Dear Editor:
The new adage of “working smarter not harder,” with a little paraphrasing, can apply to the way we live as well. As a recent breast cancer survivor, I gratefully accept all the good wishes and thankful remarks from family, friends and the world at large about how “lucky” I was to have caught this killer in its early stage. But really, was I lucky, as in “dumb luck” lucky? Naaaah, I don’t think so.
Small bi-lateral malignancies were discovered during a “yearly, routine mammogram.” In other words, it was a business as usual appointment, like the kind you make annually to have your car serviced or your teeth cleaned. I would also note that there was no indication of cancer a year earlier; what a difference a year makes.
What I m not trying to do is induce fear in women, what I am doing is promoting vigilance. Fear is frequently blind, erratic and destructive, but vigilance is focused, in control and life saving and dare I say it, smart, not lucky, smart.
Now the woman who goes year after year without this exam and never gets breast cancer is lucky, very lucky indeed, like playing roulette. So ladies get those mammograms and do it yearly. Stay in control. Stay well and stay alive.
Jeannette Kronick