My pet peeve in October

hooptiedoo

Since we already have some posts here about Pink Ribbon Fever Month, I'd like to add my complaint. It annoys the hell out of me to read that October is Breast Cancer PREVENTION Month.

I also hate reading magazines that advise women to get regular mammograms to PREVENT breast cancer. How stupid is that? We get regular mammograms and have breast cancer awareness to DETECT cancer in its early stages.

I would hate to think any woman would be foolish enough to think that just getting a mammogram would keep her from getting breast cancer. I had absolutely no risk factors, I followed all the dietary, exercise, etc. advice, and I still got breast cancer.

That to me is the point we need to bring home to people -- I'm including men in this because they, too, can get breast cancer. ANYONE can get breast cancer. ALWAYS be on alert for symptoms, and ALWAYS get those mammograms.

Do it for yourself, do it for your loved ones -- just do it. Okay, I'll get off my soap box now.

Anonymous

Hmmm. I've honestly never heard it called anything other than BC AWARENESS month...



I'm po'd by that BRCA testing website. "Know your risk" the tag line says. But what they fail to mention is that most BC is not hereditary and there are other mutations that perhaps cause breast and reproductive cancers that just haven't been named yet. I'm so afraid BRCA negative will lull too many into a false sense of security. Everytime I hear that stupid commercial I scream at the screen/radio! GRRRRRR!

QueenSansaStark

So many BC survivors have NO risk factors. I think of this whenever I contemplate how I did "everything right" - ate well, exercised, no drinking, no smoking - and still got BC. "Most" breast cancers occur in women 50 or older - I was 43 at dx.

If research is serious about "BC prevention" they'd get to the root of what is causing so much of this BC. What is in our environment, for starters? Sandra Steingraber (a cancer survivor) wrote Living Downstream, which detailed all the carcinogens in our environment. When I tell people I'm a BC survivor nine times out of ten they will say, "My mom/sister/neighbor/coworker/etc. had BC too." There are just too darn many of us BC sisters and brothers! And dollars to donuts, we don't all have hereditary or lifestyle risk factors. I strongly believe that our environment and food supply are contaminated with carcinogens, and this is why there are so many of us...