You are going to be mentioned at the American Cancer Society’s annual meeting (hashtag #acsmtg09) today!  Yes, you!  Team WhyMommy, and the supporters of Mothers With Cancer!

I know, I know, it’s terrible timing, and I’d rather be sitting here nonstop #prayingforanissa, but the show must go on, right?  Cancer doesn’t stop fighting when we’re distracted.  And neither can we.

Here’s a link to my remarks.

Prayers for Anissa.  And much, much love to her family.

Earlier today, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued new recommendations on regular mammograms for women in their 40’s.  In short, they’re against them.

The findings are based, in part, on a finding from a meta-review of studies by the Oregon University Health Sciences Center showing that mammography reduced deaths from breast cancer by about 15% in women ages 40-49.  This data was put into a set of models that then predict that, if women postpone their first mammogram to age 50, only 3% more would die.  The study authors then weighed this risk of death versus the harms, identified in the study as “false-positive mammograms, unnecessary biopsies, and overdiagnosis,” and concluded that “the benefits of screening from ages 40 to 49 years were small.”

So, mammograms help save lives.  Just not enough lives.

Seriously?

One other point.  If you go to the original paper that discusses the models (Mandelblatt et al 2009), and click to see the data tables that show the details behind the 3% above, you learn that the 3% is a median of the six models used.  Individual, stand-alone models predicted additional deaths of 2-10% if women postponed their first mammogram to age 50.  That seems significant to me (perhaps because I can name so many women whose cancer was discovered by mammogram in their 30s or 40s, and I am better for having known them).  But beyond that, Table 3 shows clearly that mammography starting at age 40 not only saves lives, but results in between a predicted 11 and 57  “life-years gained because of averted or delayed breast cancer death,” for every 1000 women.

Let me translate that.

Because of effective screening strategies, such as mammograms, for every 1000 women, someone or some combination of them are living a collective 11 to 57 (median 33) years longer than they would have otherwise.

Let’s try that again.

Say I have 2000 followers on twitter who happen to be women.  If all of us get mammograms, there’s an extra 66 years of life to be lived.  66 years, among us, to raise our families.  To raise questions.  To raise hell.  Without mammograms, those 66 years evaporate.

Which would you prefer?

Annual or biannual mammograms, regular self-exams, and a chance to spend more time with your family?  More time at work?  More time laughing, and giggling, and throwing your kids in the leaves as you rake them?  More Thanksgiving dinners, more Christmas mornings, more birthdays?

Yeah, me too.  So before you write off mammograms, please read more about the report, find out what groups like the American Cancer Society have to say (there’s a good explanation at Dr. Len’s blog), and talk about these recommendations with your doctor.  Know the risks.  Know the benefits.  Know your own body … and always remember — if you notice a change in one breast but not the other, call your doctor right away.

As I meet more and more mothers with cancer, the importance of early detection just grows in my mind.  Tonight at 5 and 6, I’ll be on the Channel 5 newscast, talking about the importance of mammograms as one tool for early detection, as well as another important tool that we can all use … breast self-awareness.

Originally, I planned to spend this weekend at a conference called Living Beyond Breast Cancer.  The conference was packed full of sessions about facing your fears of recurrence, enlisting complementary therapies while on chemo or recovering from its aftereffects, and the latest treatment options, with plenty of time to network and meet other cancer survivors between sessions.  The conference was to help us literally learn to live beyond breast cancer, by facing it, talking about it, finding tools, and moving on.

Moving on is hard to do.  As I’ve said many times in this space, life is fundamentally changed after a breast cancer diagnosis.  The hugs are sweeter, but the worries are more intense, and, often, we feel that every single day is so precious that not a moment must be wasted.

That’s a lot to carry around.

In addition, you guys may know that I’ve had quite a week since my bad ER trip, including a close friend’s cancer scare that landed me right back in the exam room where I was first told “You have cancer.”  I’ve also been struggling with a very difficult situation with another cancer awareness group that I work with, and getting over my disappointment at not being able to travel to Atlanta to film a video that the American Cancer Society requested for their annual meeting (lymphedema strikes again!).  So, not so much a good week in the Living Beyond department over here at WhyMommy’s.

But then, I got the news. Stella posted an incredible post on Friday about the new statistics for women with inflammatory breast cancer.  Go on, read the link.  It’s awesome, and inspiring, and HAPPY!  After I got the news, I felt lighter.  Literally, lighter.  And hopeful.  Hopeful that my fate is NOT that which I first was presented with, only a 40% chance of living 5 years, and no data beyond that.  Because, as it turns out, over 50% of those diagnosed 5 years ago are still alive.  Better yet, 1/3 of the people that were diagnosed 20 years ago are still alive.   This is an INCREDIBLE improvement, as over on the IBC email list in 2007, we were hard-pressed to find ANYONE who had made it to 20 years.

And, although I rarely admitted it, I had internalized that.  I had accepted that I wouldn’t be here for long, and made decisions accordingly.  I had Made. The. Most. of every day, squeezing extra hugs, extra kindness, an extra step into each day, because I knew that I only got one chance.

But now, it looks like I might just get more than one chance.  I might get the chance to see my boys grow All. The. Way. Up.  I might get to finish my book, to write another one, to build my business, to move beyond the current issues that I’m working on … and to move Beyond Breast Cancer.

Buoyed by this realization, I chucked the conference and decided to simply follow my heart yesterday.  I made breakfast for the kids, worked for a couple of hours, picked up baskets at Ikea, went to a beagle rescue event and talked with them about becoming a beagle foster mom again, and spent a good part of the morning doing nothing but relaxing with friends.  We had such a good morning.  Imagine, a roomful of (free) e.l.f. makeup and goodies from Giant, with the company of the perfect hostess TechSavvyMama, the bubbly TeachMama, warm SmilingMama (yes, we’re all Mamas … how could you tell?),  always-classy PunditMom, incredible Stimey, passionate ParentopiaDevra, gorgeous BabyBuncher, stunning JusticeFergie (seriously, who looks this good without makeup?), and a very-pregnant ThienKim, who managed to NOT go into labor despite the odds.

For a few hours, there and with the beagles, I was just me.  Susan. Mom. Person.  Not cancer survivor or anything else.  And it was pretty awesome.

This week, I pledge to continue Living Beyond.  I may even waste some time here and there.  Because after all, I have a lot more of it left than I thought.

WhyMommy and TeachMama, in a rare moment of girlish glee at a party hosted by the incredible TechSavvyMama.

BREW beagle rescue, my favorite rescue group, has three BEAGLE PUPPIES coming in to DC this weekend that need foster or forever homes. They’ve also got DOZENS of beagles of all ages available for adoption. These dogs are living in foster homes with families, couples, and singles all across the PA/MD/DC/VA area and the Midwest. They’re learning how to behave, how to live with a family, and how to be loved, many for the first time. There are dogs who are housetrained, dogs who were left behind in a move or after the birth of a baby, dogs whose owners have moved to retirement homes, and dogs who have never known a real home of their own. These dogs need love. They need people to love them.

If you’ve got love to spare, won’t you click over and consider becoming a foster home for BREW beagles or your local animal shelter or rescue group?

Edited to add:  BREW is having local adoption day events THIS SATURDAY in Alexandria, VA, Delavan, WI, and Downer’s Grove, IL, and this Sunday in Gurnee and Machensey Park, IL!  Come out and meet the beagles — and see if one of them has been waiting just for you!