When I hit the milestone of my 40th birthday, I did all the "things" you are supposed to do to celebrate, including a mammogram. The mammogram didn't detect anything out of the ordinary, but because I regularly performed a self breast exam (as a result of a scare when I was 35) I had found a small lump and they performed a sonogram and then did a biopsy. I always say my story could have been so different if I had not been doing self exams as I would have gone another full year before having another mammogram - by then things would have been so much worse. Between the technology of today and self breast exams, my message is always to encourage everyone to do both!
