Ladies. I really need for you to check yourselves. What I mean is, doing self-breast exams. It is honestly vital for your health and extremely important to ensure that we live our longest and best lives. Breast cancer runs on my mother’s side. My great-grandmother had it and my grandmother had it and they both survived. Recently my grandmother had a scare, she goes to the doctor regularly for check-ups since she is a survivor and had a mammogram in December 2018. Nothing was found. In March 2019, she had to get an MRI of her back and they discovered spots around her breast. As a precaution, in September 2019 she had her whole right breast removed rather than doing radiation because the doctor did not want it to spread.
I know that in this instance, the spots were found by accident, but it’s still important to do self-checks and schedule regular check-ups with your doctor or gynecologist.
I used to do regular self-check exams when I was in high school because of my family history. My doctor at the time stressed the importance of it so I would do a check every day in the shower. A while after I turned 16 in my junior year of high school, I thought I felt something but was unsure if it was serious or not. My mom took me to the gynecologist just to be safe and the doctor did a hand exam which confirmed that there was something abnormal going on. There were two options. One was to take a needle right then and there and try to take out whatever was in my breast. That was a hard no. So, the second option was to do an ultrasound on my breast and when it was complete, it was confirmed that there was a lump in my left breast. In order to get it removed, I had to schedule an appointment with a breast surgeon. I had never had a major surgery in my life. In order to prepare, I couldn’t eat or drink about 12 hours before the surgery. I also had to sleep on fresh sheets the night before. I was honestly so scared that I started crying before they put the IV in my hand. After the surgeon removed the mass, it was measured to be the size of a golf ball. For some people that may not be big, but I am not the most well-endowed, so it was almost the size of my breast. It turned out that the mass was a fibroadenoma, which is a benign tumor that can potentially be caused by stress.
Please ladies, check on yourselves. If you’re feeling stressed or down please check on your physical and mental health. We can’t be caught out here slipping. This is not limited to women. Men can get breast cancer as well and you males need to stay consistent with check ups as well. I honestly need to get back into checking myself again and truly making sure that my physical and mental well-being are fine. There’s nothing wrong and nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to making sure your health is straight. That goes for you too men. Take care of yourselves. No excuses.