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Standing at the Roundabout

February 2015 Vol 1 No 1
Gina Shay-Zapien, APRN, CNS
Breast Oncology Nurse Navigator

A few years ago, the city engineers in my Kansas City suburb decided to try out the quaint concept of European-style roundabouts by placing 4 of them between my house and the closest main road. I have imagined these engineers as briefcase-toting pencil pushers with thick glasses, short-sleeve white dress shirts, and a slightly evil grin.

How dare they make me slow down and try to interpret the impossible signage 4 times in less than a mile while listening to my motion-sick passengers grumble and moan. I have things to do, places to go. I don’t have time for nauseating circle after nauseating circle. I’m not the only one who has trouble navigating these new-fangled traffic circles though, as evidenced by the frequent chopped-off tree stumps, mangled signposts, and skid marks.

The Breast Cancer Roundabout

I have had a few metaphorical roundabouts recently, too. Have you? Mine came in the form of a breast cancer diagnosis. Somehow the cosmos didn’t get the memo that I was younger than 50, had no family history, drank green tea every day, and loved doing yoga. Breast cancer—slam on those brakes! It wasn’t the little microscopic, pink-fest thing that I had imagined it to be since I got my first mammogram results. It was big, ugly, and had spread to my lymph nodes. It required surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Whoa! More roundabouts! Each one slowed me down a bit, as I tried to interpret the signs and learn the language of oncology. Each one gave me a new view of my surroundings, as I spun in a different direction, and truthfully, each one made me more than a little nauseous!

Thankful?

In the end, though, I have learned to be thankful. I am thankful for roundabouts. According to the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, a roundabout is a proved safety measure, reducing the risk for injury by 78% to 82% compared with a regular intersection. As I watch my kids pulling out of the driveway, I am thank-ful for anything those briefcase-toting engineers can do to make them safer.

And, yes, I am thankful for breast cancer. Like the roundabouts, cancer taught me to slow down a bit and to listen to my fellow passengers. My career traveled in a new direction, too. As a nurse navigator in our breast center, I have the privilege of standing at that first roundabout in so many women’s lives. I can travel with them from the abnormal mammogram through biopsies, procedures, treatments, and therapies, and onto the road of survivorship.

If you have breasts, check them!

Allow me to give you some friendly advice: if you still have breasts, have them checked. Just like rotating your tires and changing your oil, a clinical breast exam and breast imaging are essential “to-dos.” Mammograms can detect cancers that are too small to feel (the cute, little pink kind). But don’t stop with your yearly mammogram and doctor’s visit; you need to know your breasts—feel for lumps, look in the mirror, tighten your chest muscles, and look again. Please don’t assume that since your last mammogram was normal you can ignore that lump or that new dimple until next year! See your doctor about any changes in your breast. Be persistent, take care of yourself, and slow down on those roundabouts! And remember, breast cancer can affect men as well as women. Adapted from an article published in Kansas City Nursing News in October 2014.

Patient Resouces

  • American Breast Cancer Foundation: www.abcf.org/ABCF-Breast-Cancer-Assistance-Program.htm (A national call center for men and women who can’t afford mammograms and breast ultrasounds; more than 50% of callers have symptoms of the disease)
  • National Breast Cancer Foundation: www.nationalbreastcancer.org/what-is-breast-cancer (Information about breast cancer diagnosis, risks, treatment)
  • Susan B. Komen Foundation: ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/AboutBreastCancer.html (Information about breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, volunteering opportunities, and more)
  • Breast Cancer Fund: www.breastcancerfund.org/ (Focused on breast cancer prevention by eliminating environmental causes of breast cancer)

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