Hey, today, we're doing it on the first of every month.
Ladies.
It's the breast check day here at the pickup and we want to get people to fill their boobs. Fell your boobies, have a little squeeze around, feel if anything's abnormal or feeling not right.
Yeah, listen to this.
Three thousand, three hundred Australians will die this year. Nine Australians die every day and fifty eight Australians are diagnosed every single day.
Crazy.
Those stats are astronomical. We're lucky enough to be speaking to Professor Sarah Lewis. Sarah is the Dean of Health Sciences at Western Sydney University.
She's a career academic.
She's doing some incredible research around breast cancer.
Sarah.
Welcome, Hi, Hi, good afternoon, guys.
Hi Sarah.
Look, I think there's so much information out there for people who know that we should check our breasts, like check your breast, check your breast in the first of the month. But what does that actually look like and for someone who maybe has never done it before, Like how would someone conduct a self examination and know what it is that they're feeling for.
Look, I think chief that day of your month understand that your breaths are going to change a little bit according to your hormonal cycle, and so choose a time that's away from your period, and then just do a few simple steps, use the palms, the fingertips and work around in a sort of clockwise motion. Get a really good feel of what is your breast shape, size, lumps and bumps, just a little bit different.
I reckon, everyone's in their car right now, I hope they are.
But men do it in your car, sure, Look at the person next to you. They're probably going around in a seper motion to a really good A really good thing to do is to do it in the mirror, because, as you know, breaths are a mobile organ. They're on the outside of us. Actually looking at the way in which your breasts move, the shape, looking for skin textural changes and things like that. Whilst doing yourself breast examination in the mirror, You're then you're ticking all those boxes.
So, Sarah, how can you tell the difference between like a normal fatty lump or a gland or something that we all have, Because like when you feel your boobs any day, you can feel like little lumps and bumps in there. But how do you tell the difference, So, for example, if you feel like a little pea or something a bit harder, like, what are the actual characteristics we're looking for.
Yeah, look, it's important to recognize that most breast cancers are actually you know, they start off feeling small and they're hard to feel, so you may not actually feel them. I think you're quite right. In particular younger women, there
are lots of lumps and bumps there. What we're looking for is things that have changed, So a new lump, a thickening of the breast tissue in the case of my own breast cancer, a skin discoloration like a permanent bruise that won't go around go away, or anything that actually changes the shape and size of your breast that wasn't there before. That's when you need to be that sort of breast to wear and then go and see your health professional.
Is it something that men need to be conscious of as well?
Because I know that we usually talk about it women and women need to check their breast, but should men be even wary of this?
Is it something that men can can get.
Yeah, Look, men have a really important role to play. A very small percentage of men that do you get breast cancer. So they can also check their breasts in a similar way to women understanding you know, obviously it's a much smaller area that they're going to be checking, but you know, changes in that general breast area. It's also important to check your armpits and up to the collarbone as well, because you'll be looking for changes in
those lymph nodes that's where they live. And for men actually, I would also say they have an important role to help with their partners and indeed noticing that perhaps your partners has a change in their breast appearance.
You know.
I know the tag line is have you felt yours lately? And I'm not suggesting that you necessarily go and feel someone else's.
Do it with us and.
All eyes on. We're appropriate sometimes, you know, we need to look after each other.
Oh, you're doing great work. The National Breast Cancer Foundation. Actually, since their inception in nineteen ninety four, the breast cancer rate in Australia has reduced over forty percent. It's amazing stuff too.
Hi, though, I know you've had a conversation that can actually change and save people's lives.
Of course.
Yeah, and October is actually National Breast Cancer awarness months, so starting today, Professor Sarah Lewis, thank you for joining us on the show.
Thank you, great breast health guys.
Boobies, guys.
All right.
Next on the show, Oh my God, the wedding that everyone is talking about, Lana del Ray was married with all her closest alligators over the weekend. She was married in a swamp to her her new husband that she met less than a month ago.
Dreams Lama like getting married in swamp plans? Does it?
Yeah?
No, it swampy marshlands, surrounded by alligators.
Totally. It's an interesting wedding. We've got the dates next.
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