Feel Ya Boobies

October is breast cancer awareness month and I was inspired to write this after reading Almond Joy's Sweetness post yesterday.

It was early one morning, in I believe, June 2003. I was in the shower. My breast started tingling. Anyone who's had a baby knows what it feels like when their milk "comes down". So I squeezed my breast and sure enough, I "got milk".

The problem? My baby was 6 years old, I was 33 and I was NOT pregnant! I thought to myself "What kinda hell?".

I promptly made an appointment to see my doctor and told no one.

The doctor immediately sent me down to get a mammogram and as I feared, they found something. I was scheduled for a biopsy the next week and still, I told no one.

I guess I felt like if I didn't say anything out loud, it would be alright. After all, I didn't want my family to worry for nothing, right?

Well, that weekend, I went to visit my boyfriend's (at the time) mother and ended up spilling the beans. She asked if I wanted her to go with me. I admitted that I did.

Well, 2 days before the biopsy, she called me and said she would be unable to make it (she lived about an hour away) and that I should call my mother, she would want to know.

I didn't want to tell my mother. Our relationship wasn't all that and I felt that whatever I said, she'd find something to judge me on, so I never told her anything. None of my family.

Well, I ended up calling her and she agreed to meet me there. As always, there was some breach in communication and the day of the biopsy, I ended up there alone. I called to see where she was and she was doing something else and had somehow gotten the wrong day. So when they called my name, it was just me and Jesus.

The thing about a biopsy? You don't get general anesthesia, you're wide awake and they give you a local. I don't know to this day who the nurse was. For all I know, she may not have really been there and just an angel, but she held my hand and talked to me the whole time.

I didn't know what to expect when I walked into the darkened room. There is a small table and basically there is a spotlight on you. There is a needle that they put into the area to be biopsied and like an alien, that needle opens up and a little clipper kind of thing comes out and they snip a sample of the tissue.

You are sore for DAYS.

It ended up being a benign blockage in my milk duct and it dissolved over time.

Up to that point, I'd been sporadic about doing self exams, but now I do them all the time. Early detection is key to recovery.

Here is the proper way to do a self breast exam.

Breast cancer is not limited to women. Men can get it too. Here is a list of celebrity breast cancer survivors.

Do yourself a favor and feel your boobies and live.