Figuring out what I wanna be when I grow up.
Oop..I AM grown up...


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

A Shout-Out To The Homegirls

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Did you hear the story of Christina Applegate and her experience with breast cancer a few years ago?  She decided, after finding out the lump in her breast was cancerous, and further finding that she had the "breast cancer gene," that she would have a bilateral mastectomy.  This means, of course, that she had both breasts removed.  You can read about her story HERE.

When I first heard this story, I was horrified for her but filled with awe as well.  How brave she was in the face of such frightening circumstances.  As women, we define ourselves to a degree by our appearance.  How can we not?  We learn from a very young age.  Our breasts are extremely important to us, especially in a culture that is breast-obsessed.  If women have small breasts, they pay good money to get larger, more socially 'acceptable' breasts.  Every woman has an opinion about her breasts, whether they successfully or unsuccessfully nursed a child, whether they are so large they cause back problems, so small they cause identity problems, or so perfect in our eyes that they are one of the biggest reasons we feel attractive.

So,

imagine making this GIGANTIC decision to remove your breasts in favour of, well, life.  I think, all of you women who have done this, and who have dealt with breast cancer, and who are living with it now, and who are flat on your backs right now because the cancer treatments are making you so ill:  I think you are among the most courageous people I can think of.

We are all touched by breast cancer:  our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunts, our cousins, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbours--everyone knows someone who has fought it, lost to it, and won.

We all have to stick together, girls.  No more back-stabbing.  No more cattiness.  Why do we care what she's wearing if she's not hurting us?  Why do we care if she's "fat" if she's not hurting us?  We don't know what she's going through.  Maybe her father died.  Maybe she had a miscarriage.  Maybe she has a special-needs child.  Maybe she's often sad.  Maybe she used to be model-thin before she had three children.  Maybe she was never lucky enough to be able to wear what she wanted.  Maybe she never had good skin.  Maybe her family was terrible to her.  Maybe she doesn't have much money.

I think, that even though we wake up dead-tired every day, and maybe look like hell in the morning, that we're all doing a pretty damn good job--even during those weeks when we only accomplish 50% of what we want to.  Remember:  the days may be long, but the years go by quickly.

Now enough talk, let's DANCE!

14 comments:

  1. preach it, sister! now feel your boobies! it could save your life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sherilin, I can only do that during the day, because if I did the self-check at night and found something I'd need a sedative :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nothing like getting a mamo and having someone feel you up in the afternoon. Add the bonus of having to take off your deodorant and sweating like a hot flash for fear of them finding something?? Now THAT'S a good time. But knowing you're doing it so you can wake up to years of seeing my kids---I do it every year, faithfully.

    Now go and get your boobies squished!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Scary moment in my life...Ben, my son was about 3 at the...I did a sefl check in teh shower one night and found something. oh the panic. I called my doctor in the morning and they were so kind to see me only a few hours later. I will never forget teh look on the doctors face when he felt it too. The next morning, I had an ultersound. (have i ever mentioned how awesoem my doctor is? he gets shit done! for that I am forever grateful!)
    That night though...everythign that run through yoru brain....my boobies!!! Not my boobies! I got call from the doctors office a very long week later..."we need to see you, can you come in tomorrow morning?" OMG! NO!!!!
    Lucky for me, it was not cancer. It was my lumpy boobs at it again. (they wanted to see me, as they were offereing me some extra help for the girls as I have whatever you call that lumpy boob thing)
    Scary.
    Spread the word..keep an eye and a hand on those girls!

    ReplyDelete
  5. my girls are so big they have their own gravatational pull! if its a choice between bodatious boobs, and my life,i do not think its even a choice, life wins out always. i wonder if men had penial cancer, would they choose life or the penis?just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is so true, you're such a sweetheart Karen!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks, Karen. Well said. Keep the main things the main things.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lizbeth, I wonder how long it would take before I had B.O. without deodorant...would it creep in slowly or be immediate. Anyhow, that's not what we're talking about. You have inspired me. I will begin having my boobies squished this year!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh Steph, that IS scary. Mon dieu, I'd have had nervous guts all week. Thank goodness it turned out to just be lumpy boobs, but what a pain. Yes, I've heard of the lumpy breast thing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Paula, that is an interesting thought, and I have some input on it, re; men removing their penii if they had to: prostate cancer is far more dangerous to a man the younger he is when he's diagnosed with it. Men have a much greater survival rate if they have their prostates removed. However, there is a HUGE risk of no longer being able to achieve an erection post-surgery, so that deters a lot of men...

    ...just as I'm sure the worry of being less of a woman deters a lot of girls from going for the mastectomy.

    Difficult decisions.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I wonder how I would feel if I had to do that...

    ReplyDelete
  12. cricketfreak--yes, exactly! It's such a scary situation to imagine.

    ReplyDelete

I lurv comments. Thank you for the comments. They are scrumptious.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails