1. Good-looking supportive bras for sizes 30AA to 54H? Thank you to online bra sites like Barenecessities.com and Herroom.com for offering lingerie for girls of any size and shape—with the convenience of at-home ordering and private trying on. For an unofficial history of the brassiere (and to be even more thankful about today’s comfy versions), read this account.
2. Thanks to the eco-activists who keep searching and studying the environment to help make it a safer place for my bosom (and the rest of my body). The Breast Cancer Fund’s State of the Evidence 2008 report raised my breast-cancer environmental IQ, and helped me make changes (reducing hormones in my meat and dairy, choosing household cleaners that are nontoxic) that will benefit me and my daughters for years to come.
3. Let me give a hand to the sites and bloggers out there who keep breast health on our radar: from Breastcancer.org, an in-depth resource founded by Marissa Weiss, MD, a practicing breast cancer oncologist, to Haraleeblog.com, a site about menopause and breast cancer. And kudos to the many sites that help survivors cope.
4. I’m thankful for the advances in breast cancer screening that save lives everyday, and for the new technology that’s making screening even more effective. Having an annual mammogram and manual examination by a physician are no-brainers, of course, but I’m excited by the potential of digital mammography, ultrasound, computer-aided detection (CAD), PET scans, and T-Scanners.
Digital mammography has been in the news lately and seems to be “a great choice for women under 50, whose breast tissue tends to be denser,” recommends Olga Falkowski, MD, unit chief of breast pathology and the associate medical director of Acupath Laboratories in New York. CAD uses lasers so radiologists can zoom in on certain suspicious areas of a mammogram film, PET scans can help identify and evaluate tumors in recurrent cancers, and handheld T-Scanners help doctors pinpoint the location of a possible tumor when mammography or other tests have failed to confirm or eliminate the need for a biopsy.
5. Props to researchers who continue to give me new insights into how to live better for my breasts, like the recent report that says I need to exercise more and get more sleep for a healthier pair. OK, I knew that, but I need to be reminded. Frequently.
And the twist with this research is that exercise is great, but getting fewer than seven hours of sleep a night can completely wipe out its benefits and put you at a higher risk of BC, according James McClain, PhD, cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute and lead author of the study. Yikes: So I’m basically wiping out those thrice-weekly gym workouts because of my late nights. Sorry, Conan O’Brien: I’m thankful for you, too, but from now on I’m turning you off for my boobs.
Related Links:
Previous posts by Anne Krueger:
Comments (0)