Drive Through Mastectomy

October is a very interesting month for me. Lots of milestones. My birthday is on the 29th, the anniversary of my back surgery is the first, I got polio in October and it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The first time I was aware of this was in October 2001 when I thought I was being tormented with all the ads, movies of the week, songs, marches and speeches about breast cancer. I was suddenly aware of it because I still had the bandages on from my "Drive Through Mastectomy." I didn't notice breast cancer until I got my diagnosis. October makes you extra aware. I don't think about the cancer coming back like I used to, which was every minute of every day for a long, long time. These days it generally only hits me in the late night heebie jeebies. Every once in a while, I rub my scarred chest and thank it for letting me know about the lump that threatened my life--in time for me not to die. Hey you, do something to help--particularly the drive through mastectomies. Imagine how horrible it is to be shoved out the door of the hospital, still groggy from the surgery, bleeding from where they sliced and diced you grasping instructions on how to drain and change the bandages in one hand, pain killers in the other hand. I'm a woman who beat cancer and want way more women to be able to say that. I'm the cancer-free Ruth Adkins Robinson.