EARLY DETECTION SAVED MY LIFE

Here is what I learned from my experience surviving breast cancer: Self-examine once a month and never skip mammograms. True, they are not comfortable, but as my radiologist says, “We squeeze, because we care.”

If you find something that concerns you, have it checked. It is better to be viewed as a little paranoid than to miss something important.

Question a diagnosis, if your instinct or intuition tells you to. Doctors are not infallible.

Get over the fear that you’ll find something wrong if you check. You wouldn’t have that attitude toward your child or your car.

Don’t rely on “Divine Providence” or apparent good health to keep you healthy. It is your responsibility to take care of your health; Providence has other worries.

Just because there is no family history of cancer, don’t assume you cannot be the first. Turns out that my father, who died of a stroke, had the beginnings of bone cancer on autopsy, and a paternal uncle, who died of a heart attack, had undiagnosed stomach cancer.

Men get breast cancer too, and it is just as deadly as in women. They should also self-examine.

While mammograms are suggested for women over 40, much younger women can develop breast cancer as well, and should self-examine.

And should you receive a cancer diagnosis, realize:

Breast cancer detected early is more than 90 percent curable. Delay in treatment leads only to death. Cancer doesn’t ‘get better’ or ‘go away’.

Muster your friends and family to pray and support you. Research shows that those that have people praying for them do better than those that do not. I’m living proof!

Let cancer be an impetus rather than a hindrance. Since my diagnosis I have earned a PhD, written and published three books, written several songs, bought and decorated two houses, reduced to my pre-cancer weight, grown hair and become a grandmother. “I can always tell who will survive,” my oncologist told me: “If a patient starts doing things, they are good. I worry about the ones that start getting their affairs together.”

Above all, count on the love you can receive from others. At the instant the surgeon uttered the word ‘cancer,’ my husband grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight. A cancer diagnosis can spell the end for some marriages. And it can tightly cement others.

Ladies, I plan to live a lot more useful years. What about you? Every day is more precious than the last. We don’t have time for needless sickness or disease. Our bodies are our temples. Let’s keep them holy and healthy.