Breast Cancer Awareness - Breast Self-Exam Monthly Reminder Pockets

My niece has been dealing with breast cancer first hand this last year. She is strong (and also falls apart) and is all the while amazing. She posts what is going on to our family and I went back to the beginning to reread some of it. A couple things stood out to me. One, she found it early which gave her options and two she was so relieved it was treatable. She said, “…it’s treatable and I can get through this.” She has a husband, 4 kids and a life she wants to live. It’s been 8 months and her battle isn’t over. It was life changing and she’s working her way to a new normal. 
 
October as Breast Cancer Awareness month and Annie Unrein (of Patterns By Annie) does a #SewPINK Initiative to promote self-care, awareness and support for those affected by breast cancer. It’s a blog hop to bring it forefront in people’s minds. As she reached out I couldn’t let the opportunity go by especially given my niece’s struggle. 

I focused on the monthly exam. How do you take something potentially scary (the monthly breast self-exam) and make yourself do it monthly. All I could think of was to add a little fun to it and keep it forefront all the time. So I decided to make a over-the-door pockets holder. Annie has a pattern here. I’m living in Montenegro right now and the mail isn’t great here so I made up my own pattern. (Thanks college Flat Pattern Design class!)

The National Breast Cancer Organization recommends -

NationalBreastCancer.org    “Once A Month Adult women of all ages are encouraged to perform breast self-exams at least once a month. Johns Hopkins Medical center states, “Forty percent of diagnosed breast cancers are detected by women who feel a lump, so establishing a regular breast self-exam is very important.”​ While mammograms can help you to detect cancer before you can feel a lump, breast self-exams help you to be familiar with how your breasts look and feel so you can alert your healthcare professional if there are any changes.”

In the busyness of daily life I forget all the things I want to do let alone the monthly things that need to be done. So this Pocket Reminder can hang in the bathroom all the time. The place where we need the reminder. Ask someone to fill the pockets with a little sunshine for you and you can print out the reminder cards to put in the pockets as well. Write on the back of them what you exam came up with and keep it as a record. Don’t be scared. Make your BSE reminder.

The cards are approx. 3” x 4.5”. Use them as a personal reminder even if you don’t do the pockets. This practice is important.

Here are some of the other Sew-lebritys that you can find projects from.

⁠Follow along on this BLOG HOP 2021 
✂ Oct. 1 (Fri): @fatquartershop - The Jolly Jabber
✂ Oct. 2 (Sat):@SallieTomatopatterns
✂ Oct. 4 (Mon): Hugs ‘N Kisses
✂ Oct. 6 (Wed): @sewfinity 
✂ Oct. 11 (Mon): @BeyondtheReefpatterns
✂ Oct. 13 (Wed): @GreatHeronThreadCo
✂ Oct. 15 (Fri): @LoveYouSew
✂ Oct. 15 (Fri): @EmmalineBags
✂ Oct. 16 (Sat): @MeadowMistDesigns
✂ Oct. 18 (Mon): @OklaRoots
✂ Oct. 20 (Wed): @SuznQuilts
✂ Oct. 20 (Wed): @TeresaCoates
✂ Oct. 22 (Fri): @KnotandThread
✂ Oct. 23 (Sat): @ShannonsStudio
✂ Oct. 25 (Mon): @The_Littlest_Thistle
✂ Oct. 27 (Thur): @MisterDomestic
✂ Oct. 27 (Wed): @SookieSews 

Prayers for all who find things that put them on the breast cancer journey. Hugs! Shannon