A wake up call: Curable Breast Cancer

I never thought I would ever be writing a columm about breast cancer. For some reason I have lived in denial about cancer all my life. It is perhaps because I know so many people I love who have survived it, died from it or suffered through it. My mother had it when she was 75, so did my father when he was 76. They are both well, but others in my family have not fared so well.

I was diagnosed recently and it came as a shock to me. Although I produce and host a show called Living Smart, I must admit I chose to live dumbly several years by not having a regular mammogram. I guess it is "smart" to admit that I make silly mistakes every now and then. I have always known I was not perfect or smart in many occasions but I had not had a mammogram for 5 years. That was surely not a "smart" decision in my part. I am not to panic. I am blessed and lucky as always. We found this cancer threat on time and my stage is curable. In fact I believe so many more breast cancers now are curable and I am so lucky to live in a time which treats this type of cancer so well. This of course is due to what I call "women´s sacred power" to scare the heck out of politicians in Washington and demand more research. Too many women still die of breast cancer and other diseases such as heart disease. Perhaps one of the reasons I never thougth I would get breast cancer is that heart disease is a much bigger killer of women so I just decided to concentrate on my heart...for instance not to get it broken! which more than once I have failed to do, or to remain a good body weight and excercise and deal with stress etc. Oh well. It took me a while to decide to write about this, but after a while I felt it would be irresponsible to do a show on Living Smart and not admit how dumb I was about my own breast cancer. I am not afraid at all. I believe I am responsible for my own health and if I do everything right, especially under the wonderful care of the best doctors in the world and complimenting this with alternative therapies, I will be just fine. HOWEVER, I do feel this is a wake up call to look into my soul and figure out what role I played in all of this. This is why I choose to share a bit about this disease. Cancer is no longer the death sentence it used to be, but no matter how you look at it. It is a wake up call. Was I stressed before this diagnosis? Was I dealing with my personal and professional issues effectively? Am I angry at anyone or anything? Do I still hold resentments? How is my spiritual life? Do I excercise on a regular level? What do I gain from being sick? Is this how I want to get attention? As you can see I have a lot of work to do, inner work, soul work and professional work. I accept prayers for I believe in the power of prayer. In the mean time, I am now going to continue to try to live SMARTER! I have to walk the talk right?