Touch Your Own Boobs – Be Self Aware

I received an email this morning (August 25, 2011)  from someone purportedly from the Communications and Information Branch at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care  (MOHLTC). In it, she writes the following:

“Ontario has one of the highest survival rates for breast cancer in the world, with nearly 90 per cent of women surviving the disease. Yet research provided by Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) reveals that more than half a million women eligible for Ontario s Breast Screening Program (OBSP) are not getting screened.

You can do your part in ensuring your loved ones aren t part of this statistic. The province of Ontario is encouraging early detection by expanding the OBSP. Women between the ages of 30 and 69 who are at high risk for breast cancer because of genetics or a personal or family history are now eligible to receive an annual breast screening MRI and a mammogram through the program.

Women over 30 are encouraged to talk to their family physician to discuss what breast cancer screening option is right for them, and for their mothers, friends and loved ones to do the same. Regular screening, combined with greater self-awareness and improvements in treatment, has been shown to save lives.

Women can visit www.ontario.ca/screenforlife and complete the  Time to Screen  tool to find out when it s the right time for them to get screened. They can also view videos of a former cancer patent outlining the importance of screening and Dr. Rene, a radiologist detailing the screening process [URL added by BloggerBarb - it's the only video I could find on screening]. Please feel free to include any of these links in your blog …” [added by BloggerBarb: here is a Google link to lots of videos on breast cancer screening]

Sage words indeed.

I have been getting mammograms for at least 10 years and although they didn’t catch my breast cancer, I was a pesty patient in my doctor’s office wondering what the pain was … so please, please, if you are reading this, talk to all the women you love in your life (sister, aunt, lover, wife, significant other — young and old alike) about self-examination if they are in a non-risk group and those over 40 who are at risk just for being alive at that age to get a mammogram.

And if you are in Canada and don’t have a family doctor … my question is why? Get yourself a doctor today! Don’t wait until you’re sick … don’t go into an emergency room … don’t use walk-in clinics all the time … they don’t know your history and may not think of cancer when you walk in with swollen glands or a lump that could also be a cyst.

Can’t find a family doctor? Did you know that you can check your local hospital’s web site to find new doctors accepting patients? Yes, it’s true … that’s how I found mine about 6 years ago when my other doctor left her practice to pursue environmental medicine: I stupidly waited too long to find a new doctor and yes, it was not easy — I think I interviewed about 3 or 4 doctors before finding the one I have now … who hopefully will be around long after I’m gone

Prosthetic Breast Gets Airport Security Up In A Little Old Lady’s Grill …

Shamefully, airport security in Calgary felt it was a good idea to strip search an 82 old woman because she didn’t declare her prosthetic as a liquid item.

I’m so glad I decided not to take my prosthetic with me on a recent trip to Las Vegas … more than likely I would be in jail because I can be quite cantankerous. I certainly have the utmost respect for authority, but man, I would be dropping F-Bombs all over the place if they would have embarrassed me during a body scan.

When are we humans treated as innocent first? Could they not have been courteous and respectful before asking her about the prosthetic?

Yes, there may be crooks, creeps, liars, thieves and all kinds of criminals wandering through the airport (and the streets and hallways of anywhere in the world), but do we have to be treated as if we’ve done something intentionally wrong all the time?

When is it just a mistake?

It’s shameful. It’s Canada.

Here’s a few links to the story:

• News 95.7
• The Star

A new low in the name of security.