Demand Your Life Preserver!
We are so close to the end of Breast Cancer Awareness month that I can almost taste it… that would be Halloween. Pink ribbons, orange pumpkins: it is a world of color right now.
We are so close to the end… oh that it were so close to the end of breast cancer!
Nancee and I stood outside in September on a cool blustery night. Our hair was zipping this way and that. We both relished in the idea that we were having a wild hair moment. We both had been without any hair… evidence there was no such thing as a bad hair day for us. Survivors know this.
Both of us stood with baby fine tresses, a bit gray. Haven’t you heard that hair comes back luxuriously thick and deep colored? pshaw
When a mammogram smacks your brain with some bad cells highlighted, this is your time to scream and demand attention. Patience at this moment is not your friend. Grab the phone, call your friends, find some doctors. Imagine that this person is going to save your life… you are not just a patient… but a drowning soul, and the doc has the life preserver, and YOU WANT IT.
Recognize that you will be assertive. You will speak out about fears. You need someone to graphically explain preparations, tests, complications and procedures.
You are NOT TO BE ANOTHER PATIENT…. not just another patient. If you doc tells you this is what he or she do for all their patients… RUN, slam the door, hightail it out, beat feet to your vehicle and grab your soul mate who is running with you and look ‘deer in the headlights’ at each other and contact another physician… or two.
The difference? I cannot be certain, but my sweet, sweet Nancee would not ruffle any one’s ridges… Nancee accepted what would happen to be ‘what will happen’. Doctor ‘A’ was who she saw first… and last.
October, breast cancer month is all but over, and Nancee is gone.
I truly believed that the cure was here. My heart told me that we are good as gold.
Nancee is wearing a golden crown in heaven. She touched more lives than pink ribbons fly.
As the month closes, and our awareness of the cure dims, be wary. Keep vigilant. Demonstrate that when life says trick or treat… and that mammogram is tricky. Breath deep. You are/will be a survivor and you need an advocate with you on every step of the way. Wave that life preserver over your head like a trophy.. you will have earned it!byDeborahonWednesday, October 26, 2011
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