In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, I’d like to share my great experience with BRAS Thermography.

Let’s face it, breast health is something that we should all be concerned about, but really who likes to get a yearly mammogram? Certainly not me! Ever since I received my first mammogram, I thought to myself, Is this really healthy...I mean smashing your boob as flat as a pancake and shooting radiation into it didn’t seem like something I wanted to do every year. SO, I went many years without doing it.

Because I have a few blood relatives who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, I should be more diligent in getting my exams, but I couldn’t bring myself to make the appointment.

In October of 2017, MaMa Jean’s celebrated 15 years and of course we had a party. We invited BRAS (Breast Research Awareness and Support) Thermography to the party because it was breast cancer awareness month and to educate our customers on the alternative to mammography, and on that day, I decided I was going to make an appointment for a thermographic breast exam.  I’m kind of a procrastinator, so in April of 2018, I made my appointment for BRAS Thermography. Not only did I opt for the breast exam, but also the upper body scan.

Thermography is the process of measuring heat with an infrared imaging device. It is safe, painless and radiation free! Heat is an indication that inflammation is present and typically inflammation is present in cancerous and precancerous cells.

I showed up for my appointment on April 27,  and I was a bit nervous and excited all at the same time. Libby immediately put me at ease. She explained the entire process and gave me a beautiful black scarf with pink ribbons on it. You are naked from the waist up, just like in a mammogram, but the scarf helps to hide some of your embarrassment. She then “photographed” the upper portion of my body with a digital infrared thermal imaging system. The entire photograph process took less than 15 minutes, and she went over the photos with me immediately after the process and explained a couple of small issues that she noticed.

The photos were then sent to a team of certified doctors for the prognosis. The  the results were reported quickly and sent to me by email and included all of the color images taken of me during my test.

There was some heat detected in my sinus area (which I was not surprised as I have a history of sinus issues). Heat was also detected in my low back (again, no surprise as I also have a history of back problems), and in the joints in my hands (once again, no surprise...I’m plagued with arthritis). The good news is the report stated that the breast area should be considered low risk for significant developing pathology. I will continue to monitor this via the thermographic process, and now I have a good baseline to go by for any future developments.

If you are interested in a thermographic exam, I highly recommend BRAS. It can provide the real picture for early intervention.