Trick or Treat

    Yes, I know Halloween hasn’t come yet, but stay with me here and hopefully this may make some sense.  October is breast cancer awareness month. Some of you might take advantage of the reduced cost mammograms, attend seminars, run in the Race For The Cure, or have no clue at all.  Unlike holidays, which we sometimes prepare for and celebrate, breast cancer is never welcome.  Breast cancer can occur practically at any age past puberty, although certainly women who have gone through menopause make up the majority of patients.  There will be around 200,000 people (yes, men can have breast cancer, too) diagnosed in 1997 in the United States alone, with cancer of the breast.
    Now a woman can trick herself into thinking that she is not at risk since no one in her family has ever had breast cancer, she is not overweight, has four healthy children, and would not let a saturated fat globule ever cross her lips.  However, I am going to be a killjoy and say that the large majority of women found to have breast cancer do not have any known risk factors!  Another trick is to think that the lump you have found in your breast that you have been “watching” is just going to disappear on its own.  Or, you can trick yourself into thinking mammograms are just too painful to do, and since the one you had five years ago was okay, why do you need another?
    Well, why not give yourself a treat?  Twelve trials have shown that women over the age of fifty who do correct breast cancer screening had a thirty percent reduction in the risk of dying.  Correct screening includes yearly mammograms after the age of forty, monthly self breast exams, and yearly exams by your doctor.  Other helpful things include reducing your dietary fat intake to no more than twenty percent of your total calories, and increasing the amount of fiber in your diet to at least 15-20 grams per day.
    None of these things are perfect or fool proof, and yes, someone can do all the right things and still get cancer.  However, an early cancer, found through routine screening and treated appropriately, offers very good chances of having you continue your normal quality and quantity of life.  Isn’t that the best treat we could have?