BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Today is October 1st! Today is the official beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Honestly, besides the "pay to wear pink" at my job years ago, I've never really paid any mind to this month being special. Boy....how things have changed in 3 months. Now, I often remind my friends on "hump day" *Wednesday* to check their lovely lady humps for bumps. Take that...Mrs. Fergilicious!

I was informed that I am going to be "Champion of the Week" on the Bill Crews Remission Run website. My day to be featured is today! I kick off Breast Cancer awareness month. Pretty cool huh? Check out my story here and then go check out what the Remission run is, and where the funds go. Bill and Dana-Susan Crews are awesome people! I was elated that my blog and story was chosen, and even more flattered that I was chosen to be the first woman in October to be featured!

So, today's post is going to focus on prevention and statistics. Wow, that really sounded like I am beginning a lecture at a college auditorium.... let me re-phrase that...

Today, we are going to talk about feeling your boobies! There, that's better!

I saw a news story yesterday about how the "US Preventitive Services Task Force" is changing the recommended age for mammograms from 40-50 and it's being challenged and possibly overturned! DUH!!! I thought to myself.... what would have happened if I hadn't found my lump until age 40.... 7 years from now? I wasn't due for a mammogram for 2 more years, and the only reason I was due for one was because my paternal grandmother had breast cancer in her late 60's. (Mine turned out not to be genetic) They wanted me to start mine at 35. I did self exams about 3-4 times a year. I felt myself up every time I positioned my "post 3 children long boobs" into my bra or bathing suit. My husband did his "breast exams" at least twice weekly......and yet we didn't catch my lump until it was stage 3 !!!

Here is a brief synopsis of the article and why I want to slap the person in charge....
"It's not a perfect test. But right now, it really is the best imaging/screening test we have. And last year, the reason the preventive service task force said it might not be so great or even recommended in women in their 40s. It really comes down to numbers. It comes down to statistics. And this study actually was in keeping with that. It showed that, in order to save ONE life, over 1,200 mammograms would need to be done every other year for a ten-year period for women in their 40's. Now, the hard-core statisticians and scientists will say, well, those numbers do not support its use in this age group.

"But, for women who are that one life, emotion comes into play. And medicine is a science, but it's also an art, so you have to take into account science, statistics, numbers; you also have to take into account emotion. There's no getting around it."
I am that ONE life! I don't think they should be advancing the age....they need to be backing it up!!! More and more women are getting diagnosed with higher grade breast cancer BEFORE they turn 40!

So, next topic....
I really believe that the reason I am doing so well, as I have mentioned several times, is because I am taking special nutrients. The stuff I am taking and doing is actually on a higher dosage for ONCE you have cancer, but it can be done in a milder version for prevention. So, here is my daily ritual for prevention... (I would cut back quantities since it's for prevention....I do double this amount daily)

AM- juice 2 organic carrots and 1 organic apple in a juicer. Mine came from costco and was $90...ask for one for Christmas if you have to. I can't say enough about juicing, especially if you're like me and can only enjoy vegetables covered and smothered, like from Waffle House...cheese, salt, pepper, butter....all the "good" stuff. I am a CARB girl, so this is a hard regimen for me, but I stick with it because I see all the goodness from it!

Then, I take that juice, pour it in the blender and add one banana, a scoop of organic wheatgrass powder, 1 TBSP of Benefiber powder, and 1 TBSP of my special powder nutrients.
Blend it all together, serve in a pretty glass to make it taste better and chug!
I use this to take my 10 daily vitamins

Lunch- I make a sandwich with my favorite Boars Head All Natural (they have no preservatives, no colors, and no artificial CRAP) lunch meat. I prefer the Tuscan chicken or Garlic Herb chicken and Colby Jack cheese (YUM). I use bread with UNBLEACHED flour and NOT ENRICHED. Hard to find! Natures Own has a few to choose from. I top with organic mayo and brocolli sprouts. I usually eat a small bag of organic baby carrots for my "crunchy" and sometimes will eat a yogurt or fruit with it for my "sweet".

Snack- Bora Bora bar! Super good! Lots of organic nuts smothered together with Agave Nectar and baked! YUM...available at Costco too! This is usually what I have while waiting in the car rider line in the afternoon. It's also sticky, so I HAVE to drink a whole bottle of water after it to wash it all down.

Dinner- salad with Lettuce, Tomato, Cucumber, Toasted Almonds, Avacado, Boiled Egg, Grilled Organic Chicken, tiny bit of cheese and favorite dressing. Then, on top, I add my brocolli sprouts again. I sprout a jar of them about once a week. Very easy to do, and they have 50 times the cancer fighting antioxidants than a head of brocolli.

WATER, WATER, WATER, WATER! I drink water a lot.

