Mackenzie Crowe- Author, mother, wife, daughter, friend and most of all Surviror!

Without any wasted words, Mac says it all...

Taking care of the Ta-Tas.

October is breast cancer awareness month which means you won’t be able to go anywhere without seeing pink ribbons and the airwaves will pulse with public service announcements touting the value of early detection, or fund raiser announcements. Women everywhere will be hypersensitive to the subject of breast health, but all too soon, the walks will be history and the ribbons will fade. November looms just around the bend and with it, the rush and bustle of the holiday season.

If you’re anything like me, your day to day life resembles a race, a mad dash from one deadline to another. It’s easy to be swept along by the chaos and forget all about those life saving messages breast cancer awareness month delivers. Don’t let that happen. I’m here to tell you, early detection is the key to avoiding the worst ravages of a breast cancer battle.

I can say this because I am a survivor and so is my sister, and a cousin as well, and yet, the differences in our treatment plans was chasm wide. Sure, all three of us experienced double mastectomies and reconstruction, but that’s where the similarities ended. At stage III, I had no choice but to throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at my diagnosis, if I wanted to survive. Thankfully, my sister and cousin caught the disease early, and though their treatment protocols weren’t a walk in the park, their stage I diagnoses didn’t require they discover the joys of chemotherapy and radiation. I wasn’t so lucky, and that’s partially my fault.

You know that game you played as a child, where you threw a beanbag across the distance, to drop through a hole in a section of wood? My breasts had the consistency of one of those beanbags. I’d found a number of questionable lumps over the years, all of which had proven to be simply cystic clusters. Having had enough of the pattern of panic and relief, I quit doing self-exams and relied entirely on yearly mammograms. As it turned out, that was not one of my finer decisions.

 If I could go back and change one thing in my life, it would be those damn self-exams. Feeling yourself up once a month is such a simple thing and yet the benefits are beyond measure. So, do me a favor. Find yourself a Bosom Buddy. Call up your sister, mother, cousin or girlfriend and make a pledge to remind each other to check those ta-tas. Pick a day and put it on your monthly schedule. Set the alarm on your phone (yep, there is an app for that) and when it rings each month, give yourself a life saving massage! 

And if you need a bit more inspiration, here’s a hunky…er, informative video to help you out. Your Man Reminder.

Take care of those ta-tas, ladies! 

You can read about our family’s brush with breast cancer in my newly released guide to navigating the breast cancer abyss with humor and hope. Where Would You Like Your Nipple? Is available in e-format at Amazon and in print at Createspace.

And don’t forget to stop by and say hi at my home on the web. Mackenziecrowne.com