Oopsie Boobsie

It's been a while since I had my boobsies squeezed, squashed and kneaded by 'foreign' hands (perish the dirty thoughts, it was my first mammograph!), but it happened again Saturday last, in the name of health and well-being.

Every woman should, at all times, keep abreast with this rather weighty issue, or to be more precise, two prominent points in the life of every woman. Pun aside, breast cancer is definitely not something to trifle with. Never for a second assume that you are safe from this scourge.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Malaysian women from all ethnicities and it is also the most common cause of cancer death among women in Malaysia. The disease accounts for 30.4 percent of newly-diagnosed cancer cases in Malaysian women. [Read here for more details].

I had my first brush with this bane years ago. In 1974 when breast cancer awareness was still in its infancy, I did a self-examination upon the advice of a colleague, and found a lumpy mass in my left breast. It was a terrifying week, one filled with uncertainties. Surgery followed; thankfully the mass proved benign.

I could understand my own fear. We have a chequered family history, cancerwise. Two generations of women paid the ultimate price; Opah (grandma) died of cervical cancer; Wan Su (an aunt), of brain tumour; Mak (mom) had her cancer-ridden ovary removed (she eventually died of kidney failure).

Ten years ago I had both a mammograph (breast cancer screening) and a pap smear (screening for cervical cancer) done. Over the years, I had been meaning to have another go but there were too much dilly-dallying in between. Even getting to know blogger Dalilah and her fight against breast cancer had not heightened the pressure.

But a recent blast from the past had prompted me to take action. An e-mail from one Noriah Omar reached me last week. She introduced herself as my junior in Sekolah Tun Fatimah (STF), in the same batch as my sister Zahana (Class of '74).

Noriah, who owns the Rajawali Travel & Tours travel agency in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, was taking the lead in organising a screening session (at a nominal fee to the operator) for her old STF gang at her premises. Knowing that I live in Taman Tun, she had extended an invitation for me to participate.

It was good to meet up with some of those 'kids' again. They were only 15 when I saw them last! I felt embarrassed that I could not identify any of them save for one or two. Sorry sweeties!

I could only recognise Noraini Bahari (apart from a couple of dress-size bigger, she looked just the same) whose sister Normah (one year my senior in STF) was my brother's gal for a while.

Unlike the old days when mammograph was done by literally compressing one's boobs between two cold steel plates, this new method uses a convenient hand-held detection device (pix above) that is gently pressed onto the breast to be examined. Best of all, it is absolutely pain-free.

This device, consisting of a compact array of 256 electrodes, is connected to a medical-grade PC port during the procedure and data is constructed by proprietary software onto direct-to-digital tomography conductivity images of the breast.

It is radiation-free and has high accuracy rate. And because it is portable and mobile, the operator is willing to set up screening sessions provided one can gather a minimum of 30 persons at any one time. Any less than 30 and the exercise will not be economically viable to the operator.

Those of you who are keen to organise a screening session, at your office or home or any suitable venue, with your colleagues, women's groups, old girls (ex-classmates), or any particular group at all, please give Fazilah Othman of Mobecomm a tinkle at 012-3045148. Mobecomm is Canadian-based; their local representative is an authorised partner of HeiTech Padu Bhd. Don't forget to surf their website at http://www.stayhealthy2u.com/.

For some peace of mind, do it. Early detection saves lives. I am happy to report that I am a-okay for now, thank be to God. Syukur Alhamdulillah!