Women, women, women, don't do this to yourself, your bodies. Don't
put off taking care of things that bother your bodies until finish the last
chore in the house. Don't put everybody else's needs before your needs, at
least the medical ones. That pain in the tummy that hurts you, that out of the
cycle blood clots that surprised you, that lump in the breast which bothers you
- don't ignore any of these. These are symptoms that your body gives to tell
you that things are not fine. Your body deserves proper medical care at the
right time and if you don't do it, nobody else will!
Juggling with the numerous roles of a career woman, wife, mother,
care giver, women tend to ignore or at least procrastinate taking care of their
own health issues until the last possible moment. This is more so if the
affected parts are female body parts like breast, uterus, ovaries etc. Even
educated women associate a certain sense of shame regarding these parts and
avoid discussing these outside close female family members even for health
issues. All kinds of home remedies are tried and going to a doctor is
considered only in case of an emergency. In the case of cancer, delay means
death. These kinds of attitudes and social systems cause a lot of delay before
the patient gets medical attention and by then it would be too late.
In the case of women, today many simple, non-invasive screening
tests like mammogram, pap smear test, etc for different types of cancer are
available. These screening tests allow us to detect cancer in its very early
stages and get appropriate treatment. In some western countries, doctors advise
women to take these screen tests as a part of their routine medical checkups
and that helps in detecting, treating and curing various cancers. These tests
are available here and are relatively affordable too and it is time we also
started making use of these. Early detection is a very important step towards
success in the treatment of cancer and hence such tests become all the more
important.
Resolve today to take a better care of your bodies and not to
delay seeking medical help in case need arises.
