Health & Wellness! We Want Our Queens, Healthy & Well! The importance of Breast Cancer Awareness!

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS & EARLY DETECTION

Breast Cancer Warriors

Breast Cancer Awareness and Early Detection Month is a yearly campaign that intends to educate people about the importance of early screening, tests, and more. This campaign starts on October 1 and ends on October 31 every year. NBCAM was founded in October of 1985 as a partnership between the American Cancer Society and the pharmaceutical division of Imperial Chemical Industries (now part of AstraZeneca, producer of several anti-breast cancer drugs).

The aim of the NBCAM from the start has been to promote mammography as the most effective weapon in the fight against breast cancer. (Courtesy of Wikipedia) Early detection is important because when abnormal tissue or cancer is found early, it may be easier to treat.

By the time symptoms appear, cancer may have begun to spread and be harder to treat. Several screening tests have been shown to detect cancer early and to reduce the number of fatalities. Early diagnosis improves cancer outcomes by providing care at the earliest possible stage and is therefore an important public health strategy in all settings.

For some common cancer types, such as cervical, colorectal, lung, and breast cancer, clinical trials have shown that early screening does save lives. Early detection of breast cancer is important as it is associated with an increased number of available treatment options, increased survival, and improved quality of life. While there is no definitive method of preventing breast cancer, early detection provides the best chance of effective treatment.

EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF BREAST CANCER

With so many women being diagnosed with breast cancer unexpectedly, it's important to be aware and proactive with this disease and it's important to get checked out. You don't have to wait until your yearly OB/GYN EXAM, check yourself out now and get checked out! Empowered Women Empower!

Symptoms and early warning signs of breast cancer include:

1. Skin changes, such as swelling, redness, or other visible differences in one or both breasts

2. An increase in size or change in the shape of the breast(s)

3. Changes in the appearance of one or both nipples

4. Nipple discharge other than breast milk

5. General pain in/on any part of the breast

6. Lumps or nodes felt on or inside of the breast

The list goes on and on. There are at least 6 or more breast cancer-type symptoms including male breast cancer symptoms according to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. If you're anything like me, I'm guilty of running to the internet for self-diagnosis. There are so many websites to help you figure out what ale's you. However, I'm smart enough to know that the internet is not the final answer, especially when you know something is just not right. Some illnesses either major or minor mimic other illnesses so it's always best to make an appointment to see a doctor, the experts will determine whether something you notice is cause for concern, and if there is, they will be able to treat it right away.

SELF-BREAST EXAM CHECK

Use a firm, smooth touch with the first few finger pads of your hand, keeping the fingers flat and together. Use a circular motion, about the size of a quarter. Cover the entire breast from top to bottom, side to side from your collarbone to the top of your abdomen, and from your armpit to your cleavage. Check your breast as often as you can and don't skip yearly exams. ​ ​ For more information regarding breast cancer symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment, please visit...…. https://www.cancercenter.com/cancer-types/breast-cancer/symptoms

Anti-Depression

A Queen's mental well-being is very important. Fight hard to stay afloat, get help, and let the healing begin with my anti-depression suggestions.

What does depression feel like? Depression feels like you're sinking in quicksand, no more like drowning. Yeah, that's better, it feels like drowning; why, because no matter how hard you swim to save your life, you can't because your arms are tired and the currents keep pulling you in. The shore is right there and you can see it, and everyone you love is screaming out, you can make it! Keep swimming, but you don't, instead; you drown. You simply give up and drown. Depression sucks, it makes you cry, it makes you sad, and it fills your mind with worry and hopelessness. Thoughts of suicide become real when depression takes over your ability and will to live.

What does depression look like? Does it look like that woman lying in the bed in the picture below? How do you know if you or your loved one is depressed? This is how. When you can't get out of bed, and you're canceling plans and missing days from work just to lay in bed. Your house is a mess, everything is in chaos in your life, or maybe you're hanging out and binge drinking, getting drunk to oblivion. When your body aches, you can't focus and can't eat or overeat. When you have many sleepless nights and worry about everything. Anxiety kicks into overdrive, and you cry at the drop of a hat. You think the world is against you, and you feel like a loser. You hate yourself and you feel unloved. You look in the mirror and think you're the ugliest person in the world, but through it all, you still show up for work while taking care of the kids and your partner.

Instead of making yourself happy, you make everyone else happy, and instead of taking care of yourself, you take care of everyone else. You wear a smile on your face in public, but inside you're dying. This is the hallmark card of depression. Depression comes from so many things in life. To name a few, PTSD/Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, situational depression, and chemical imbalance. You can have everything in the world, be the best-looking person on the block, and have a wonderful family and friends who treat you like a Queen. However, none of that matters, because depression constantly keeps your mind repeating negative thoughts.

