Making Breast Cancer Awareness Personal
Another October rolls around with pink ribbons everywhere. Turn on the TV for a football game or attend any event and you are going to find someone who has their hair-colored pink or a pink ribbon on their cheek or some indication that they are supporting breast cancer awareness. This is because breast cancer is so personal to most everyone. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer sometime in their lifetime, and one in one thousand men will be diagnosed as well. If you are not one of those diagnosed, there is a good possibility that maybe it’s your mother, sister, grandmother or aunt that is diagnosed. And if this dreaded disease has not hit your family, maybe it is your next-door neighbor or best friend or teacher or co-worker.
But let’s take breast cancer awareness down to a more personal level. If you are a woman who has not been diagnosed with breast cancer, what do you need to know. How can you have personal breast cancer awareness?
Every woman, as soon as she starts her period, should start doing monthly breast self-exams. Doing this assessment monthly, trains your brain to know what your normal tissue feels like. Then if there is a change, your brain will pick up this change and you will be alerted. If you are not doing monthly breast self-exams, an abnormality might have to become larger in size for you to notice the change.
Remember: early detection is the key to survival in breast cancer.
Knowing your risk score is the next step to having personal breast cancer awareness. Earlier this year, when superstar Olivia Munn was diagnosed with breast cancer, it was because she had found out that she was at high risk for breast cancer and had undergone a breast MRI. She appeared in several publications after this urging woman to know their breast cancer risk score. We assess risk score on every woman that comes through our center. But if you have not been to our center lately, I encourage you to take a moment and go to this link:
https://ibis-risk-calculator.magview.com/ and answer the questionnaire to obtain your risk score.
Should your risk score come back >20%, please talk to your practitioner or call our high-risk clinic at 432-221-1189. Screening recommendations are made based on your risk score. For example, women who have a risk score that is >20% and they are less than 40 years of age, would need to start a screening MRI at age 25 and screening mammogram at age 30. Women who are 40 and over, would have their mammogram every year and a supplemental MRI would be recommended if their risk score is >20%. We also offer women with an intermediate risk score of 15-20% a supplemental MRI (this is a discussion with their provider) since many of them have a first degree relative that has had breast cancer but do not have other risk factors that put their risk >20%.
Remember: early detection is the key to survival in breast cancer.
Even if your risk score comes back <20%, you still need to get your screening mammogram at age 40. As mentioned before, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer sometime in their lifetime. Imagine going to the grocery store or a busy shopping mall and counting all the women that you pass and every eighth woman is diagnosed with breast cancer and you will see how high the prevalence for breast cancer.
Remember: early detection is key to survival in breast cancer.
As you go through this month of October, keep it constantly in your mind that there is no more important breast cancer awareness than personal breast cancer awareness. Your breast health is so important to you and your loved ones.
Remember: early detection is the key to survival in breast cancer.