Thursday, February 27, 2014

{On Life} Honoring Your Body

I have been going back and forth if I was even going to post this, but I feel like if I can spread awareness about prominent women's health issues through this platform than I will do so.  I never like to get too personal here, it can make you feel more raw and exposed.

This year was supposed to be an exciting one for me partially because I am getting married to the love of my life, but honestly my new year got off to a rocky start, health wise. I have been very lucky thus far to never have any health issues which I credit to eating right (lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and little meat) and a healthy dose of exercise.  However, when I went to my routine checkup at my doctor two things revealed themselves - she discovered a lump on my left breast and secondly I was one stage below cervical cancer. Hearing one of those things was bad but two issues at the same time, I was a nervous wreck because at 31 these are two things you do not want to hear, or rather these are things you never want to hear at any age.  I will be the first to admit that I can dramatize things when it comes to any sort of illness but for me, this was something that was worse than any other sinus or flu symptoms.  These were two things that can be fatal if not caught early through early detection.  Regarding the lump, I wasn't doing routine self-exams, I didn't think that I needed to (my grandmother had breast cancer but it was later on in life) so if I hadn't gone to my doctor routinely I never would have found it.  Also, in regards to the cervical cancer I was routinely going for six month checkups but somehow my symptoms went from mild to high in the span of a few months which called for immediate action.  I had to go into the office for two procedures and my nerves were at an all time high. I held it together for a few weeks and then one day I just burst.  Did I really have to begin fighting for my health? I ended up having an anxiety attack at work, in the middle of a presentation, it was mortifying.  Thankfully after a sonogram and biopsy, they found the lump to be benign, but it will be something that I have to monitor every six months.  And the other issue was cleared through an in-office procedure.  Why do I tell you this? Because it is incredibly important to honor your body and treat it as an irreplaceable vessel.  Go to the doctor, get your routine check-ups because in case something is wrong they can catch it early.  Life is too precious not too.

Image source FGR

8 comments:

  1. That was brave of you to share! Life IS precious and too short to not enjoy all it has to offer <3

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  2. That sounds so scary, and I'm incredibly thankful to hear you're going to be OK. Having gone through some pretty scary medical stuff myself, I know how anxiety-inducing it can be. Thinking of you–I'm so glad you wrote this!

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  3. That is terrifying, but you are so brave to share! It definitely is a wake-up call to those of us who don't regularly check on themselves.

    The Style Scribe

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  4. Oh wow, Alison, I can't believe you went through all of that. So sorry to hear, but SO thankful and happy to hear you're going to be fine. So scary. Thank you for sharing this. xo, Julie

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  5. Oh Alison I'm so sorry you had to go thru this. How terrifying. If I were in NY I would have brought you soup and pampered you. We all have our wake-up calls about health and our finiteness....we feel so invincible when young and then we start realizing that life is precious and HEALTH is precious...the most precious thing...you can have all the money in the world but if you don't have health you really don't have anything.

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  6. I am so happy you shared this, but most importantly, I'm SO happy to hear you're going to be alright! I can't imagine how scary it is to go through something like that - but thanks so much for the reminder to be thankful for my health and keep myself healthy! Sending you all my good thoughts and love! xx

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  7. So glad to hear you are ok - definitely a great reminder to us all and brave of you to share! I recently had a bit of a health scare as well after going to the dr. for a minor issue (resulting in an ER visit the day before we moved = not fun) so I can relate somewhat. Health is so precious!

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