Negative thoughts can get louder, louder, and unbearable. You may say people with depression are crazy, well they're not. They're mentally ill and need help and a cure. They can get help, but a cure, there might not be one. Medication, therapy, meditation, and prayer are all great remedies until they no longer work. Bouts of depression are just that, they come and go and are brought on by triggers. Loved ones walk on pins and needles because they want to treat them the same as others but with kit gloves on. Is it hard to care for someone who's mentally ill? Yes, it can be. They have working parts, they're smart but broken and unpredictable, and they can be scary at times. You don't know if they'll hurt you, others, or themselves.

Some mentally ill people are cutter's and suicidal. A cutter is someone who cuts certain parts of their body to redirect the pain they feel in their head and heart. Someone who is suicidal takes their own life or makes attempts to. In some cases, they take others with them. Sad but true. I have suffered from depression most of my life, and I've even made attempts to end my life. So I ask you again, what does depression look like? It looks like me or the person sitting next to you. You never know who's fighting a never-ending battle in their head. Never judge a book by its cover. Never judge anyone who suffers from depression, instead get them help, support and love them, and appreciate their existence. Depressed lives matter!

Believe In Yourself Because The Best Gift Is You!

God is the best gift to our world, and our parents are the best gift to us, and you are the best gift to your parents, and to the world. When I say parents, I mean your caregivers who love, nurture, and provide for you. The ones you look up to and the ones you love the most. No matter what you are going through, you are the best gift to them, and it would break their heart to see you broken and unhappy. It would hurt them to know that you think you don't matter when you do.

Life is hard, I know, and some people have no one to love them. I want you to know today, above all else, that your Father in heaven loves you, he created you in his image, and he watches you, comforts you, and protects you. You just have to be open to the process and believe and receive it. Your mind is a beautiful thing to waste, your beautiful mind and your beautiful self have so much to offer the world. Hang in there my beloved, soon you will see that you matter, and you are God's gift to the world! You are a Queen, and no matter what, show up as your highest self and believe and receive that! Be well with my anti-depression suggestions!

IF YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW IS SUFFERING FROM DEPRESSION OR HAVING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, PLEASE GET HELP NOW!

Help is available. Contact your local therapist, minister, or someone you can trust. There are available resources online or speak with a counselor today at The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

HANG IN THERE, BRIGHTER DAYS ARE COMING!

To read my story and to learn more, CLICK THE BELOW LINK

https://www.todaysqueenlifeandstyle.com/post/what-is-mental-illness-and-what-does-mental-illness-look-like

Melanoma Skin Cancer Survivor

Maura McGee

Hello, my fellow cancer warriors. My name is Maura McGee from the UK. In March 2015, I was terminally diagnosed with stage 3, advanced melanoma skin cancer, and was told I had three months to live. With so many things going on in my life, I had to build resilience. I needed to dig deep and fight no matter how hard it got, and it was hell, but my biggest inspiration was the love I had for my Mum. She saved my life, along with multiple surgeries and clinical trials I was placed in by Bupa Health Insurance which I received while working for Saab.

Although I no longer work for them, I am thankful that I landed the job due to my previous work experience while residing in Virginia. At the roughest times in my life, something always turns up. My Mum said I was born aware, but I think it is called faith. Given the brutal early life my Mum endured and; survived and the domino effect it had on us. I refused to die on her watch. I refuse to let that happen because she has suffered enough.

Cancer does not discriminate, and in some way, it affects everyone you know and love. In 2021, I lost a beautiful friend in VA just before Christmas. Another Theresa, better known as Mother T. At only 40 years of age and with a teenage son, battled cancer for 13 years and then lost the battle within weeks. It devastated me. She was one of our tribes!

Having lost my Mum to cancer in October of 2019, who was my best friend, her dog Gizmo, who was 17 and a half, and my sister in September of 2020, all within 18 months of my Mums passing, I can say I have been in a dark, dark place, but I feel like I am coming back to the light. I owe it to my Mum, my sister sitting in the picture next to me, and all the cancer patients. They were taken away early from this life, where we live, love, and feel everything. When you have lost a loved one, grief is an extraordinary feeling that will stay for a lifetime.

Anyone with cancer will tell you that fighting this battle is hard, and many people will quit the clinical trial. I hung right in there and allowed them to give me higher doses. However, they had to stop because it was making my body highly toxic, but it worked just enough to keep me in remission. I go to bed and wake up every day, thanking the universe, God, the moon, and Mother Mary. My life is full of the two ‘Tudes,’ Attitude and Gratitude. The only way to survive this life is to have hope and; faith and to find happiness through it all; you will need an abundance of both.

Please see below the pics from the surgeries that I had. Malignant melanoma skin cancer KILLS.! There is still no cure for advanced melanoma, and your survival depends on intrusive surgeries and clinical trial drugs, which can leave you with life-changing side effects. If you are lucky, they will extend your survival rate, but at some point, it will wake up and start to spread again. My groin had to be reopened five months after my first operation to remove all the lymph nodes. Not fun.!! PLEASE use a factor 50 sunscreen with UVA & UVB filters, especially on your children and teenagers. I have never shared my melanoma pictures, but I hope it helps bring awareness of the damage the sun can cause.

You can tan, but please do not burn yourself until your skin is red. Tan slowly, it could save your life…..!