Okay all, I am getting ready to preach!
Three years ago this week I went for a mammogram. I was about a year late because I was too busy to get one and since I was the poster child for low risk factor I really didn’t need to go, did I now? There was no lump, no changes. But it came back abnormal.
A second one was ordered, then a biopsy, and finally on December 21st I received the official diagnosis. I had cancer. The cancer it was impossible for me to have because I had four kids, I breastfed them, and there was no family history of it.
How does this apply to tea?
This is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and Panera Bread sells a special bagel in the shape of a ribbon. It is cherry vanilla flavored and I miss it when they quit making them.
Today I ground some wheat and made my usual buttermilk bread loaf, but this time I added some vanilla, Craisins, and chopped walnuts to try to recreate the taste of the bagel I love but can only buy one month out of the year. This loaf of bread is already history. Writer’s Group finished all that was left after tea time today! I also made a homemade version of Panera’s Cheesecake Spread, which is just cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a hint of cinnamon. (I left out the crushed graham crackers.)
What would be more perfect to pair with it than Mike Harney’s masterful Boston Blend? Everyone went so nuts over this tea that I made three large pots just for group, and one at tea time earlier. One group member who is crazy about green teas and jasmine teas said it was her most favorite tea of all the ones she has ever had at my house…and she isn’t even a huge black tea fan!
This is an intimate, cozy up tea. A quiet steady friend tea. A comfort tea.
Now, if you are female, make sure you have had your mammogram. If you are male, pester the women in your life to get one. My husband prodded me to go, “just to be sure.” I am thankful.
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in my opinion everyone EVERYONE needs to read this review and hit hit the like button. it’s important.
ashmanra, i am very glad you are okay. my mother is also a survivor.
Congratulations to your mom, JustJames! When I was diagnosed, my dear hubby was so rattled that when we went off he introduced me as “this is my wife who just got diagnosed with breast cancer!” At the car dealership, the receptionist called two other women to her desk and introduced them to me, saying they had all had cancer and were all survivors, and that I was going to be one, too. It was so encouraging.
isn’t it strange and remarkable the places where people pull together when we need them? complete strangers, that share wisdom and become friends and supporters. these are the people that we didn’t know but that we never forget. i have a few of those too. xo
In Denmark we have a huge screening program for cervical cancer. All women are supposed to receive a letter encouraging them to have a smear test done when they are between I think 23 and 50-something. Recently it was discovered that due to a computer glitch at some point thousands of people had fallen out of the program and had been invited for many years. Quite a scandal over here. Last I heard there were 11 women who had applied for compensation. There’s a public screening program for breast cancer as well, but I can’t remember at what age that starts. I think around 40 or something.
What an incredible story. I am so relieved that it had a happy ending, and ama lso relieved that your husband prodded you to go. The realization that I could lose a loved one in an instant is never far from my mind (as gruesome as that sounds), and I’m glad that people are taking their health seriously.
Good for you, happy you are healthy now! And great job encouraging others!
Wonderful review and so happy to hear of the happy ending!
Thank you for sharing your story!
Thank you, all! It is so easy to get checked, and so important. Because mine was caught early, it greatly reduced the impact it had on my life. Please get checked out! :) maybe a bunch of female relatives should make it a yearly party! LOL! Get squished and then have a good time!
Preach!
Also, for women under 30, they don’t advise mammograms because of the radiation, but definitely keep on top of self-exams and have an ultrasound if there is cause for concern (I actually just had one – it’s benign, fortunately.) I’ve known grad students who have been diagnosed and gone through chemo.
Thank you for that reminder, self checks are vital and need to start early as well. If you have breasts, check them. A friend of mine who is a P.A. Had a clean mammo and five months later found a large lump – a fast growing, aggressive cancer. She is fine now, because she did her self checks. A student’s young grandmother told me she found a lump and wouldn’t go at first, and when she finally went she had stage four cancer. Check! Go! Do it!
