Trusting Tuesday: Self Breast Exams

Where would we be if we didn't talk about self breast exams in the month of October?

As a certified nurse midwife I teach self breast exams every day to young and older women alike. I teach it to pregnant women, nursing mothers, menopausal women, and adolescents. I also do breast exams every day on my patients. I explain to them what I am feeling, how I am feeling it and what do we do from here.

*Thankfully* I have never found something that turned out to be breast cancer. yet.

Multiple biopsies, ultrasounds, and follow ups, but nothing yet.
But guess what? I need your help. As a practitioner I can't find everything. Mammograms can't find everything. Who knows your body the best? YOU DO! You are the one who is ultimately responsible for your body. You are the one who lives with yourself and your breasts every day. You are the one who has the ability to do a self breast exam monthly.

I don't care who says you should or shouldn't do self breast exams. If there was something wrong with my body I would want to be the one who finds it first, I don't want to rely blindly on something (mammogram) or someone (practitioner) who isn't able to compare my breasts to what they were last month.

So please, please, please, learn how to do a self breast exam, do your self breast exams, and if that little voice inside your head says something isn't right. Trust it. Get it checked out. Please.

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