ELIZABETH EDWARDS HAS BREAST CANCER

While many thought Bush beating Kerry was bad news, here comes more bad news: Edwards's Wife Told She Has Breast Cancer.

Last Wednesday, as Senator John Kerry and running mate John Edwards were saying their concession speeches to President Bush and Dick Cheney, Elizabeth Edwards was given the diagnosis of invasive ductal breast cancer (most common form) by her doctors.

Elizabeth Edwards, 55, is the wife of Democrat vice-presidential candidate John Edwards.

According to a news account,

The Edwardses married in 1977. They suffered the loss of their 16-year-old son, Wade, in a car accident in 1986. They have a daughter, Cate, 22, and two other children born after Wade’s death, Emma Claire, 6, and Jack "Atticus", 4.

Mrs. Edwards, who was born in Florida, met her future husband at the University of North Carolina law school. She juggled a successful legal career and family for 19 years. Then, stunned by Wade's death, she quit work to have more children.

On the campaign trail, she nicknamed herself the "anti-Barbie," a quick-witted, down-to-earth political wife who connected particularly well with mothers and fathers.

[Times Online]

For his part, John Edwards had this to say:

"Elizabeth is as strong a person as I've ever known. Together, our family will beat this."

That's the spirit.

Frankly, we can't do anything other than be courageous and hopeful, if it happened to us.

October was breast cancer month.

The protocol here is that women age 40 and above should have routine mammography at least once a year. The usual determining factor for most women here in deciding whether to have a mammogram or not is COST.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think routine mammography in hospitals cost P1,500 to P2,000 or about $27 to $35 per procedure.

If doctors see anything suspicious in the mammogram results, the next step is to biopsy to confirm if its benign or malignant. From there, the decision to do surgery or not will be made.

Also useful in detecting early stages of breast cancer are the so-called BSEs or breast self-exams.

For concerned women out there, here is a good multimedia link on doing breast self-exams.

More info on breast cancer here.

Take care, ladies.

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Photo of Elizabeth Edwards above courtesy of News 14 Carolina.