O.k. so this isn't one bit humorous.

If you are a woman or love someone who is a woman...tell them to make an appointment to get a mammogram.  In fact...insist on it. !!!

I just recieved a call from my best friend in the world since 2nd. grade.

She has Breast Cancer and it is a fast growing kind so it doesn't look good.  She has to have a double Masectomy and radiation.  

I've been walking and crying and pacing around the house since I got the call and didn't know what to do but decided to post this warning in the hopes that if it spares one woman from the anguish of what my friend is going to have to endure, it's worth it.

    make that call today.  

I should get my reminder letter in about a week.  I always have it done - even though I hate them.

I'm so sorry about your friend, Linda.

Remember - where's there's life, there's hope.

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This year both my cousin and Thomas' Aunt were both dx with breast cancer. Both are through the major portion of their treatment and are doing well. I bring this up on your thread because there are more survivors then ever before. Sending vibes to your friend and to you.

P.S. A reminder for men - to make sure they have their selves checked for prostate cancer. This year my uncle is battling that as well.

It just has not been a good year for this family so I feel your pain Linda.

Stay strong for your friend
Gena

The big C sucks, I'm so sorry Linda. The old ounce of prevention is good advice.

Joe

So sorry Linda for the bad news...she's very lucky to have a friend like you at this difficult time.

Best wishes to you both..


Lefty...

Mine is due in June.....they'll be sending me a letter soon.

I'm sorry about your friend, Linda....hoping and praying for the best.

Love ya,
Jackie

Sorry Linda. All we can do is pray for her, I guess.

Rats.

Charlie

Sending prayers for your friend, Linda.  

I lost my best friend on March 26 this year to this damned ugly disease. :'(

Thanks for the reminder about mammograms.  I belong to a breast screening programme here and they send out reminders each time so that I don't miss the right time to go.


Hugs
Carol

Sadly for us ladies it doesn't stop at the mammo. We have to do the other nasty test with regularity as well. Thanks for the reminder Linda. My appointments are in October every year.

We'll pray for you both.  As Gena said, there is more hope now than ever before, even with the fast kind.  Tell her to keep a positive attitude, she has a bunch of clusteheads backing her, and you know the kind of miracles that come about from this place.

Jerry

OK...I'm not here to blow sunshine, BUT..I gotta tell you.
My mother was a 26 YR survivor.
It wasn't always easy, but she got through it and lived to be 82 yrs old!

She made me promise I would not play ostrich!

Mom dealt with Breast cancer with determination, humor and an excellent team of Drs., and since that was just 6 months after my Dad died (of Hodgkins' Lymphoma)...I'd say she did stellar!

Now, I'll reiterate what Linda has said..... getcher bewbies smashed-regularly....but, Gentlemen, you have some testing to do as well. Men can and do get Breast cancer as well...as well as ohter forms of cancer.
Follow your Dr's regular schedule of Health Screenings-even that colonoscopy we all fear...........it's MUCH easier now....and if you are proactive about this stuff, you can LIVE!

Mom made me PROMISE I wouldn't play Ostrich. I may whine, and make faces, but I do it!! I LOVE LIFE!

BE GOOD TO YOURSELVES!

Cathi ;)

Oh Linda, prayers and vibes on the way for your friend and you. Thank you for the courage to post and for the reminder. If it saves even one...well, that's enough.

This one hits home with me. My favorite cousin (Anita) found a lump in her breast and was too embarrassed (prim and proper lady) to go to the doctor. When she finally did, it was too late. We all learned this afterwards, and despair turned to devastation for the whole family.

And for the guys...please don't consider women's health issues a taboo subject area. If it comes from love and/or genuine concern and is presented that way...it is a blessing and taken that way.

After the above personal experience...and with a crew of 10 women working for me, I determined not to be a mourner if I could help it. Once a year I would gently, casually, without a smirk or a blush, REMIND each one that "gee, hope you have scheduled your REGULAR mammogram"...and walk away. I believe they did, several proudly would report back that they had, the others I could only hope...but at least they had been reminded.

Apparently I have no shame (or SENSE in a business environment).  Later, I learned through the grapevine that many were suffering from PMS. I heard of a new local specialty clinic for that condition, went there and got 10 brochures. The lady behind the desk couldn't believe what I was going to do..."man, you got guts"...nope, I got love. She was beaming when I left.

Again, I casually approached each of "my girls" privately, handed over the brochure with the comment that "hey, there's this new clinic if you know of anyone that needs help" and walked away, no comments or conversation re "personal" issues. Later learned that 4 actually went in, and 2 thanked me tearfully in person after getting help. It don't get much better than that.

Now then, this ISN'T about me...it's about what is possible. PLEASE, listen to Linda.

Best,

Jon

Linda, our thoughts and prayers are with your dear friend and all of the others out there suffering from this.

 B&A :'( :'(

Linda,
I was in this position several years ago with one of my best friends. I paced and cried all weekend feeling hopeless and wanting to do something. I baked a plate of brownies and went over and gave her a big hug. She is now in remission and has many complications from the treatments but she is strong and alive. Slowly, she continues to improve. What she did for me was get me to keep up my mamograms. She has also been a wonderful support to Lisa. They both understand chronic pain. Now if only I can get myself to schedule that colonoscopy. I'd rather have a Pap test!

Charlotte

And for the blokes who need to go therough this (and it hurts), I reccommend taking a woman with you. Any woman, even if you have to borrow one.

Everyone in the waiting room will just beam with smiles that here's a man prepared to support this woman through such a barbarous procedure. Go alone and they stare you down as nothing but a monstous prevert and you can see them itching to call the police.

