I need a huge favor from all of you.

[Laura's Babies]

Had my colonscopy several months ago, annuals are due next month (I think it) is but I will be working then but will do in January. I try to keep up with when those things are due and get them done.

Also a reminder for those of you with elderly parents, schedule appointments for them for their annuals and take them to keep those appointments. Keep up with what they need done and make sure it gets done! My Captain's Mother died 2 months ago from breast cancer. This is a woman that every female in her family has died with cancer, he doctor did not schedule her mammo for THREE years. It took a nurse in the nursing home giving her a bath to feel the mass in her breast. The mass was fixing to break through the skin when it was found, by the time she had surgery, it was to late, the cancer had spread. Her family assumed the doctor was on top of things and had been having all that done (mammo's, pap smears) and he had NOT!

[K9karen]

Had my colonscopy several months ago, annuals are due next month (I think it) is but I will be working then but will do in January. I try to keep up with when those things are due and get them done.

Also a reminder for those of you with elderly parents, schedule appointments for them for their annuals and take them to keep those appointments. Keep up with what they need done and make sure it gets done! My Captain's Mother died 2 months ago from breast cancer. This is a woman that every female in her family has died with cancer, he doctor did not schedule her mammo for THREE years. It took a nurse in the nursing home giving her a bath to feel the mass in her breast. The mass was fixing to break through the skin when it was found, by the time she had surgery, it was to late, the cancer had spread. Her family assumed the doctor was on top of things and had been having all that done (mammo's, pap smears) and he had NOT!

Almost the same scenario happened to my BF's MIL. Her parents were from "the old country", so she grew up with a fear of doctors. A hospital meant you weren't coming home. Strong and independent, you'd think she would have learned from her husband's demise from colon cancer a few years earlier. (He passed blood for over 6 months before admitting it and by then it was too late Going to the casinos overruled everything). The MIL never, ever had a mammogram. By the time her daughter screamed and yelled and finally dragged her to a doctor, the tumor was just about breaking the skin. Tsk. Tsk. I saw her a week before she passed. Her daughter feels so guilty. She insisted her mom get a mammogram every year, but she refused. Not her fault. My mom was similiar..nothing was ever wrong. Yeah, right.

Anyway, thanks to my health insurance, as of 2010, they'll only pay for my gyn exams every 2 years. I have to wait until 2011. I can call if there's an emergency. Regardless of the fact I've had pre-cancerous cervical problems, endometiosis and a slew of other problems. Oh Goody!!!

[RICHARD]

Thank you all for being so forthright and up front.

My mom had a very rare kind of BC, she was stubborn and very brave at the same time.

Part of the reason that she would not go back to see the doc was the fact that he was a young dude and "she didn't like a young man looking at her".

She also told me about my grandfather who would chide my GM for going to the doctor's office.

"He just wants to look at your arse!" was his retort towards my G-Ma..

But, heaven help him when he needed to go see the MD. In a strange way I have a little animosity towards him just for THAT reason. I wonder how much that impacted my mom's attitude toward seeking help.

Again, thanks for all your notes and stories.

All of you do not owe me anything to 'git r done'.....But, I hope you do think about YOUR loved ones and do it for them.

You all really rock.