THE 4th

My girlfriend and I have just come home from a weekend of family time with my sister, Kris, and her family, my father, my aunt and uncle (in from Mississippi), as well as my cousin's two children.  So to put that in numbers:  children-7; adults-7; dogs-2 (big dogs, too, no little yappers here!).

I tried to get a video interview with my sister, but the sound ended up way too low and you couldn't hear anything.  We will definitely try it again and get it dialed in for the next videos I will be posting, but there are a few "stills" below.  In our conversation, I talked with Kris about how and when she realized something was wrong.  I had never had a chance to ask before--so much going on at the beginning with doctors, surgery, hospital, etc.  This weekend we were finally able to sit down and talk.  The interview went something like this:

Daniel:
"Well, I've been meaning to ask you.  Did you do a self-check and feel a lump?  Or was it a doctor's visit and a mammogram that caught your cancer?"
Kris:

"I self-checked; I noticed something and went in to get it checked.  Initially, the doctor didn't think much of it, but ordered a mammogram to be sure." 

Some silence between us.

Kris:

"The mammogram was certain, though.  I had rarely done a self exam before this -- maybe a few times a year.  And I did not get my first mammogram until this one, when I was 41 years old.  I had no reason to suspect anything; I have none of the risk factors for getting cancer.  I have nursed 5 kids. I'm healthy.  I run.  We have no family history, on either side of the family."

Daniel:

"So looking back--do you believe that the self-check every month and for sure a mammogram before age 40 is a MUST?"

Kris:

"Absolutely.  I waited, and I should have gotten a mammogram much sooner.  It might not have changed the outcome of getting cancer, but the cancer might have been caught sooner, and my treatment might have been less harsh.  My cancer had spread to my lymph nodes, and if I had realized sooner, we might have been able to limit my treatment to just surgery.  My doctor told me that by the time you can feel a lump, it has been there for years.  A mammogram is the best way to see a lump as small and new as it can be, and catch it and treat it sooner."

So!!!!  For all of the women that might be reading this, the good advice from my sister would be to check yourself.  If you don't know how to do a self-exam, go to WebMD.com or the Komen web site - they both will show you how to do a thorough self-exam and tell you what to look for.

Everything that my sister told me was overwhelming.  I didn't know any of this until I asked, and I'm sure that the same is true for a lot of folks who have family and friends that have been affected by cancer. You may not have asked them how they knew, you may have been too scared to ask or too worried to listen. I understand.  I was both when I sat down with Kris and asked her to share.  I hope that our conversation might help others to be open to talking and therefore spreading awareness.