In honor of my dear friend, who was diagnosed with, and treated for breast cancer this year, I’m off to get a mammogram tomorrow.
In honor of another friend, who hasn’t been quite so lucky, and who is fighting for her life right now, with Stage 4 breast cancer, I’m going to go get my mammogram.
I’ve avoided doing it for months.
I don’t like to think about cancer.
Both my parents died from cancer.
The word “cancer”, alone, pushes all kinds of emotional buttons for me.
But I bet I’m not alone in that. I bet it pushes buttons for you, too.
But the fact is, what is, inside my body, is.
And no amount of avoidance will change what is.
If I go get my routine “look-see” taken care of, I’ll either get the “all clear”, which will feel GREAT, or they’ll catch whatever it is before it has any more time to do any more damage. And early intervention is your best hope of beating cancer. Right?
So, I’m going to go have my mammogram.
Because it’s the right thing to do, for me.
And I’m going to go get my mammogram because my husband could have died in May from a heart attack he suffered: and I experienced the trauma of having to closely examine the possibility of life without him. I had to look at what that would be like for me, and what it might be like for my kids. And I don’t want him, or them, to have to consider too closely what it would be like to go on without me. Not now. Not for a long time.
Going to get my mammogram is the right thing for me to do for them, as well.
Because I believe in birthdays. I believe in celebrating birthdays with all my might and main. Because birthdays celebrate the gift of life that we have been given.
So, here’s to more birthdays.
What about you? Have you been dragging your feet on getting your mammogram done?
Wanna join me, in taking good care of your body? Make that call, and if you do, let me know.
Disclosure: I am working on behalf of The SITS Girls and Unruly Media to promote the American Cancer Society campaign.
And I feel really, really good about that.