Looking after my Lovely Lady Lumps...

This morning I took myself to The Epworth Centre in Richmond to have my annual breast check.  I was due for one and thought that since October is breast cancer awareness month, what better time to go?  Although I am quite young to be having annual breast checks, my GP encouraged me to start going to see a breast surgeon once a year due to my family history (my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 29- and has been cancer free for 20 years now Woot Woot!).


My breast surgeon is Miss Jane O'Brien and she is great!  Very friendly and chatty and makes you feel instantly at ease. 

She's also super stylish!
Because I am so young, I do not have mammograms or MRI's or any of that, I really just touch base with Jane and she touches me to make sure there are no lumps in my breasts!  After we got those formalities out of the way, I took the opportunity to ask Jane a few questions regarding breast health that affect all women.
How often should we be doing self exams and how does one do a self exam?  The answer is that there is no right/wrong way to do it, and there is no set time in particular to do it, but what Jane told me is that now the focus is more on being "Breast Aware".  Really, just knowing your breasts, how they feel and what they look like.  The more familiar you are with your body, the easier it is to notice a change if there is one.  Makes sense doesn't it?
I asked Jane a really important question to me.  Is breast cancer hereditary?  She told me not necessarily.  About 75% of breast cancer is sporadic, it can present itself in anybody.  Around 20% is hereditary, that is you have a predisposition but no presence of abnormal genes and the remaining 5% or thereabouts is genetic.  That is, you do possess the abnormal gene.  This makes me feel much better, because the odds are in my favour! 
She also destroyed a MAJOR MYTH that's running around out there.  That underwire bras give you cancer.  Ok, it's not true.  I asked breast surgeon Miss Jane O'Brien MBBS FRACS and she told me there is no substance to that myth whatsoever.  Someone with that many letters after their name can't be wrong!  Great!  So from now on when you go to see your bra fitter, you do not need to be worried about underwire bras.  Just be worried about getting one that fits you correctly!
Just while we're on myth's of breast cancer, same goes for anti-perspirant deodorant.  It does not contribute in any way to breast cancer.  They even did a study on that!  Leave that one behind with the underwire bras ok ladies?
The Epworth Centre Breast Service is a really pleasant environment to find yourself in.  The other staff members are lovely, it does not feel like a hospital, nor does it smell like one.  It has the best range of fashion magazines I have seen outside a newsagency, and beautiful artwork and flowers too.

If I didn't have to get to work, I would have stayed around a while longer to catch up on the latest trends in VOGUE. 
Jane suggests that for people who do not have a strong family history or predisposition to breast cancer, going for a yearly check up from the age of 40 is perfectly reasonable.  But when the experience is as comfortable as this, I'm not sure why you would want to wait until you're 40!
Happy Bra Blogging x