Log in to your account.
Editorial
Ladies, this October, take time for yourselves!
Thursday October 20, 2011 | By:Jessie Owen, Journal editor
Twitter
email
comments(0)
Yes, it’s fall, and yes, it’s beautiful. The trees have turned, the air has become nippy and we’re all happily enjoying cider and pumpkin pie.
But there is a serious side to the month of October. This is breast cancer awareness month - a reminder for ladies of all ages to take a moment out for themselves and for their health.
Breast cancer is the No. 3 cancer killer in the United States. I found out, when I sat down with Bertrand Chaffee Hospital Radiologist Anne Ehrlich (read the story on Page 1), that the best and only way to truly approach breast cancer proactively is to have it detected early.
That means keeping up with your monthly self exams, as well as your (if you are older than 40 or younger than that with a family history of breast cancer) yearly mammograms.
For daughters, that means reminding mom to step away from her busy life to care for herself. For the moms out there, that means calling up your daughter to encourage her to get to the doctor.
It’s true that we are all sisters in this fight, and we need to help each other and help ourselves. Our lifestyle goes a long way toward our overall health. I’m preaching to the choir when I say that we all need to be more careful about what we eat, increase our exercise and make sure, as Dr. Ehrlich stressed, to do everything in moderation. There is a huge list of things that can increase a woman’s chances of breast cancer: smoking, being overweight, taking hormone replacement therapy for a long time and much more.
If changes need to be made in our lifestyles, that should happen sooner rather than later. Ladies, your families need you and want you around for a long time. Taking care of yourselves will help you take care of them.
I appreciate a recent letter-writer to Hamburg’s The Sun, who pointed out - and rightly so - that other cancers should be focused upon just as much as breast cancer is, and that some of them get left behind.
November is lung cancer awareness month, January is cervical cancer awareness month, February is national cancer prevention month, and so forth. All cancers are dangerous and they all need to be eradicated. Support cancer awareness and research and take care of your health. You know what they say: You abuse it, you lose it.
But there is a serious side to the month of October. This is breast cancer awareness month - a reminder for ladies of all ages to take a moment out for themselves and for their health.
Breast cancer is the No. 3 cancer killer in the United States. I found out, when I sat down with Bertrand Chaffee Hospital Radiologist Anne Ehrlich (read the story on Page 1), that the best and only way to truly approach breast cancer proactively is to have it detected early.
That means keeping up with your monthly self exams, as well as your (if you are older than 40 or younger than that with a family history of breast cancer) yearly mammograms.
For daughters, that means reminding mom to step away from her busy life to care for herself. For the moms out there, that means calling up your daughter to encourage her to get to the doctor.
It’s true that we are all sisters in this fight, and we need to help each other and help ourselves. Our lifestyle goes a long way toward our overall health. I’m preaching to the choir when I say that we all need to be more careful about what we eat, increase our exercise and make sure, as Dr. Ehrlich stressed, to do everything in moderation. There is a huge list of things that can increase a woman’s chances of breast cancer: smoking, being overweight, taking hormone replacement therapy for a long time and much more.
If changes need to be made in our lifestyles, that should happen sooner rather than later. Ladies, your families need you and want you around for a long time. Taking care of yourselves will help you take care of them.
I appreciate a recent letter-writer to Hamburg’s The Sun, who pointed out - and rightly so - that other cancers should be focused upon just as much as breast cancer is, and that some of them get left behind.
November is lung cancer awareness month, January is cervical cancer awareness month, February is national cancer prevention month, and so forth. All cancers are dangerous and they all need to be eradicated. Support cancer awareness and research and take care of your health. You know what they say: You abuse it, you lose it.
more stories
Editorial: What you have to say about it
The letters to the editor we print every week allow you, our readers, to give...
Let’s talk about (but not during) executive session
I had the privilege of attending the New York Press Association’s annual spring...
ADD A COMMENTBe the first to Comment
