Pay attention to your breasts
Would you know it if a pimple appears on your face? Of course you will! Let’s say a pimple (also known as zit or blackhead) comes to take position on your nose. You will immediately notice it in the mirror. A pimple might invite stares from both friends and foes. You will feel it with your fingers as you polish your face with pomade or powder. Some pimples may take the posture of a boil as if it is an occupying force. But a pimple may just be a spot or blemish on the face. Since it is our faces that we present to the world, we have zero tolerance for blemishes on them.
But there is another body part that has gotten my full attention for the past 27 years. It is the breast! Yes, breasts! Some people consider the breast as a private part so abide by an unspoken rule to remain mute about it. For some, the word breast belongs in the category of bad words because of its obvious sexual association. But what you do not know can hurt it; it can even kill you because a breast can become diseased. That is why we must have a conversation about breasts—your breasts; my breasts!
KNOW YOUR OWN BREASTS
Breasts come in various sizes and shapes. Breasts are beautiful! Breasts are tender! Some look like fruits. But such tender beautiful parts of the body can cause so much grief when diseased. Just like fingerprints and the veins at the back of hands differ, breasts also differ. Even two breasts of the same person differ. If you know the contours and pimples on your face, then it is equally or more important to know the texture and contours of your own breasts. Your breasts are your own—regardless of what else you do with them. They belong exclusively to you and you alone.
You can only know your breasts through regular self-breast examination. This knowledge should not be limited to what your breasts look like in the mirror—in an orgy of self-admiration. Breast knowledge should be about the make-up and build-up of the inner tissues. Specifically, you should know which parts of each breast are heavier; and the position of the inner texture that feels unusually denser than other parts. When you know your breasts like a close friend, then you will notice changes that appear either suddenly or those that develop over time.
You do this exam by methodically pressing your fingers on every part of the breast including the armpit area to examine the lymph nodes. You should examine each breast from top to bottom and from side to side, including the nipples. This examination may be done by standing in front of a mirror (in your birthday suit), in the bath, or lying down. You may not be a doctor but through self-breast exam, you get the chance to play doctor to yourself at least once every month. This is a way to take charge of your own breast health. If you notice anything unusual during the self-examination, you should inform a medical doctor to explore the matter further for, and with you.
Some people feel very shy to mention the word breast, let alone to touch them. But how are you going to detect an unusual lump in your breast if you are so shy about it that you view them as mere decorations on your chest, which are to be used only for periodic gratification? These important members of your chest region deserve regular tender loving attention. We should individually come to terms with this particular body part—the tender fruits on our chests. Because breasts are tender, we must take informed care of them.
It is only when you know these tender members of your body that you will notice an unusual lump or tumour develop. Some lumps in the breast could be a symptom of cancer. A statement from Johns Hopkins Medical Centre, a prestigious American medical research institution is instructive. It states: “Forty percent of diagnosed breast cancers are detected by women who feel a lump, so establishing a regular breast self-exam is very important.”
Both women and men have breasts. Grown women have larger breasts and tend to report most cases of breast diseases including cancer. But some men have impressive breasts too; some are almost the size of grapefruits, similar to what female teenagers have. So not surprisingly, a small percentage of men report breast cancer. Men must therefore also do self-breast examinations.
CONFESSIONS ARE GOOD FOR THE SOUL
Having written this column for 12 years, I cannot help but periodically get into a self-disclosive mode. Fact: I am not writing this article from a detached perspective. To wholeheartedly establish sincerity with you my reader—I admit that for the past 27 years, I have periodically found lumps in my breasts; and in 2014, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a mastectomy to remove one of my breasts.
The first time I found lumps in my breast was in 1991. And periodically, without any warning, a lump appears. My lumps are the painful types; they call for my full attention and stop me cold in my tracks. They begin with sudden almost gut-wrenching pains. At the onset of the pain, I quickly touch the heated breast to look for the lump, and lo and behold, it will be there—lumpy and painful. Each time I have found a fresh lump, I have gone into periods of full-blown panic attacks for fear of the unknown—cancer.
Very early on when I first had the painful lumpy breast experience (while living in another country), doctors examined me thoroughly and diagnosed me with fibrocystic breast condition. Every doctor I have seen since then (both in Ghana and abroad) on my painful lumpy breast condition have exclaimed: “You have pains! That’s good. If you didn’t have pains, I will be more worried because it could be cancer!” But unfortunately, in 2014, when a breast lump appeared with the same heated and painful symptoms, it turned up to be a cancer. I continue to be eternally vigilant, taking care of my remaining breast.
SO WHAT NEXT? MAMMOGRAM AND ULTRA SOUND
When in doubt of what the situation is with your breast, go to a health centre to do a mammogram and ultra sound. If you’re wondering what a mammogram is, it is simply an x-ray examination of the breast. So if you are diagnosed with breast cancer, then what? Well, you panic big-time, pray a lot, but cultivate hope for life and living. But what do you do when you’ve done all that you can? Give up or stand? Please stand! Lump or no lump in your breast, benign or cancerous breast tissue, live life as best as you can for after all, no one will live forever.
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