While sitting in the lobby of my hospital's MRI center on Friday -- time for the annual breast MRI -- I found myself a bit irritated by an appointment mix-up that kept me waiting much too long for a procedure that in and of itself is no real treat.As I waited to bare my breasts and dangle them through square cut-outs on an MRI table, I flipped through a few ancient magazines -- why are lobby offerings so old? -- and as is usually the case when I read just about any publication, out jumped some cancer news.
So maybe the wait was worth it. Without it, I wouldn't have found this enlightening bit of information, this thought for today.
Now I warn you -- this item I am about to share comes from an October 2005 issue of Parenting magazine, so it's a bit outdated. But it still holds some truth. And if you remember nothing else from this message, I hope you'll take to heart this one lesson -- women tend to overestimate their chances of developing breast cancer.
Think about this:
- 46%: What women estimate is their lifetime risk of getting breast cancer
- 13%: Their actual risk
1. I was quite the opposite. I never thought I would get breast cancer. I had absolutely no risk factors and no cancer whatsoever on either side of my family as far as I know. They ate more beef than I did, smoked more, drank more and got various other ailments which I felt I was at risk for, but not cancer.
I am now in the middle of treatment and sometimes wonder what the hell did I get into to cause this. Was it the bisphenol A's in the plastics, the pesticides on the fruit and veggies or the hormones they now put in the beef. Maybe it was in the makeup I used as a teenager or the makeup I use now. Perhaps all the stress I've been under for the past 10 years at least. Or maybe it was the all the fuel I handled in the gas industry as a truck driver before changing careers.
The problem with not knowing why or how, is we could be creating a new situation all over again.
Thanks for the article, the stats were a surprise.
jan
Posted at 12:02AM on Mar 13th 2007 by jan