It’s unfortunate.
In 2009, the number of Americans without health insurance rose to 46.3 billion due to the recession. That means more and more women are struggling to afford a mammogram, something that just might save their life. Breast cancer doesn’t care about income.
While the Charleston Breast Center is not a free medical clinic, we do have programs available to women who are struggling to pay for their annual mammogram and you can help us ensure this critical test is not missed!
A screening mammogram costs about the same as going out to eat 10 times. What if your family decided to eat in for a month and donated the money saved to the Charleston Breast Center?
Visit our Web site for more information on how to donate … and maybe save a life.
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One of our patients passed along this beautiful story to us.
Kailyn B. Wrighten, a second grader at Howe Hall AIMS, was asked to write an essay in a district-wide writing contest. The theme of the contest was “Beauty is…”. She chose to write about something very personal and special to her, an aunt who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. This very insightful young lady won first place. Here is her essay:
Beauty is…
Beauty is Love, Beauty is Family, Beauty is Courage. This is a story of my aunt Natalie and me. My Aunt Natalie had breast cancer for three and a half years. When I heard she had breast cancer, I felt so sad. I did not feel good. I was so scared I cried day and night. I felt better when she was out of the hospital. Now she is better and I keep her in my heart every day. But even though she is not here in South Carolina, she is very close to me.
I have been going to the cancer walks in Charlotte, N.C. This year I finished the whole race with my Aunt and her Team Natalie. I was tired. I knew she had the strength to fight her breast cancer, so I kept going. When we first got there, we saw a lot of people and a lot of people wearing the most important color of the race pink.
At the end of the race we went to the balloon ceremony. You get your own balloons of how many years you have had breast cancer in your life. They also had a lady there who was a one day survivor. Then there was an old lady who was standing right behind me who released 50 balloons!!!!!!!
(Now my favorite color has a special meaning to me!)
Beauty is pink, Beauty is God, Beauty is courage, Beauty is passion for Life!
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Would you go to a big box supercenter like Wal-mart for a tailored suit? You shouldn’t go to a one-size-fits all center for your mammogram either, because just exactly who is looking at your mammogram?
Just as Wal-mart cannot possibly offer the absolute best quality in every item it carries (they’d never have such great prices), all radiology departments don’t offer the same specially-trained radiologists as the Charleston Breast Center. In fact, radiologists in larger institutions often work in rotations, which means that the person who is reading your mammogram may have excellent credentials … in neurology!
Our physicians have done additional fellowships to train them to read breast tissue – and is literally all they do all day long. And the proof is in the pudding! Their ability to “catch” a questionable spot on your mammogram or breast MRI rates higher than the national average, in fact twice the national average. And we’re the only center in coastal South Carolina designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology.
We’re proud that we know breasts backwards and forwards! SO… who’s reading your mammogram?
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The moxie and strength of some our patients is truly amazing. This past weekend Leslie Crawford Moore and five of her coworker and girlfriends held a Makeovers for Mammograms party here at the Charleston Breast Center. Leslie is a professional makeup artist with Moore Makeup and has just finished chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer that she found herself while doing her own self-exam. Her next step is radiation.
But this past weekend she refocused her energy to raise money for a cause she believes in. On Saturday February 6, Leslie and her talented buddies, Margaret, Elizabeth, Kelly, Laura and Pam, donated their time and performed 30-minute makeovers for a nominal fee, which they presented to the Charleston Breast Center. You should have seen the beautiful ladies leaving the center! We’d like to thank Moore Makeup for their generous donation.
These ladies didn’t have a lot of money to give away… but they used their talents and a little ingenuity to do more good together than they could have done individually. What are you good at and how could it benefit someone else? Pay it forward.
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February 4th, 2010 | Tags: breast cancer
Ever heard the saying “little pitchers have big ears”?
It means “Children hear and understand more than you think they do. The play on words here is on the resemblance of the ear to the handle of a pitcher. It’s an ancient saying, recorded by John Heywood in 1546.
Think about this the next time you describe an experience as being more dramatic or painful than it really is, just to be funny. You never know who’s listening!
