time to feel myself up

this is the part where i almost died.
date: jan 2001, a wednesday night

i'm very cavalier about my health.

i've always been very healthy.

i barely even had a notable case of the chicken pox as a child.

i had a hairline fracture my senior year of high school.

no other broken bones.

a major car accident my senior year of high school.

late for play practice.

wet roads.

stupid 18 yr old (me).

two lane highway.

speeding (about 10 over)

hydroplaning.

smooshed beneath a flatbed truck.

hit a tree.

life flighted.

that was not a great year for me.

nonetheless, i consider myself to be an incredibly healthy person.

no major illnesses or complications in life.

it is rare for me to get a cold or the flu.

although i have had both this year.

as a teacher i never got the flu shot, and i never got the flu.

i've never missed work due to illness.

the only forms of cancer in my family history are skin cancers.

all treatable if caught early on.

thus my annual trips to the dermatologist.

so when my OB asks if i'm doing monthly breast exams i say,

"no, not really."

translation: never.

although when i'm nursing i am constantly checking for anything hard that could cause mastitis.

he smiles and reminds me that breast cancer is possible at any age, even when pregnant.

i always feel like the scary stuff doesn't apply to the mother in pregnancy.

before you start worrying, no, i don't have breast cancer.

it's always about having a healthy baby.

mom should be exempt from all scary "other" illnesses.

sheesh, being pregnant and birthing a baby should be enough for one year, don't you think!?

this of course is extremely ignorant.

as is my cavalier attitude about breast cancer.

did you know that you are at risk for breast cancer?

small ones, big ones, lopsided ones, augmented ones, and the list goes on.

you're a women, you're at risk.

there have even been cases of men with breast cancer.
rare, but still, they have the breast tissue.

"i don't have any history of breast cancer in my family."

this is what i tell myself.

"i eat very healthy foods and exercise regularly."

then i think of lance.

then yesterday, i hear of someone close to me who's mother has just been diagnosed with breast cancer.

without any family history of it.

i guess it's time to go feel myself up.

oh goody:-)

i hope you do too.