Tag Archives: mammogram

Rania Samaha: Mother, Caretaker, Patient

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Mia Khatib

If you read about Dina Sabra’s experience with breast cancer, I’m sure you remember her cousin and caretaker, Rania Samaha. Like Dina, breast cancer has played a huge role in Rania’s life. 
Rania As a Caretaker
Rania, is a caretaker to the maximum extent of the word. As a 9 year old, Rania was giving her diabetic mother diabetes shots and joined her mother in every hospital room her mother has ever been in. As a newlywed, Rania took in her father-in-law and looked after him until he passed of colon cancer 3 years later. As a 33 year old, Rania dropped …

 

For My Mother

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Carol

I could feel the vibrations through my pocket , the never ending buzz caused me to stop in my tracks . My voicemail begins to play , and the heaviness in my father’s voice fills the silence of the airy night. ” I have been trying to reach you , I know you must be working but I wanted to tell you that your mother was in the hospital earlier…call me when you get a chance” he said.
It was around 8:00 p.m. and I had just left work, I was walking to the train station to go home when I …

 

Welcome to 2013!

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Carol

So what New Year resolutions did you make this year?  I am sure the gyms are quite busy with those who made the resolution to exercise more!  Well, the gyms will be busy for a while and hopefully you will keep your resolutions because you know some of them are good for you!
I hope one of your resolutions is being proactive about your health and make sure you make taking care of your health a top priority.
Visiting your doctor and taking care of yourself is one of the best gifts you can do for yourself!  We only have one life; …

 

Dense Breasts

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Jean

Following my first mammogram, at 40, the physician reading my films (they weren’t digital back then) called me into her office. She looked very solemn and my heart started pounding as I waited to hear she had found something. “You have dense breasts,” she said. Then she stopped and just looked at me.
Relieved that I hadn’t heard that there was a lump, I exhaled and stared back, waiting for her to explain the significance of what she had just told me.
She explained that having dense breasts was a risk factor for getting breast cancer. She also stated that dense breasts …

 

Who is Reading Your Mammogram?

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Jean

Not all mammogram facilities are equal in quality of staff performing the screenings, the equipment and who is reading your mammogram.
It doesn’t matter where your referral comes from. It does matter where you have your mammogram. You need to do your due diligence. You need to check out the facility recommended to you by a health care professional or a friend.
You want to make sure that you choose a facility that is accredited under the Mammography Quality Standards Act.  The American College of Radiology (ACR) is the accrediting body for most states. It has requirements that facilities must meet in …

 

MALE BREAST CANCER

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Peter

My name is Peter Devereaux; I live in the greater Boston area and have a wife and a 15 year old daughter. I am a 50-year old man Living with stage 4 Metastatic breast cancer.
Men do get breast cancer!! You just don’t hear about it often.
Just like women, men can get breast cancer. Men and women will have similar results if they are diagnosed at similar times and have the same type of cancer.
What happens often is most men have no idea they can get breast cancer, so they usually get diagnosed at later stages.
The first time I knew men …

 

Breast Cancer’s Toll on African-American Women

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Jean

According to the National Cancer Institute, NCI, nearly 27,000 African-American women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. While they are less likely than white women to be diagnosed with breast cancer, they are more likely to die from it than any other race and are more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage.
Lack of medical coverage, unequal access to improved treatments, and barriers to early detection and screening, account for the striking racial disparities according to NCI. Across the board, the death rate for all cancers combined is 25 percent higher for African-American women than …

 

A Mother’s Day Gift

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Jean

This Mother’s Day, give the gift of the mammogram nag.
Reach out to those mothers and grandmothers that you know haven’t been getting annual mammograms and remind them that it is time for them to get that mammogram they have been putting off for so long.
You will hear the usual excuses for not getting a mammogram:

Too busy…no woman is so busy that she can’t take a half hour to have a life-saving screening
Can’t afford it…Call local Departments of Health for sites that offer free mammograms
Afraid of the outcome…most of us are afraid, but we are more afraid of having breast cancer
It …

 

The Cost of Mammograms is Not Always the Issue

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Jean

Those of us who get annual mammograms want to believe that those who don’t are uninsured and cannot afford the out-of-pocket cost of paying for one.
Not true said researchers in a report to the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December 2010.
According to the research report, about half of the women whose insurance pays for mammograms get annual screenings. Medical claims from more than 1.5 million women aged 40 and older showed that only 50% of the women had annual mammograms in the years 2006 to 2009.
Breaking out these statistics by age group, researchers reported that among women 40 to …

 

PAINT THE TOWN PINK: Brenda Pignone: ‘I am blessed to be here’

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Carol

Wicked Local Abington
Posted Oct 17, 2010
Seven year ago July 8, 2003 on what was planned to be a day shopping with my then 13-year-old daughter became a day that stopped me in my tracks and cemented the meaning of “your life can change forever in one moment.”
Sara and I took the train to Boston and I told her that I needed to stop at Mass General Hospital to “quickly have my mammogram” and then we could head out for a day of shopping and lunch. The radiologist suggested that the mammogram showed an area of calcifications and that she would like …