Well first I start today’s post with something by www.breastcancer.org ‘s  founder Dr. Marisa Weiss called Think Pink, Live Green – it sure has made me think.  Seriously, even if you have never had breast cancer and don’t feel you are at risk for it, you should read this. It is good common sense for the world we live in and should serve as a wake up call.

Eating organically and naturally is more expensive I am discovering, but hell, I have a hormone driven cancer, I don’t need it in the food I ingest.   It is also frightening all that we as mankind have put into our environment.

I also learned at a presentation recently that not only are instances of breast cancer statistically higher in NJ, PA and DE but according to data that someone provided to  breastcancer.org where I live is purportedly among the highest in breast cancer in Pennsylvania – Montgomery County and Lower Merion Township.

WHY??? 

Is it something we are doing to our local environment, and issue of density, what????  Not to mix it up, but it sure is something local governments should think about every time they want to add new developments to overstuffed communities.    I am thinking when it comes to our breast health, less is more – less stress, less bad environmental scenarios, less hormones, less chemicals.

I did find online a paper from 2007 by the Alliance For a Clean Environment which said breast cancer was scary high at that point in Montgomery County – now they were focused on Limerick in a lot of the report, and I have seen other reports focused on King of Prussia, but what I heard recently is Lower Merion in Montgomery County is right there too  with regard to breast cancer ….mind you I know that some of you will say “what doesn’t cause cancer?” – but still.  Clusters are clusters, and ladies, we need to take care of the girls and perhaps elected officials on all levels need to be more accountable?

I think my point in this is as survivors  (or friends or loved ones of survivors) we can’t just advocate for awareness of breast cancer  and advocate for the best treatment possible, we need to advocate for preventive measures – being proactive could  ultimately be   the  girls’  best friend in some cases, eh?  If we improve our environment, we improve our lives as survivors and hopefully pay it forward so other women don’t go through what we have to deal with as the ranks of diagnosed and survivors. 

I also believe there needs to be meaningful healthcare reform.  Socializing medicine alone isn’t going to do it.  As women we deserve better healthcare – we shouldn’t be second class healthcare citizens.

In other boobalicious things, I have also discovered a great site to show to the younger ladies out there called Taking Care of Your Girls.   It’s a hip, fun site that is a partner to a very popular and informative book by the same name brought to us also by Dr. Marisa Weiss.

Now I am going to bitch a little about something which is bothering me.  My money is a lil’ tight thanks to breast cancer so fun like getting my hair trimmed is limited.  I stopped into a local salon the where only one  cut was happening  (an  old lady was getting white curlers put in her hair) and a couple cutters were free and when I asked if they could squeeze me in for a trim — the male receptionist basically gave me the fluff off.   Like I had some nerve to ask

Mind you, this is a salon I have patronized in the past, only not too often because they are a bit tasty in price points.   When I asked for this trim, I can’t even explain the stares I got from these employees in a virtually empty salon – if they had been stacked with a lot of people filling all the chairs I never would have asked.  But they were empty. 

I am left now way after this has happened with a bad taste in my mouth.  In addition, this is a salon which sends out e-mails talking about local charities, etc, and so after I got diagnosed and started reading about salons which offer discounts to breast cancer, I sent them an e-mail and asked them if they were a salon that did that.  They never responded. I know not every salon offers these discounts, but what is the big deal about responding? 

The only thing that is keeping me from actually naming this salon and blowing them to smithereens is that the owner is one of the nicest people I have ever met and somehow I don’t think she would (a) appreciate knowing a customer inquiry was not responded to (b) that someone was fluffed off with attitude on a summer day when there was only ONE customer in the salon.

But just so you all know who say BC women need to take care of ourselves, myself included, we try but it’s not necessarily that easy.  Money and time are tight and when you get up the courage to say “ok I need a little TLC” and try to attend to it  and then are made to feel bad (whether it is deliberate or not) by a local business you want to patronize (in a crappy economy), well screw it, I will just wait.  All I wanted was a damn trim.  Not a color, not a full blow-out or up do, and instead I feel like I got frosted off.  And to think of all the people I suggested go to this salon!  Ironically, I got better treatment the last place I went which was considered upscale from this one.  Maybe I will just save up and go back there.

Ok bitch fest over.  

Think pink, live green  and play catch and release with things that annoy you….. and remember what Oprah said once:

Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.
– Oprah Winfrey