Sheryl Crow Shares her breast cancer story

[Mystic Rose]

http://health.yahoo.com/breastcancerawaren...waitget-checked

 

Taking Charge

Don't Wait - Get Checked

Posted by Sheryl Crow on Thu, Sep 28, 2006, 12:52 am PDT

 

I want to tell everyone a little bit about my cancer. I was diagnosed February 20th after a routine mammogram showed some calcifications in both breasts, which is not unusual for women my age.

 

However, when the mammogram showed signs that the calcifications might be forming a pattern, it was suggested by the radiologist that I come back in six months instead of a year. It was my OB/GYN, Nancy Goldman, who called and said, "Why wait six months. If this is anything, let's get a jump."

 

All this to say, yes, if I'd waited six months, who knows? Perhaps chemo, perhaps worse. We'll never know, but why not take the situation into your own hands and begin diligently getting mammograms or ultrasound?

 

The other aspect to this story is that if you have dense breasts such as mine, it can be virtually impossible to detect anything by a simple self examination.

 

That is why I feel so strongly about encouraging all women 35 and over to get yearly mammograms or if there is a history of cancer on either side of your family, not just breast but any cancer, that starting your yearly mammogram even earlier than 35 is recommended simply to create a baseline. Early detection is the best prevention.

 

I can't tell you how much your love, support, prayers, cards, letters, well wishes, and e-mails have meant to me during these last few months. I can safely say my life has changed in every way.

 

I feel keenly aware of how precious and fleeting life is, and I hope I will never forget what the experience has taught me...who I am, who I want to be, who I can never be again. It was a hard time but I'd rather have the really hard stuff than to never know what I know now.