Take advantage of free mammography

I am writing to encourage any woman who may be reluctant to get a mammogram, or unable to afford one, to take advantage of the free breast cancer screening offered by Mercy Regional Cancer Center in Redding. The pre-registration date of Thursday, June 26 is fast approaching.

I feel especially concerned for women who, like myself, may have put off a recommended mammogram, believing that I would "feel something'" if there was a cancer in my breast. Just before Christmas last year, at the urging of my primary care doctor, I reluctantly took the little bit of time and effort necessary to have a mammogram, which had been originally recommended to me back in February. When it was first recommended, I was very busy at work and just kept putting it off. When I began to have some other, unrelated health problems that required tests, I finally gave in, seeing as how it would be just one more test. Believe me, I was more than surprised at the outcome: it turns out I had a pretty good-sized tumor in one breast and many lymph nodes were already involved. I never felt a lump, and even after I could see where it was on the mammogram, I was unable to tell it from the surrounding normal breast tissue.

If I had waited another six months or a year to get that mammogram, I might now be "terminal" and in a hospice program at age 48, rather than fighting the cancer with chemotherapy and radiation, with a fairly optimistic outlook.

So please, ladies, follow your doctors' recommendations for when to get screened, and if you don't have a doctor, make sure to call the Mercy phone number to find out if you may qualify for their free screening. The number is 530-24-MERCY.  

Jocelyn Olander, Corning