We’ve had women come into the Breast Center in tears to get their first mammogram because they have heard friends or family describe the experience in derogatory terms. “I’m afraid it will feel like getting my boobs slammed in a refrigerator door.” “My aunt says a mammogram is an awful experience.” This is just not true.
Our techs are so highly trained that a mammogram takes less time than a pedicure and is no more uncomfortable than a good back massage.
Encourage your friends and family to get their mammograms and don’t joke about getting “squished.” You never know who’s listening.
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Did you see last week’s Grey’s Anatomy episode? The surgeons at Seattle Grace use a high temperature chemotherapy treatment to specifically target the unhealthy cancer cells in a patient with lung cancer. Sounds like something straight out of the brains of a Hollywood writer, right?
It turns out that the University of Oklahoma just completed a study of a technique that not only killed larger tumors (1-1 1/2 inches in size) but reduced the need for mastectomies by almost 90 percent. The technique, recently approved by the FDA, is called Focused Microwave Thermography and “uses a modified version of the microwave technology behind the ‘Star Wars’ defense system”. The heat therapy is applied within two hours of chemo and thus was more susceptible to the chemotherapy and shrunk rapidly.
Even more unbelievable, scientists are beginning a clinical trial that they hope will have a similar success rate on tumors up to 5 inches and are planning to study an unexpected by-product of this technique – a boosted immune system that could reduce the chance of cancer recurrence.
We hope to read about this process in the non-fiction aisle soon!
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We’ve learned about self exams and mammograms and what to look for… But what if there is no lump?
Another type of breast cancer has been in the news lately, inflammatory breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is rare, as it accounts for only 1 to 5 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States, usually affects younger women, and has been diagnosed more frequently on African Americans. This type of breast cancer and can spread in the body very quickly, which makes early diagnoses so important.
According to the National Cancer Institute; “Symptoms of IBC may include redness, swelling and warmth in the breast, often without a distinct lump in the breast. The redness and warmth are caused by cancer cells blocking the lymph vessels in the skin. The skin of the breast may also appear pink, reddish purple or bruised. The skin may also have ridges or appear pitted, like the skin of an orange, caused by a buildup of fluid and edema (swelling) in the breast. Other symptoms include heaviness, burning, aching, increase in breast size, tenderness or a nipple that is inverted (facing inward). These symptoms usually develop quickly—over a period of weeks or months. Swollen lymph nodes may also be present under the arm, above the collarbone or in both places. However, it is important to note that these symptoms may also be signs of other conditions such as infection, injury or other types of cancer.”
Knowing the symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer is important, because this disease is often misdiagnosed as a breast infection like mastitis and can be treated for several months as such. That’s several months of lost time. If you think you have a breast infection, and ONE round of antibiotics does not clear it up within just a few weeks, ask your doctors for a referral to get additional tests.
Be your own best advocate; it may save your life.
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Are you aware that your friends can save your life?
Besides pinch hitting as babysitters, giving us opinions of how that purple skirt really looks and cheering us up when we have had yet another “one of those days”, having friends positively affects your health.
Clinical studies have definitively proven that social support improves the outcomes of cancer patients. They keep you positive, take care of your family, and occasionally pull you kicking and screaming through the whole experience.
But even more important, a study published in Cancer Prevention Research in October of 2009 clearly links the stress produced from isolation to increased mammary gland tumor growth. In plain speak: Having a tight group of friends may actually reduce your risk of developing breast cancer.
That sounds like a wonderful excuse for a Girl’s Night Out!
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When the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued guidelines in November that seemed to be leading the way for decreased coverage for breast cancer screening, women’s groups, doctors and imaging-equipment makers began putting pressure on lawmakers with angry calls and emails relating their confusion.
And Washington seems to be listening.
The Senate added an amendment from Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.) to its health-overhaul bill that effectively nullified the new guidelines and promised mammogram coverage for women starting at age 40. The House lawmakers voted unanimously for a resolution named for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.), a breast-cancer survivor, saying the task-force guidelines shouldn’t be used by insurers to deny coverage for routine mammograms. Negotiations are currently in progress to include these measures in the final healthcare bill.
Keep yelling , girls!
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