I need a huge favor from all of you.

[phesina]

Thank you, Richard, for this excellent advice that cannot be given too often!!!!!

I can vouch first-hand for the value of regular checkups. Thanks to keeping to them, a malignant breast lump was detected before it had started to spread. I had a mastectomy and needed no further treatment.

This was in 1985. Since then, I've continued as before with a physical twice a year, a mammogram every year, and regular self-exams. And going on 24 years later I'm doing just fine!

So ladies.. when it's squish time, just grin and bear it... Sure, it's uncomfortable but nowhere near so much as, say, chemotherapy is!

As for after I'm gone.. I made a will arranging for my pets to be cared for for the rest of their lives, and then what's left of my estate goes to Best Friends Animal Society and a couple of other organizations doing the kind of good work I want to support.