So, that's my "healthy eating habits" and my "daily regimen" for fighting cancer.
I really believe, and this may cause some controversy.... but I believe the reason I got Cancer was because for years, I was poisoning my body with toxins in my food and I...HAD...NO...IDEA!!! Why? because the FDA told us that it was all good...... I am soooo anti-FDA at the moment. I can't stand them, so pardon my soapbox rant. Honestly, who would approve a product like Nutrasweet (aspartame) that has been proven to cause cancer in lab rats and approve it for a human beings consumption? FDA! Who would approve for our animals to be injected with hormones and antibiotics to make them grow faster? FDA! Who would approve for everything to be made from specific soy beans, patented by a particular pesticide company to be in all our daily food products...HIDDEN at that? FDA! Now, they are voting on making a GENETICALLY MODIFIED SALMON! Really??? Let's clone a healthy fish so we can mass produce it in a factory....that's just plain rediculous!

Why? Why? Why?

Money! It's all about the Benjamin's Baby!!!

So, in our house, we don't eat anything fake! Nothing genetically modified (GMO) and nothing with artificial anything! No colors, flavors, preservatives, nitrates, dyes, antibiotics, pesticides, bleached, or enriched, and pretty much nothing with more than 5 ingredients to it. If we can't pronounce it, we don't eat it. Let me tell you, organic food has really come down in prices over the years, and it has picked up MUCHO flavor. It doesn't taste like cardboard anymore. By eating organic, and by spending the extra money on groceries, we don't go out to eat as much. We probably go out once a month as a family now, where we used to go out at least twice a week. So, we can justify the extra money for groceries. I am no longer listening to FDA or "government" advice, I am conducting my own research and using my "mommy intuition" and educating myself on food, vitamins, medicine, and prevention the old fashioned way. Now, don't get me wrong, I am NOT anti-Doctor. I LOVE all my doctors! I go see them regularly. I just limit what goes into my body and use it only if the benefits outweigh the risks (hence the chemotherapy)

Here are my facts: I do not fit any stereotype for acquiring breast cancer. It wasn't genetic (proven with a BRCA blood test) and I have had 3 children and nursed them which is supposed to reduce your odds, I ate semi-healthy for the past year or so, I work out regularly, don't drink often, smoked on and off for years but that doesn't cause breast cancer....only lung and throat cancer, never done any recreational drugs, and we have a good healthy sex life which produces melatonin and helps prevent cancer. (Sorry siblings and parents that read that, guess I should've warned you first)

So, the only logical solution in my case is that for years, I was eating TONS of fast food, frozen meals, lots of fried fatty foods, everything prepared (with nitrates and preservatives) and pre packaged, and pretty much anything EASY.....I was a lazy teenager, and then a busy working mom, and then a stay at home budget shopper & coupon clipping mom until about a year ago. I've done tons of research on this subject. For those who don't know, I am the QUEEN GOOGLER! I obtained my degree from the University of Google. Yip, I did. All my research is conclusive.... pesticides, nitrates, hormones and antibiotics in animals are EVERYWHERE and hard to avoid, but do SOO MUCH DAMAGE to the body! It's disgusting to see what is in our food! Watch the documentary Food Inc on netflix if you can get a hold of it. (The government and FDA pulled it off the shelves and off Tv....go figure)

Ok, I'll get off that soapbox now and onto checking yourself!

So, you know the "shower check" that we are supposed to be doing? Well, let me tell you, even after I found my lump, I couldn't locate it in the shower check. So, throw out that card hanging on your shower head and lay down on the bed! Yeah, that got your attention....or at least your husbands....right? Yep, that's right....lay down on the bed! Lean over to one side, just slightly. Prop yourself on a pillow if you need to. Now, poke and prod the hell out of your top boob on the outside and your bottom boob on the inside. Because you are laying slightly tilted to the side, those lovely boobs should be making you look REALLY REALLY attractive now. (be sure your husband is not laying in front of you, especially if you have 3-children-long-boobs like me) They should be hanging down, to the side, looking pretty flat unless you've had them "enhanced" by now. I have not....YET! Then, you flip over slightly to the other side and switch boobs. You're still feeling both boobies, but you're feeling the outside of the one on top and the inside of the one on the bottom. Why does this method work better? In my opinion, and I am NOT a doctor, the breast tissue is moving out of the way giving you better access to an actual lump. I had a golf ball size lump and this was the only way I could find it!

Now, how often should you do this? Well, I say about once a week. Other reports say about once a month, but hell, mine popped up virtually overnight, so I couldn't imagine waiting longer than a week. Do it right before you go to sleep, or right when you wake up. Don't worry.....he won't ask what you're doing.... he'll just ask if he can join you.... (wink wink)

Lastly, go get a mammogram! Request it at your next OB appointment. Studies show that alternating mammograms and ultrasounds yearly is the best and most effective way to catch Breast cancer in its early stages. If your doctor refuses, tell them about me.

I am a Christian.
I am a business owner.
I am a friend.
I am a wife.
I am a sister.
I am a daughter.
But most importantly, I am a mom.
And I am a fighter!
I am 33,
and I have breast cancer.

Do it for me!
Show your support, wear pink and go get a mammogram! Feel yourself up every Wednesday, hump day. Check those lovely lady humps for lumps!!!