BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Hi, Everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! We had a major birthday celebration for a three-year-old princess this weekend! It was so much fun watching that little granddaughter of our’s in all of her princess costume changes! Grandchildren are the best! While you all are probably having your coffee this morning, I had to be downtown at 8:00 for jury duty! I had postponed it twice this summer, but today I couldn’t get out of. I thought about just not showing up, but I know it’s my civic duty and I don’t want to spend the night in jail! My husband reminded me that I would not fare well in a cell!

Let’s talk about what is important today, and that is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is the month that I get to get on my soapbox a little bit and talk about breast cancer. If you don’t want to hear about it, no biggie, I’ll see you in another post! If you are new to the blog, I am a four-year survivor of Triple Negative Breast Cancer. What is that you are wondering? It’s a nasty type of breast cancer. It means that the three most common types of receptors known to fuel most breast cancer growth (estrogen, progesterone, and the HER-2/neu gene) are missing in the tumor. Who gets TNBC?  Typically younger women (or men) before the age of 40 versus over 60, which is more typical for other breast cancer types. African-American and Hispanic women are at a higher risk, and people with a BRCA1 mutation (usually before age 50).

So how does TNBC look and behave? It tends to be more aggressive than other types of breast cancer. Studies have shown that it is more likely to spread beyond the breast and more likely to recur after treatment. The survival rates tend to be lower for TNBC, but as the years go by, the risk for it recurring becomes similar to the risk levels of other types of breast cancer. The grade of the tumor is higher than other types of breast cancer. Grading of tumors is on a scale of 1-3. Most TNBC is grade 3, meaning it has a high proliferation rate. I have personally never heard of anyone with TNBC having less than 3. The other difference is that it is a cell type called “basal-like.” That means that the cells resemble the basal cells that line the breast ducts, meaning it’s more aggressive.

Every two minutes, someone is diagnosed with breast cancer. Statistically, it’s one out of eight women that will get the dreaded news. I want to make sure that you all check your selves and have your mammograms. My tumor was tiny and not picked up on my mammogram. What the radiologist saw, was a calcification that looked weird to him, because it had tentacles coming off of it. When the surgeon felt where the calcification was, she couldn’t feel anything. Mine was hiding in my duct. If I had not had my yearly mammogram, I am pretty sure I would not be writing this post. Mammograms do save lives and don’t let anyone tell you that they don’t! But…you are in control of making the appointment and for checking yourselves. Go ahead and feel yourself up! You can do it in the shower, in the kitchen, while reading a book, when you are on the phone, just do it!

I am here to tell you that cancer is not fun and the kind I had doesn’t care if you are black or white, how old you are, or if you are Christian or Jewish. It’s scary, and even though you can hopefully get through it, it is with you forever in the back of your head. I am in an online support group, and the average age is about 35. Please do me a favor, and tell your daughters, granddaughters, daughter in law’s, nieces, and friends to check themselves. I have heard of women as young as 26 getting TNBC too. You might help save a life!

Okay, I have said my peace for today! Since I am a fashion/beauty blog we have to talk about that, so I wanted to show you this fun leopard pajama top. When I was in New York last month, I saw several women wearing the pajama style tops. I have been looking for one that I like, and lo and behold, I found it. I’ve never met a leopard print I didn’t like, and on a silky comfy top, makes it perfection! This top is from Club Monaco and is really like wearing a pajama top. I paired it with my jeans but will be wearing it with black pants and maybe a velvet jean in a wine color. The shoes are from Ann Mashburn, and I would swear they are Roger Vivier but at a lot less price point. This is a simple outfit, but I had to show something, right?

I hope you all have a great day and don’t forget to check your twins!

Photos: Mary Summers Hafner

Pajama Style Top // Jeans (on sale) // Shoes // Bag // Sunglasses

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