do a Breast Self Exam every month

Attended a welcome home party yesterday for a gal who just had her breast cut open to remove a lump. Yes, this is important.

no lumps. At least, no odd ones.

But I finally remembered to do a check last night.

is done. I did it yesterday, and then today I had a conversation with a woman who recently had a lump removed from her breast – which reminded me to thank myself for remembering to make my body’s health a priority!

I heard a story on NPR this morning about breast cancer risk, and at the end of that story they gave information about an online risk calculator. I tried to calculate my risk, but they’ll only calculate for women 35 and over. I’m 30, but I lied and said I’m 35. If I was 35 right now but all the other answers to my questions remained the same, my risk for b.c. in the next five years is the same as an average woman’s: 0.3% , and my risk for b.c. over my lifetime is lower than average: 11.3% as opposed to 12.6%.

I’ve heard that just after menstrating is the best time to do your breast self-exam, so I did mine yesterday. No unusual lumps, I’m happy to report.

Every time I visit the gynecologist and she asks if I perform self breast exams I feel foolish as I answer ‘no’. This little quick feel around is so easy to do, it’s a way for me to further know my own body, it could save my life. There’s absolutely no reason not to do it except my own dumb lazyness and forgetfulness. So hopefully having this goal up here will solve the forgetfulness and overcomethe lazyness.