True, I have a friend who got tested every year as her family has that gene focused on the French Canadian population that predisposes them to breast cancer. Her mother’s side of the family have lost a frightenly large number of women to it. Despite all this loss, her grandmother remains one of the singly most positive people I’ve met.
Thanks for this post! My mom is also a survivor.
I like the ‘get squished party’ idea, as none of us enjoy these exams.
i scheduled my first one some weeks ago. Going on Monday
Great! and it really isn’t so bad, especially if you get the digital machines. The only one I really hated was two weeks after my first surgery they did one. OWOWOWOWOW! LOL! ,a inky because the plate was shoved into the incision under my arm. But other than that it has been fine. For the first few after the surgeries, and they do them more frequently then, I took ibuprofen before going and it really was no biggie.
Thank you for sharing you story. i really admire your positive attitude.
in my opinion everyone EVERYONE needs to read this review and hit hit the like button. it’s important.
ashmanra, i am very glad you are okay. my mother is also a survivor.
Congratulations to your mom, JustJames! When I was diagnosed, my dear hubby was so rattled that when we went off he introduced me as “this is my wife who just got diagnosed with breast cancer!” At the car dealership, the receptionist called two other women to her desk and introduced them to me, saying they had all had cancer and were all survivors, and that I was going to be one, too. It was so encouraging.
isn’t it strange and remarkable the places where people pull together when we need them? complete strangers, that share wisdom and become friends and supporters. these are the people that we didn’t know but that we never forget. i have a few of those too. xo
In Denmark we have a huge screening program for cervical cancer. All women are supposed to receive a letter encouraging them to have a smear test done when they are between I think 23 and 50-something. Recently it was discovered that due to a computer glitch at some point thousands of people had fallen out of the program and had been invited for many years. Quite a scandal over here. Last I heard there were 11 women who had applied for compensation. There’s a public screening program for breast cancer as well, but I can’t remember at what age that starts. I think around 40 or something.
What an incredible story. I am so relieved that it had a happy ending, and ama lso relieved that your husband prodded you to go. The realization that I could lose a loved one in an instant is never far from my mind (as gruesome as that sounds), and I’m glad that people are taking their health seriously.
Good for you, happy you are healthy now! And great job encouraging others!
Wonderful review and so happy to hear of the happy ending!
Thank you for sharing your story!
Thank you, all! It is so easy to get checked, and so important. Because mine was caught early, it greatly reduced the impact it had on my life. Please get checked out! :) maybe a bunch of female relatives should make it a yearly party! LOL! Get squished and then have a good time!
Preach!
Also, for women under 30, they don’t advise mammograms because of the radiation, but definitely keep on top of self-exams and have an ultrasound if there is cause for concern (I actually just had one – it’s benign, fortunately.) I’ve known grad students who have been diagnosed and gone through chemo.
Thank you for that reminder, self checks are vital and need to start early as well. If you have breasts, check them. A friend of mine who is a P.A. Had a clean mammo and five months later found a large lump – a fast growing, aggressive cancer. She is fine now, because she did her self checks. A student’s young grandmother told me she found a lump and wouldn’t go at first, and when she finally went she had stage four cancer. Check! Go! Do it!
True, I have a friend who got tested every year as her family has that gene focused on the French Canadian population that predisposes them to breast cancer. Her mother’s side of the family have lost a frightenly large number of women to it. Despite all this loss, her grandmother remains one of the singly most positive people I’ve met.
Thanks for this post! My mom is also a survivor.
I like the ‘get squished party’ idea, as none of us enjoy these exams.
i scheduled my first one some weeks ago. Going on Monday
Great! and it really isn’t so bad, especially if you get the digital machines. The only one I really hated was two weeks after my first surgery they did one. OWOWOWOWOW! LOL! ,a inky because the plate was shoved into the incision under my arm. But other than that it has been fine. For the first few after the surgeries, and they do them more frequently then, I took ibuprofen before going and it really was no biggie.
Thank you for sharing you story. i really admire your positive attitude.