Let's talk breasts...

All women reading this: How many times have you really felt your breast? Or touched it, all surfaces? Or seen it properly in the mirror? You need to. If you notice that your breasts have a different shape, or one is really different from the other, or the colour of your nipples is changing… you need to get yourself to a doctor.

So there I was on Sunday afternoon, reading some magazine and after a particularly motivating story on how we need to love ourselves, decided to give myself a self-breast check-up. Other than the idea of feeling myself up, I also gave myself that check because I realized that I had never really FELT my breasts. And it’s not just breasts, how many times have you really checked out any body part? So, as I checked myself on Sunday afternoon, I discovered that my right breast has a lump in it. I’ve been to the doctor now. She says it’s not cancer but an accumulation of the fibrous tissue in the breast. Why has the bloody tissue decided to accumulate? In the doctor’s words, “Your breasts have no fat in them. In fact your body has zero percent fat.” And that is NOT good news. Since the weight loss was drastic, the fibrous tissue decided to get to one side, stick together and form a lump. Now she has given me medicines that are supposed to dissolve the lump. I wonder if that would further reduce their size... then they'd become booblings.

What if it was not just tissue? Or... comes back as something else. I also realised - without ever having consciously thought of it - that I am scared of, cancer. Disturbing, not going to think.

Please do give yourself a check. There are umpteen sites on the web that tell you how to do it. Also, if you have had sudden weight gain or loss, doctor says you should get your thyroid checked every 6 months. Gentlemen, I don't know the comfort level you guys share with the women in your life -- like suggesting a breast check to your mom -- but if you can, please ask them to get a gynae to check for them.