I speak from personal experience.

Brian,
The women in your life thank you for being proactive.
We likes our men around for a lonng time!

Cancer sucks........... let's beat it!

Cathi

Oh Linda, prayers and vibes on the way for your friend and you

Linda,

I'm so sorry for your friend... :'(

My ex lost his mother to breast cancer, our family friend is a survivor. I do regular check ups myself, so does my mom.  I will remind my friends to do the same the next time I will meet them.

Back in here, 50-69 year-old women will get a free mammogram every two years.

Sanna

We must be thinking along the same lines.  I just scheduled my annual mamogram 4 days ago.  I am due. Usually have it done in May but am running a little behind this year.  Only by a couple of weeks tho.  I am so sorry to hear of your friend having to fight this horrible condition.  My sister in law lost both of her breasts to cancer.  But she is a survivor!!  Thanks for caring so much to post this wonderful reminder.

Get it done!!

Lost my mother-in-law to breast cancer some years back because she waited too long to get it looked at.

I had what I thought was a spider bite pop up on my forearm a few weeks back.  Turned out to be a squamous cell carcinoma.  Had a half-dollar size chunk taken out of my arm Wednesday.

Anything out of the ordinary - GET IT CHECKED!!!!!!!!!

I have a running joke with my GP every time I get the old digital exam for enlarged prostate. Beforehand, I tell him that I don't want to feel BOTH hands on my shoulders, and then I ask him if he's planning on taking me for dinner and a movie first.

I joke, but I get it done every year. My dad had prostate cancer, and I get the exam and the PSA test every year.

I'm sorry about your friend's diagnosis.  She'll be in my prayers.


I'm checked every six months, alternating Mammograms and breast MRI.     My Mom had a double mastectomy at age 44 for intraductal carcinoma.  Last summer I had a small tumor removed from a duct.

Thanks for the reminder to get checked.    Please let us know of the progress of your dear friend.

Hugs,

Jeannie

Thank you for those kind words of support as well as the PMs I've recieved.

What do I say to someone who I’ve gone from crayons to perfume with?  Playing with our dolls to our first double date, doing our homework together,  to prom.  Being her maid of honor and she mine.  Laughing and crying through having our kids and going through our respective divorces.   How do I tell her what her friendship has meant throughout the years that I haven’t already told her?  We been through every single thing life has dished out to us and now I don’t have the words to make her less scared….to help her through this.

I sit here crying as I am packing up my crystal and china in No. Calif. for my move to Kentucky,  knowing that she is sitting in So. Calif 500 miles away….. petrified, scared, and crying too.

My thread was not…repeat NOT meant to be a whiney a$$ it’s all about me thread.   I never complain about anything that is going on in my life here.  It was meant as a wake-up call to get your Mammograms ladies, that is all.  I do thank you for listening to my whiney-a$$   today though.    ;) It won’t happen again.  

I appreciate everyone’s input more than you know.   Now, if you haven’t already..



Go make that appointment.

Linda,
Just as your friend needs to know you are there for her, you also need to know there are people who support you. This is hard-and, of course, we always think the worst. I'm not trying to be Pollyanna, my Mother- in -law's story is NOTHING like my Mother's, but i'm not going to get into it.
What you need right now, is to have a good POSITIVE conversation with her. Share what people have said here, encourage her to seek support from the Susan G Komen foundation. Just like with CH, Cancer Patients need to fight! Their armaments are different, but she still needs a positive, determined outlook and she needs every ounce of strength she can muster! Remind this lovely woman how much you care for her and ask her to fight!
Also, if she's your friend, she must be very special. Please tell her there will be strangers vibing and praying and sending good juju, would you do that please?
Now, continue to pack your belongings and YOU keep sending her positive thoughts. I know you'd LOVE to be with her through this, but you have a journey to take. The 2 of you can celebrate together when things settle a bit.
Take care of yourself, Linda. You and Jim have an eventful trip to KY.and if you need to vent, you know how to find me.
MOST of all.... don't let her know just how scared you are.she needs your confidence now......and always remember, miracles happen.....
can you do that?

:-* Cathi

PS-You're not a whiney-arse.... you're a good friend. Please, never change.

More ramblings........For 25 yrs, Mom and I attended the  Susan G Komen Survivors' Luncheon, what began as a small group ended up being over 750 men and women in a HUGE ballroom, all gathered together to say "I AM A SURVIVOR"...from less than a year to a whopping 37 yrs Cancer free! At the end of each luncheon, every survivor holds up a lit candle.and for these past 25 years, the room got brighter every year.
big hugs to you, the lady with the big heart

Linda,

Leaning on your friends is not being a whiny a$$.    That's what we are here... FRIENDS.

Hugs,

Jeannie

Linda, my heart breaks to think of what you and especially your dear friend is going through.

Something that no one has mentioned yet, directly, is self examination.  On particularly quick growers, it might start right AFTER your yearly bewbie squish, BUT, if you faithfully do a self exam, you might catch it.

This goes for guys too!  Men don't like to think of it, but your "boys" need to be self examined VERY regularly, too!  Men also need to do the self breast exam.  Men DO get breast cancer!

Remember, YOU know your body better than anyone else!  Male or female, check yourself out.  If a new lump is found, GET IT CHECKED OUT!!!

Chuck

Linda...I am very sorry to hear this sad news regarding your friend and hope and pray that all will be well.....with much sadness...Lenny

I'm due for one - thanks for the reminder Linda.

I'm really sorry about your friend.  I hope the treatment the doctors decide to give her works.  

She'll be in my prayers.  Keep us posted on how she is doing.

Hugs,
Langa