Medical Musings
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Health on Saturday, November 22, 2008 7:00 AM
In early October, I shared with you - my Faith and Family Live! friends - that I would be treating myself to a mammogram in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
I fessed up to the fact that I’d been negligent for the past few years when it came to tending to my own health care. I felt healthy and great, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me when my initial mammogram turned into a second one, and then an ultrasound and subsequent Radiology consultation. The next thing I knew, I was having a “sterotactic core needle biopsy” (I’ll blog about that lovely procedure some day!) and waiting to receive a phone call about my results.
Well, that phone call came with the news that I have a small, precancerous area that needs to be removed, so on Monday morning I’ll be headed off to the hospital for an outpatient surgery and later a precautionary appointment with an oncologist.
I’m sharing this with all of you to underscore a few things. The first, and the most important, is that I want you to stop procrastinating (if you’ve done so) and take time this week to schedule your own preventative health treatment. Thank goodness that I got off the dime and headed to the doctor early enough that this will likely be a very simple surgical procedure. Had I continued to wait, who knows what could have happened with my health?!
We moms are notorious for taking care of everyone but ourselves. But by neglecting our own health, we do our families a disservice. How can we love and care for them if we don’t do the same for ourselves?
The second thing I’d like to ask you to do is to pray for all of those involved in the fight against cancer - for those facing illness, those who have succumbed to it and their families, for the doctors and researches who treat and search for cures, and to the souls in purgatory who battled cancer. Hopefully, some day soon, we will have a cure for everyone.
Next week, through the beauty of the Internet and with the help of my fellow blogging friends here, you’ll be reading posts from me. But while the rest of you are running around defrosting turkeys and creating fabulous homemade centerpieces, I’ll be lounging in my pajamas, taking a week to rest and recuperate.
I’m so blessed that the diagnosis I face is not serious, so I don’t want any of you to think I share this to seek your pity - I’m simply hoping that by sharing what’s going on in my own life, a few of you might be inspired to seek the care we all need and deserve. If you missed your mammogram and doctor’s appointment in October, November is a great time to get them scheduled!
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