Sunday, May 28, 2006

Family Sick Leave

Apologies for the recent paucity of posts. I've been in Houston for the last several days while my mom was having surgery for breast cancer.

She had a lumpectomy Thursday morning at Methodist Hospital and was back home that afternoon. The surgeon said her lymph nodes looked clean, which is good, but we're still waiting to hear back from pathology to be sure. Assuming that's the case, she'll probably start six weeks of radiation therapy later this summer.

It appears as though early detection was key here. With that in mind, here are the American Cancer Society's early detection recommendations. ACS changed its recommendation for annual mammograms from age 50 and up to age 40 and up a few years back. If you have a family history of breast cancer, your doctor may recommend earlier or more frequent mammograms.

I didn't want to write about this until I got the okay from my mom, but it certainly has been in the forefront of my mind over the last couple of weeks.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greg,

Glad everything is as-good-as-can-be-expected at this point. Let us know if there's anything we can do and kudos for spreading the good word about early detection.

David

snax said...

Glad to hear that she is doing well and good luck to her on her radiation therapy. Oddly enough, since we've not heard much from you I had it in my head that you've been in Houston with family.
I just received a postcard reminder for my annual exams, I'll be sure to take care of it first thing tomorrow morning!

porkmuffin said...

Greg, glad to hear she had early detection. My mom had a similar early catch over 7 years ago and is healthier than ever now. Wishing you both the best, Paula