Breast Cancer Self-awareness Month

I vividly remember walking through a Barnes & Noble bookstore back in April 2001, not long after my first diagnosis and surgery, when I was still digesting the news that, contrary to earlier predictions, I was going to have to go through chemo.

As I rounded a corner on the second floor of the store, heading for the down escalator, I practically walked into a display table full of books under a sign that said, "April Is Cancer Awareness Month."

It felt like a scene out of a sitcom.

A bad sitcom.

I've never seen a sign like that again, or heard anything about April being a big cancer month, but the perversity of the situation made a big impression on me. I don't think I could have been more aware of cancer if it had been growing inside me. Which, of course, it had been. (Bad sitcom, remember?)

Fast-forward six and a half years, and I'm still put off by the whole "October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month" juggernaut. But I realized the other day that I could choose to view it entirely differently.

Instead of (or, more accurately, in addition to) griping about how marketing has invaded health care, I could interpret "Awareness" as self-awareness.

I could choose to make October my annual check-in—a time to take stock of everything I'm already doing to prevent and detect cancer and then compare it to the latest thinking on what I should be doing.

What am I missing, or forgetting, or being lazy about?

What appointments do I need to make?

What tests do I need to have?

And what insurance claims do I need to file or follow up on?

Beyond all of that, what can I do to help others get through this odyssey? Make a donation? Give a speech? Write a letter? Offer advice to newly diagnosed patients? All of the above?

Lots to think about.

Details to follow.