I have to admit that I've found October to be an oddly painful month for the last few years.
October brings constant reminders, everywhere I look, about a disease that has permeated and effected my family for far too long. I also find it irritating that we still don't talk as freely about the other cancers that effect women.
Most people reading here don't know that September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month, just as October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. In September you scarcely hear about ovca. You definitely don't walk into a Hallmark store and see teal candles on a special display. You don't get offered a teal bracelet for an extra two bucks at your local discount shoe chain. Your favorite oil change place doesn't donate a buck for every customer in Sept. to ovca research...
I hope to one day see that.
After all- look how far we have come with breast cancer.
We remind each other to do our monthly self exams.. We remind each other to get our mammograms.. We have programs in place so that women without insurance can get those mammograms.
Not too many years ago, people did not even say the word "cancer" out loud.
October now brings in-your-face reminders about breast cancer everywhere you look. I hope someday we are as open about all cancers.
This year, October has been very different for me. I woke up, after a bilateral mastectomy, to a roomful of flowers adorned with pink ribbons. Many of the tags from the florists had messages saying that some money from all orders in Oct. is donated for breast cancer research. These tags are applied to all arrangements- the florist never knowing who is on the receiving end and why....
If wearing pink every day for the rest of my life would guarantee a cure for cancer I would do it.
But it's not the wearing of pink or a pink ribbon magnet on the back of your mini-van. It's the fact that pink everywhere makes us talk to each other. It makes us remind each other to take care of ourselves. It evokes the emotion that countless women should not die from this horrid disease. We need to keep talking and spreading the word....
