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A few weeks ago I lost a very valuable person in my life, she was my coworker, friend and a kind of mother. Over the years I ended up calling her ‘Mommy’. This time she couldn’t beat breast cancer. One way to defend and prevent ourselves is by performing a self-examination at home and the corresponding annual mammograms from the age of 40 and every three years in women aged 20-30. The best time is seven days after the start of the period.
Self-examination at home is recommended from the age of 20, once a month. The first part should be done lying down so that the breast tissue spreads, another part of the self-examination is standing in front of a mirror to detect changes in the appearance of our chest, and the third part is standing with the arm raised to the side , as this position allows us to better check the armpit area. If we notice any irregularity in any of the parts of the self-examination, we should not panic. Sometimes, the lumps are due to infections, chest injuries, non-cancerous growths, or small cysts that contain fluid and that change in size during the menstrual cycle, but ultimately, if we notice any change in our breasts, we should go to the consultation of our gynecologist as soon as possible to discard and find out what it is about.
The primary goal of breast self-examination is to become familiar with the appearance and texture of the breast. We must know our body perfectly, it will be easier to detect any change, no matter how small. We have to learn step by step to perform the self-examination, although we must remember that it does not replace the examination of our doctor or the mammogram. Other signs to look out for are pain in a breast that is not linked to the menstrual period, swelling, a rise in temperature and redness, and bloody fluid from the nipples.
Many of us are patients at risk due to family history, in my case due to my maternal grandmother, a cancer survivor thanks to self-examination. This is another factor to take into account, no matter the ethnic origin, we are all at risk, although some more than others, therefore the detection and prevention begins by ourselves from home. Let’s learn to do self-exploration.
DEP Mommy ‘M’, thank you for your unconditional love and support and above all for making me see what I was capable of seeing in myself.
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