Breast Cancer Awareness Month - what does it really mean?

2 October 2019

Attention, boob owners everywhere!

Yeah, yeah we know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Everyone is sharing soft pink ribbon posts and affirmations about being “breast aware”. 

But guess what? It’s not enough! 

Have a look at these photos, look closely at my mastectomy scar and you’ll see why. 

In 2019, it is estimated that 19,371 Australian women and 164 Australian men will be diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s an average of 53 diagnoses each day and on Thursday 11 April this year, I was one of those 53 people. 

Breast cancer awareness is not about “checking your breasts” or performing a monthly self-examination of your boobs. Not even your GP or health professional can perform a manual breast examination and tell for certain that you don’t have breast cancer. 

I’ll explain why: Some breast cancers are not able to be detected by feeling lumps or seeing external skin changes. The type of breast cancer that infiltrated my E cup right breast was DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) which grows in the milk ducts - silently and unnoticeable. You can see the DCIS breast cancer on the mammogram films below (the cancer cells look like grains of white sand). 

Interestingly there was no trace of DCIS in my left breast. DCIS usually remains contained within the milk ducts, however I’m told that I’m one of several unusual cases because the DCIS had escaped my milk ducts and entered two lymph nodes (one affected lymph node is visible on the mammogram films above). This is the reason why chemotherapy and radiation are part of my treatment program. 

The only way a person can know if they have DCIS breast cancer is by having a mammogram or ultrasound. I was 41 years-old when DCIS was detected via mammogram. Who knows how long it had been growing and spreading in my breast? Weeks...months…years? 

My stage of breast cancer was detected early and it was classified as treatable. I was screened in March 2019 and my breast surgeon told me that if I hadn’t had the mammogram when I did, the cancer would have continued to grow and spread further into my lymph nodes and potentially other parts of my body. She said that I would have eventually felt a lump or pain/soreness. She said that in six to 12 months’ time, the words “early and treatable” would have been replaced with references to “advanced and aggressive”, potentially changing the prognosis for successful treatment and recovery. 

These days when I play the “IF ONLY” game in my head, I usually come up with pointless statements such as “If only I had booked a mammogram last year or the year before”. I will never know if becoming a uniboober could have been avoided. I will also never know if I could have done anything to prevent the cancer in the first place (e.g. worked harder to maintain a healthy weight range, been stricter about avoiding possible carcinogens, actively reduced stress levels and so on). 

At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter. What matters to me is getting the message out there to encourage breast screening via mammogram or ultrasound. 

In Australia, women aged 40 and older are eligible for FREE mammogram screening (contact BreastScreen Australia or the BreastScreen service in your state). There are currently more than 500 free screening locations including mobile screening units covering rural and remote areas across Australia. Breast screening is also available through privately operated clinics (cost range from about $100 to $250).

If you’re aged 39 or younger, you can still request screening however mammograms are often less reliable for women under 40 years of age (the density of breast tissue in younger women often makes it difficult to detect cancers on mammograms). 

Another thing you can do is share the message about mammograms far and wide. Talk to your besties, mother, sisters, aunties, mother-in-law, grandmothers, daughters, wife, girlfriend or any other woman who needs a nudge to book a mammogram. 

I’m not forgetting the men out there, though. Symptoms of breast cancer in men can include a breast lump, thickening of the breast tissue, dimpling of the skin of the breast, change in shape of the breast or nipple, discharge from the nipple, painful areas or swollen lymph nodes in the armpit area. If you know a bloke who has any of these symptoms, please ask them to see their GP (tests for diagnosing breast cancer in men include mammography, breast ultrasound and biopsy). 

Thank you to everyone who shares this important message during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.