A Society of Boobless Women

Every single day I hear of another woman who's been diagnosed with breast cancer. It breaks my heart. It's in the newspapers, on the internet, on TV talk shows, etc. etc. Why does it seem that it's becoming an epidemic? Perhaps I am just more aware of it now that I've become part of the army of pink. Have you felt it too?

For every woman in the public eye that is diagnosed and makes her story known, there are hundreds even thousands of other women who find out they have breast cancer but never share their news openly with anyone other than friends or family. The public figures, like Patricia Nixon (from Sex and the City), Kathy Bates, Hota Kotb, Lynn Redgrave, Nancy Reagan, just to name a few, help viewers understand the tragedy of breast cancer and that's a good thing; but what about all those "unknown" women who gain no notoriety other than being someone's wife, mother, or friend? The more and more I see and hear of newly diagnosed women, the more I can't help but wonder if one day we're going to have a totally boobless society of women.

What is causing these massive amounts of breast cancer? It has to be something that all of us have in common...something we do every day, something we use every day, something we smell or taste or touch. Once there were concerns with deodorant - that the Aluminum contained in those products could increase the risk of breast cancer. The aluminum works by closing or blocking pores but where does the aluminum go once rolled or sprayed or rubbed on? There's also been concern over the use of hair dyes in women, sugar, food preservatives, genetics, smoking, and the list goes on and on.

To date, no one has found the real cause of breast cancer and therefore, women remain at risk. But, women aren't the only ones who can get breast cancer, surprisingly men can too! I was in the waiting room at my breast surgeon's office for a post surgical appointment several months ago when I noticed a rather large man come into the office. He was with his wife, a tiny slip of a thing, and I assumed she was the patient (you know what they say about assuming don't you...) until I noticed the JP drain tube sticking out of his shirt sleeve. (A JP drain, for those of you who haven't experienced breast surgery, is a type of drain bulb that allows fluid and blood to collect from the surgical wound site. The fluids travel down a clear plastic tubing and are deposited in a clear, grenade looking bulb.) I was so surprised to see the tube and the expression on my face reflected what the other women in the waiting room were hiding in their thoughts. A few minutes later, I heard the man explaining to someone in the waiting room that he'd just had a mastectomy. I had no idea that men got mastectomies too! With women, it's become pretty commonplace but men? Wow! I imagine that was a hard thing for his wife to grasp. I also imagine it was even harder for this big, burly man to have to call in to work and tell them that he had breast cancer and was going to have to have some time off for surgery. I'm sure he was the brunt of many tasteless jokes in the break room while he was gone.

I am very concerned. I am concerned not only about our society of beautiful women, but I'm concerned about my daughters and my granddaughters. I don't want any of them to ever experience the trauma of having to have a mastectomy done. So what are we to do, to keep our sweet girls from becoming statistics in a society of boobless women? The only thing I can recommend is for all of us to become proactive. We need to protect our boobs and the best way to protect them is to check them on a monthly basis.

It's so important for women of all ages to know the proper way to perform a breast self exam. I just recently sent out breast self exam door hangers to my daughters and closest friends. It was a laminated instruction card that provided very detailed and clear instructions on how to properly examine your breasts. It also had little monthly punch out circles along the bottom of the card so you could keep a record of which months you'd completed. I hope, when they received it, they understood my concern. Breast surgery is extremely painful and difficult. I don't ever want any of my family or friends to go through it.

So let's do everything we can to stop the madness! We don't want our girls to grow up in a society of boobless women. God made women with breasts to nourish and feed their children, along with many other reasons. We need to protect ourselves by becoming knowledgeable. I keep on praying that one day soon, one of the amazing scientists out there will discover the real cause behind these massive cases of breast cancer, but until they do, we need to start a campaign to SAVE THE TATAS.

Can you imagine how a society of boobless women would effect our world? While breast cancer is prevalent in many countries, it seems America has more than it's fair share of patients. There has to be a better way to deal with breast cancer - a better way than just loping them off. Sure, many women are able to get lumpectomies instead of having radical surgery but many of those women end up having more surgeries later down the road and often end up with a mastectomy anyway.

Please be informed. Please read articles on breast cancer research. Please do monthly self exams and if you do find something, PLEASE see a doctor immediately. You are your own best health advocate. You have to fight to make sure you get the care you deserve. If you find a lump and the doctor says, oh, let's watch it...it's nothing to worry about...don't settle for that! Demand more testing be done. Demand a biopsy even if the mammogram looks okay. If you feel in your gut that something is not quite right, it probably isn't. Stand up for yourself!

I'll step down off my soapbox now but hopefully you see my point. If we don't wake up and do something, we ARE going to have a society of BOOBLESS women. No one wants that, do they?

©bonnie annis all rights reserved

 How to do a breast self exam

Do antiperspirants cause breast cancer in women?


Here are some startling statistics for you from the BreastCancer.org website:
***these were recorded in September 2014***

• About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
• In 2014, an estimated 232,670 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 62,570 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.
• About 2,360 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in 2014. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.
• About 40,000 women in the U.S. were expected to die in 2014 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1989 — with larger decreases in women under 50. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advances, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
• For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.
• Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. Just under 30% of cancers in women are breast cancers.
• White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than African-American women. However, in women under 45, breast cancer is more common in African-American women than white women. Overall, African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer. Asian, Hispanic, and Native-American women have a lower risk of developing and dying from breast cancer.
• In 2014, there were more than 2.8 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S. This includes women currently being treated and women who have finished treatment.
• A woman’s risk of breast cancer approximately doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. About 15% of women who get breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it.
• About 5-10% of breast cancers can be linked to gene mutations (abnormal changes) inherited from one’s mother or father. Mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are the most common. Women with a BRCA1 mutation have a 55-65% risk of developing breast cancer before age 70, and often at a younger age that it typically develops. For women with a BRCA2 mutation, this risk is 45%. An increased ovarian cancer risk is also associated with these genetic mutations. In men, BRCA2 mutations are associated with a lifetime breast cancer risk of about 6%; BRCA1 mutations are a less frequent cause of breast cancer in men.
• About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.
• The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender (being a woman) and age (growing older).