Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Early detection of breast cancer through routine exams saves thousands of lives every year.
- BREAST CANCER AWARENESS
- Rashmi Raman
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Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Studies have shown that early detection of breast cancer improves the chances of a cure. That in itself is the most important reason to make an appointment today for a breast exam or mammogram. The Gwinnett Breast Center offers a variety of screening and diagnostic services. Going for an exam can be nerve-wracking. To better understand the importance of exams, here's helpful information that explains the process, when you should go and why: Breast self-exams There has been a lot of heated debate in the research and medical communities about the usefulness of breast self-exams in detecting breast cancer in the early stages. One cancer research organization has even said it’s a myth. The American Cancer Society’s guidelines state that women …
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
It has been a year since Marlene Buchanan's ordeal with cancer began; now, she reflects on the good that has come out of it.
You know, we make friends under the strangest circumstances and in the most trying situations. It is part of the resilience of the human spirit, I think. Nearly a year ago my ordeal with cancer began, and it has been a terrible year, but a couple of great things have come out of it. I met some terrific people at the radiation clinic, and I am recovered...mostly. Marquetta Ryan, Barbara Foster, another woman I shall call Sheila, and I met and became friends sitting in the reception area of Georgia Radiation Center. We shared our tears and fears and knew the true meaning of exhaustion. I don’t care how prepared you think you are when you enter a treatment center, you always have trepidation. Dr. Gargus and his staff are the kindest of people…
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
In Marlene's next take on breast cancer, please hum Carmen Miranda’s “I’m having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave” as you read.
And this saga continues. Are you are tired of breast cancer stories as I am? Well, here is another one. But in this one I get to glow -- literally. When I was at Parkview I was going through hot flashes. The change is not a change -- it is an encounter with purgatory -- four or five times a day. Loretta Edwards and Lori Stromie would break into choruses of Carmen Miranda’s 1950s' song “Tropical Heat Wave” as I would hastily go through the office door in to the snow storm outside --in my shirtsleeves. Must Go Shirtless I worked with the most marvelous assistant principal at Parkview. His name is Ed Hunt. Kids would tell me that he was the only AP they knew that made you feel good about being punished. He is an amazingly positive man with …
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
"I vaguely remember people trying to strap me into clothing, rolling me down the hallway to the car."
My diagnosis is ductal carcinoma in situ. I am having a lumpectomy with the affected lymph nodes removed. Dr. Victor Pavamani has been given his orders — do a good job, get it all the first time, and I want a blow dart for pain and anxiety fired into me as I top the hill to the hospital. As I wait for Nurse Tammy, Jane Alexander, who volunteers at the hospital, drops in for a visit. We are laughing about her new great-grandson, Boo. He was due on Halloween, and his sister had started calling Mama’s “lump” Baby Boo. You know he will never be anything else. Snell is visiting in the hallway with all the people he taught or whose parents he knew. That is a nice thing for him. He has lived here all of his life and grew up with so many of the …
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
I got cancer. I don’t want it. I am not keeping it. And I am not inviting it back.
You have heard of the old “good news/bad news.” Well, this is sort of the bad-news-is-bad-enough-but-could-be-a-whole-lot-worse news. I got cancer. I don’t want it. I am not keeping it and I am not inviting it back again. I meet with Dr. Peter Mann, my gynecologist, for my annual fun-filled afternoon and the biopsy results. Dr. Mann has received many honors. He should get one for “Best Bedside Manner.” You are sitting on this narrow little cot, wearing a paper shirt that lacks six inches from closing and a paper sheet. He takes your hand and tells you how pleased he is to see you again. I am thinking, “I am naked wearing totally un-accessorized paper vest and you act like, “let’s have a hot fudge sundae and chat.” He very gently tells …
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Marlene gives us the next installment in her story about being diagnosed with breast cancer and dealing with the aftermath.
The Breast Biopsy: I left my tale with you just as I was about to have a breast biopsy. These very nice nurses take you back to a room, give you a totally inadequate gown and leave you sitting in room at 65 degrees Fahrenheit to await your fate. I have to tell you, with all the various things I have been through, I could walk down 78 Highway buck-naked and it wouldn’t bother me at all. It might frighten a lot of people and entice no one to have lascivious thoughts. But why do all hospital gowns open in the front? And why are they made to fit someone that is a size six or less? And at least one of the ties is missing. Eventually, I was led into a room with a mammogram-looking machine and a large pink chair. You are told to sit in the …
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Pancaking: Getting squished once a year isn’t fun, but is a necessary evil. And, it seems that it's mandatory requirement that all mammography technicians must ice hands before touching patients.
I have all of my medical tests run in the same month each year. What should have been a routine mammogram turned out to be a bit more of an adventure. I am well endowed. I am not happy about it, but I got’ em. Sandy Williams refers to mammograms as being pancaked. Having a mammogram is like taking rolling pin and trying to flatten a 16-pound bowling ball into a 12-inch by 14-inch standard-size cookie sheet. When I come in, the technician gets out the BIG cookie sheets, ices those suckers up, and attempts to mush me flat. I have been going to Eastside Diagnostic Center in Snellville for years. I only know Jewel because she has done my pancaking for several years. She runs the Iron Maiden. Jewel truly tires to make what could be …
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Gwinnett Medical Center hopes to win $10,000 for the American Cancer Society with its dance video.
- NEWS
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Gwinnett Medical Center has put together a video -- and some pretty smooth and complicated moves -- for the Pink Glove Dance Competition, a Medline-sponsored contest aimed at raising awareness about breast cancer. "We strategized and planned diligently to find ways to display a professional video with the positive illustration of people coming together for such a worthy cause," the center said on the competition site. "The center was fortunate enough to band together friends, family and associates to donate their time to make this project happen." Grooving to the Pink song Raise your Glass, the center's staff and friends have garnered more than 10,000 votes -- but they're still trailing others such as Lexington Medical Center in West …
Darby Terry
9:03 am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
I am so glad that you had a band of friends to share experiences and help uplift each other during that time. more ›