Love Your Breasts!

If you don't know it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I'll assume you haven't been to the store lately. I've seen laundry detergent, hair brushes, and even curling irons all out to find a cure for breast cancer. We also still have our old favorites of yogurt, test driving cars, and donating at the check-out lane.

Have you gone more than a year since your last annual exam? If so, then you're more than a year from a medical professional performing a breast exam. Yes, you should be examining your breasts each month (note to self), but you should also have it done once a year at your annual exam. And what do you know, Planned Parenthood does include breast exams in our comprehensive annual exams! Early detection is one way to battle breast cancer.

As you just read in the last post, our new clinic is beautiful! If you want more then a beautiful setting in your annual exam, how does $5 off sound? Yup, just download this coupon and you get $5 off your first visit.

Y-Me points us to the American Cancer Society for some basic facts about breast cancer. It's not just a worry for women who have a family history!

* Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.
* One out of eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer if they live past the age of 85, a risk that in 1960 was one out of 14.
* There are 2.3 million women living in the U.S. who have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.
* Every woman is at risk for breast cancer, and that risk increases with age. About 77 percent of breast cancer diagnoses occur in women age 50 and older.
* Seventy percent of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history.
* More than 80 percent of breast lumps are benign (not cancerous).
* Women who begin menstruating before age 12 are at increased risk of developing breast cancer. The more menstrual cycles a woman has over her lifetime, the more likely she is to get the disease.

If you still need assistance in obtaining breast exams and pap smears (cervical cancer detection), Illinois now has a program that allows uninsured women access to these vital tests and treatment.

The Take Charge, Get Screened campaign calls on every woman to get screened, noting early detection could save a life...Effective October 1, Gov. Blagojevich made sure all women who need access to potentially life-saving cancer screenings and treatment could get it by expanding the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP) to all uninsured women in Illinois. This expansion makes it possible for more than 260,000 women in Illinois to qualify for free cancer screenings and treatment when they need them, regardless of income.

Let's take care of ourselves, ok?

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