“Early detection” has been the rallying cry for many breast cancer survivors and organizations, and for years that meant getting a yearly mammogram once a woman turned 40. Now, however, those guidelines have changed. Most women should start breast cancer screening at the age of 50 instead of 40, 50- to 74-year-old women should have mammograms every two years, and doctors should stop teaching women to examine their breasts regularly, according to the United States Preventative Services Task Force, an independent committee of prevention and primary care experts appointed by the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

A woman in Texas successfully scammed a bunch of people into paying for her breast implants by, get this, faking breast cancer! Twenty-four-year-old Trista Joy Lathern told everyone she didn’t have health insurance and needed money to pay for her breast cancer treatments. In August, 100 people showed up to her all-day fundraiser at Waco’s Hog Creek Icehouse Saloon and donated an estimated $10,000. Trista used $6,800 of the donations to pay for a new set of boobs. According to the local sheriff’s office, it was later discovered that Lathern never even had breast cancer.

I vividly remember the best and worst night of my year. As Barack Obama cheered “Yes, We Can,” my mother was absent-mindedly thumbing what we all agreed was a lump on her chest. I took comfort in the fact that she said it hurt—cancer doesn’t hurt. She’ll be fine, I thought. But as we toasted champagne and hugged each other for Obama’s victory, with brows slightly furrowed, I prayed for my mother, my strong and stubborn mother. I didn’t go with her to the doctor—my father did. I probably slept until noon, which was a common occurrence since I’d just driven all my belongings and my cat 1,991 miles from New York City to Santa Fe in three days. I was jobless, tentatively moving to Los Angeles in a few months and had no idea what I was doing with my future. And it turned out that my 58-year-old mother, my best friend and deepest confidant, had breast cancer.

Yesterday, while watching football, I made a snarky comment about an announcer’s flamboyant shirt-tie combination only to learn he was wearing the baby pink striped tie in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Really?

I was completely floored when I found out the entire NFL is very involved in raising awareness for a disease that rarely affects men. The league even has a campaign, “The Crucial Catch,” advocating annual screenings, especially for women over 40. Throughout October, players, coaches, and referees can choose to wear pink game apparel—from shoes and sweatbands to mouth guards and chin straps—which will be auctioned off, with the money going to the American Cancer Society and team charities. Plus, all players’ helmets have been outfitted with a pink ribbon decal, and fields have been painted with pink ribbon stencils.

“It’s really hard because they just aren’t the same—and I had really good ones. If you have boobs you don’t like, you can go and choose the size you want, and then get a brand new present. But it’s different [when it’s not your choice]. I hold on to the fact that I don’t have to wear a bra, which is great!”

—Christina Applegate, in the October issue of Women’s Health talking about having breast reconstruction surgery after a double masectomy for breast cancer

Boobs and babies don’t mix ... their boobs, that is. I’ve seen enough pasties for kids and stripper poles for toddlers to get stabby about anything that sexualizes an impressionable kiddo. So I’m not too keen on the breast cancer awareness tees for little girls that say “Find A Cure! Before I Grow Boobies.” Clever T-shirt, yes. But as the aunt of three pre-school aged girls, I feel weird about anything that could draw a creepy person’s attention to their non-existent “boobies.” (FWIW, I’d balk if my nephew had a tee shirt that said “Testicular Cancer: Find A Cure Before My Balls Drop!” too.)  A pink ribbon or something would be just fine to raise awareness, thanks. What do you think: Are these T-shirts kinda icky or are they cute? [Zazzle.com]

Um, weird. A new study shows that women who use Tamoxifen, a drug mean to prevent estrogen-sensitive cancers like breast cancer, for more than five years are four times more likely to develop a non-estrogen-sensitive tumor in their other breast. The new tumors, although uncommon, are more difficult to treat. Scary, but docs are quick to question the study, which only examined women’s chances of developing cancer in their second breast. Some said it could just be a “statistical fluke” and pointed out that none of the women who took Tamoxifen for one to four years developed a new tumor. Others are worried that the results of this study could make patients scared to take the drug, which has been proven effective in keeping cancer from recurring or spreading. Eek. [NY Times]

Viva Las Vegas is a popular stripper based in Portland, Oregon. A preacher’s daughter, she was raised in the Midwest before she moved to the West, where she worked as a nude dancer for over a dozen years. Eventually, she wondered if it was time to retire. Last year, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After chemo made her hair fall out and a mastectomy left her with one breast, she wasn’t sure what to do. So, she wrote a book about her experiences: Magic Gardens: The Memoirs of Viva Las Vegas. After the lump was removed, extra skin from a cadaver was used to cover the area, but she resisted having her breast rebuilt with an implant. And then, she went back to stripping ... [The Daily Beast]

Confession: each time I go to the gyno and she shows me how to do a breast self-exam, I stupidly smile and nod my head and she talks and prods my boob, knowing I have no clue what she’s really feeling. I then go home, fondle my own breasts and end up in frustration because (surprise!) they’re lumpy all over! It makes me feel like a bad woman who is not “in touch with her body” to admit that I don’t know what to think of those “normal” lumps. My doctor even once discovered what turned out to be a benign lump, and even then it didn’t feel distinctive. To help solve these problem, there’s now Breastlight, a wand that essentially lets you see what’s going on inside your chest. Take the device into a dark room, apply the lubricant to your breast, and hold Breastlight under your boob to light it up in red hue, highlighting veins and any other abnormalities. It’s not meant to replace mammograms, but at least it will help morons like myself know when something isn’t right. [Uk.breastlight.com]

Sirens siren Heather Wood Rudulph has written a piece for Huffington Post about five reasons we still need feminism, including the recent murder of abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller, and the propensity of pop culture to make women look like marriage-crazy loons.

Her five reasons are just dandy, but why limit ourselves to only five? It was depressingly easy to think of five more reasons we need more of the F-word.

With the news this morning that Renee Zellweger had a cancer scare back in 1996, we started thinking about just how many female celebrities have battled breast cancer in the last few years—it’s been almost as frequent as the number of those having twins! Christina Applegate, Sheryl Crowe, Melissa Etheridge, