Here is the Daisy Wheel at the opening night of Much Ado About Nothing this summer at The Public Theatre. I had wanted to go to Shakespeare in the Park for my whole life. I finally got there this summer with my older daughter. I remember the first trips I made by myself to NYC and how exciting it was and a bit daunting I have to admit. Even when I was living in the thick of LA the energy in NY would take a bit of getting used to. I always felt that when I walked out of the hotel the first day there I was jumping into the deep end of the pool.
So today will be short and sweet–My thought is –there are things to fear and things not to fear. We don’t want to go to the dentist but our tooth hurts so we go. We really don’t want to hear that we have a cavity but then it gets fixed and we are okay. We brush our teeth and floss and take better care. Are we scared to brush? No, I have never been scared to brush. Am I scared they will find a cavity? Yes but I am more scared of losing my tooth!
Was I scared to do breast self exam? Not really. I was “wigged out” by the feeling and all the different textures that were inside my breasts. And I didn’t really know what I was doing when I started. I had to ask for instruction. But I still did the BSE, not all the time but several times a year. In my case it might not have mattered had I done a self exam in May. In April nothing had been evident. In June it was so big that my hand brushed my breast and found the lump. What did matter was that I knew it wasn’t normal. Because I knew what was. I encourage all women and men to do their self exam once a month so you will know what is normal and also because I know that if we shoot for once a month maybe we will do it 10 times a year.
So do your BSE. And don’t fear it. BSE isn’t scary.
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