Can we talk boobs for a minute?

Gonna step up on my soapbox for a moment…

This picture right here👇…this is what pink October is about!

NOT save the tatas, NOT save the boobies, racks, udders, second base or whatever else you want to call breasts.

It’s about saving PEOPLE! Moms, sisters, daughters, aunts, cousins, friends and the thousands of women and the men (yes men get breast cancer too) who are affected by breast cancer every day!

So while the catch phrases are cute and catchy they perpetuate the idea that the goal is to save boobs not people.

Can we please change the narrative????

Because you know what? You can get new boobs but you can’t get a new life.

CHECK your tatas, boobies, racks, udders, second base…but SAVE the lives!!!

Okay???

And while we’re at it…can we please for the love call out all the companies out there who jump on the Pink bandwagon and yet continue using known cancer causing agents in their products??? I mean how irresponsible, hypocritical and shitty can they be? They will continue to do so until people call them to the mat for using a marketing campaign to bring awareness and of course sales and yet continue in their practice and production using the very things that can cause cancer!!!

Don’t get me started on the lack of choice for women for screenings…if I’m being proactive enough to choose to do a screening shouldn’t it be my choice which kind of screening I want to do for my boobs? I mean what kind of BS is that? Medical professionals shouldn’t harp on someone to get the screening done but then only allow one option. I am well educated and well informed. I can read the research and the studies and come to my own decision as a conscientious adult woman. Shouldn’t my choice of screening be covered by my insurance? And why aren’t physicians even willing to discuss options? For some women mammograms are not an effective screening tool. Period. So why force one procedure to be able to move onto an ultrasound or MRI? Why not just go straight to it knowing that your patient falls into those categories and that a mammogram isn’t the most reliable form of screening for breast cancer?

If you’re currently struggling with the screening issue and a provider that isn’t listening to you as a patient, please reach out. I’m happy to share links and resources. Please listen to that little voice that may be telling you this isn’t the right procedure or test for you. There are other viable alternatives!

I personally opted to pay out of pocket for thermography and my doctor agreed to an ultrasound for my screening. Not without a lot of back and forth and me being a stubborn mule about it.

And why oh why aren’t we teaching self exams early in life? Especially to girls who have a family history of breast cancer? Knowing how your breasts are supposed to look and feel is the first step to knowing if there is something that needs to be addressed. If we are going to teach sex education in school then we also need to teach our girls how to do self exams. They should know their own bodies! Ladies please teach the girls in your life. They need to know what their normal is so that they know when something doesn’t feel right.