Over 50 And Got Mammaries? Go Get A Mammogram!
In the UK, women aged between 50 and 70 qualify to have a mammogram every three years, free of charge, as part of the National Health Service (NHS) breast screening program, and today I received a letter offering me my ‘routine’ appointment, and it left me with divided feelings.
I thought I wanted to have a mammogram, and had mentioned it to my GP some months ago, but I’d forgotten all about it in the intervening period.
When I opened today’s letter from the NHS, I was immediately struck by the reality of how a woman’s life can be turned upside down by something that starts out as ‘routine’.
My sister is a breast cancer survivor, and it was just seven weeks after losing her husband to an industrial form of lung cancer, that she received her own letter about having a mammogram through the NHS breast screening program, and subsequently underwent a mammogram.
She’d barely had a chance to grieve the loss of her husband of thirty years, when she received the news that the hospital wanted her to return for further tests, and these revealed a tumour. Devastating, but…..
How much more devastating could it have been, had she elected not to attend that first ‘routine’ mammogram?
Breast cancer is our enemy, so if you’re a woman over 50, and live in a country that has a breast screening program offering free mammograms, you high tail it down to that hospital and get your mammaries grammed!
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Thank you for the reminder. It’s time I went again.
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Jammer Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I’m not looking forward to mine, at all - it looks and sounds like torture!
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We get our mammograms done every year after age of 50 here in the states! LOVE the cartoon - that is priceless!! I also blogged last week about a site I found for the younger gals - Feel Your Boobies to help them with saving their boobies, as it were - ha! So sorry for all the trauma your sister went through, but so very glad that she found the lump when they did and on to the treatment and saving her life!
Nancys last blog post..It’s still October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month
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Jammer Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Heh heh, it is a great cartoon, isn’t it? It was one of several in an email doing the rounds and, presumably, the artist is ‘on board’ enough with breast awareness that they won’t sue me for using it!
Thanks for the alert about such a great website, I’ve added it to the blogroll.
Finally, I appreciate the kind thought for my sister - you wouldn’t believe what she’s been through since then. Lymphoedema, DVT, and 3 months in hospital (and still recovering a year later) after being run down by a go kart - no shit!
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That cartoon is RIGHT on the money! Fortunately, it looks worse than it really is and MAN is it worth the peace of mind it brings.
I’m due for mine! Thanks for the reminder!
Advanced Wellness Solutionss last blog post..Signs of Diabetes
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Jammer Reply:
October 31st, 2008 at 3:31 am
Thanks for the reassurance about perceived discomfort, I appreciate that!
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All I have to say about that cartoon is… EEEEEK!
Christina Applegate spoke about the MRI being more effective than the mammogram… and prolly more comfortable.
Dwacons last blog post..Happy Birthday Billy!
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Jammer Reply:
November 7th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
If that’s the case, and if I had Christina Applegate’s bank balance, I’d give that a shot, cos I’m sure as shit not looking forward to my mammies being grammied!
….but totally worth it, of course!
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