Check yourselves, people

I read several blogs daily, or almost-daily. I read one against my best interest, because the writer drives me absolutely batty (I am sure you, reading my blog, can relate). She lives in Michigan, though, and I am always interested in what she has to say about living so near to me (if interested also means, I read what she writes and always disagree about everything she says). Anyway, she does have nice decorating style, and a very large readership base, despite the fact that she is more than a little whiny, and maybe not the brainiest, as you will now read.

So this young blogger knew she should have a mammogram, and was putting it off, despite the fact that "the doctor has given me three different referrals for one and even though my mother had breast cancer and even though I believe with almost absolute certainty I will one day have (and survive) breast cancer."

OK, so you have been given reason to check yourself out, and you are not? And does that last line, with the parenthesis, bother anyone else but me? Because let me tell you, I feel like there are A LOT of other WONDERFUL WOMEN out there who would have a) loved to have been given a "heads up" about their breast cancer risk, and b) who tried like crazy to survive their cancer. I'm mad at her for thinking "Oh, I'm just going to survive breast cancer." Yes, we would all LIKE to, but better women than her have lost that battle. How dare she think it would be that easy, when there are good, good, women who have lost their lives to this disease?

So this young blogger puts off her mammogram. But here's another gem of a paragraph: "Why would I worry about a mammogram, the girls are healthy. They're my favorite thing on my body. My boobs get their fair share of attention and there have been no reports of lumps from either party involved (or the occasional medical professional)."

And then I want to hit her again. Because her husband likes to grope her and she likes it when he gropes her, she doesn't have breast cancer. OH, and yes, don't we all think we are healthy? That doesn't always mean you don't get cancer...I have met the healthiest, strongest women who despite all their health and strength found they had breast cancer.

Let me insert one thought here, to everyone - THE REASON YOU HAVE MAMMOGRAMS AND MRIs IS SO YOU CAN FIND A BREAST CANCER THAT IS SMALLER THAN SOMETHING YOU WOULD FEEL. So that you could then have a better chance of surviving it. 2 cm is not that big, and anything larger than that is already considered stage II breast cancer.

Anyway, they found a mass. And even though she is driving me crazy with the way she does everything (at least from how she does everything she writes about), I do hope it is nothing to worry about. But take a lesson from her, people - self exams are just ONE way to check for a breast cancer. Mammograms and MRIs are another. And knowing your family risk is very important, too. I don't want all of you to go off the deep end worrying about breast cancer, but I do want you to be aware, and not as silly as this woman has been.

And also, don't ever tell a survivor that if you had breast cancer, you would survive it (or don't tell this one). It's just disrespectful. Yes, I would hope you would, just as I would hope everyone would...but life is just not that fair, and there are better women than me out there who have died from this terrible disease - stronger women, more important women, nicer women. I am haunted by their stories and the people they left behind, and I walk for them and for their children, because I know they would want me to do whatever I could to make this world safer for their offspring. And I may just not read this woman's blog ever again, for her offhand comment about how she could beat a disease (that these other good women could not) that she knows very little about (you'd think she'd know more if her mom had it, but her stupid comments prove otherwise).