here.

thank you for sharing your pain to remind us how important this really is.

I am so sorry for your loss My mom is fighting breast cancer and it's very scary

Thanks ladies. I'm sorry for those of you who are going through it, or your loved ones. I would truly rather be blown up by terrorists than to go through cancer. And I don't say that lightly.

I think many overweight people avoid the doctor because we know we will be weighed, perhaps lectured etc. I still remember a few years back my internist's nurse had me on the scales and kept muttering to herself when she had to keep moving the "big" sliders over. She finally said in a very nasty voice "just how much do you weigh anyway". To this date I can't look her in the eye. And my former internist didn't diagnose bronchitis because he said "don't you wheeze all the time anyway"? Uh no, I don't. So I switched doctors.

Ladies, please make your appointments and keep them. The heck with the remarks, to stay alive is more important.

edited to say: I just noticed two of you are not that far from me, I live in the SF East Bay

Sorry for your loss.

As a nurse the behavior you described appalls me Paula.

That is atrocious behavior for anyone calling themselves a healthcare professional to be displaying.

I finished treatment in August. I echo every sentiment - I am one of those people who hates to go to the dr, but I got really lucky, and the lump was right out there on top of my breast. Most women who get breast cancer survive - over 80%, if you get treatment.

Paula, I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. And I hope you told the dr what that nurse did.

Paula,

I am so sorry. For those of you currently battling this horrible disease, I send love and support...my sister was diagnosed four years ago and is currently disease free. We are so lucky.

There is an irrational belief that if we don't know something it isn't true. I worked in a hospital and once worked with a mom whose child was dying of a tumor of the spine. She told me she felt guilty because when she took him to the doctor at first the doctor dismissed his symptoms as "growing pains." She took him to a second doctor who found the tumor. She said she somehow believed that if she had just been content with the first diagnosis the tumor wouldn't be there.

I think of her a lot. Not going to the doctor doesn't prevent you from illness, just perhaps from knowing and from getting the care you need. My sister's breast cancer was diagnosed before she was fifty and not by mammogram. She has large breasts and had a breast reduction. A very small tumor was diagnosed on the right side when they examined the tissue. She had markers on the left and opted for a double mastectomy. When they did the node biopsy they found a positive node on the left...which means there was a tumor there at one time too. Her doctor has told her that her very early diagnosis saved her life!

My last two doctors no longer routinely weigh folks. They ask about weight. It isn't hard to tell if someone is overweight! Both of them have been very positive and practical about making changes, and about talking about the impact of weight on my health. I don't dread the doctor, even before I started losing.

Please please take care of yourselves ladies.