[v-ness]

what do you mean by 'scaring women into self exams'? i am confused. cancer is scary, no matter how you try to reason with women to perform self exams at any age, it will come off as 'scaring' because of that. we *should* be doing self exams! we should be taking that responsibility and being pro-active instead of complaining about the medical community. i did a speech last year and 'scared' some young women present by telling them they should start self exams now, no time is too young. breast cancer diagnoses are happening younger and younger all the time. i have a friend whose daughter was diagnosed in her 20's. the majority of my friends in my online support groups were under 40. my niece died of it at age 39. if people need to be scared straight, in my opinion, they should be scared into taking care of themselves too. it may not stop them from getting cancer, but it can sure make a difference in when it's discovered, especially when you have tools of early diagnosis. my boyfriend skipped his 10 yr colonoscopy. at 12 yrs, he was diagnosed stage 4 colon cancer. i wish i'd scared him into getting his colonoscopy 2 yrs earlier. it could have made all the difference in the world.

i'm not sure i have PTSD from having breast cancer myself, but i certainly have it from watching my husband and mom die of cancer and fretting over my boyfriend's cancer and my newly diagnosed friend. i found it a lot easier to have it myself than to watch those around me suffer from it and worry who's next. i hear people say that women are 'made' to get mammograms they don't really need and i just want to scream at the ignorance. mammograms and self exams are exactly how most of my friends (including myself) discovered our breast cancers.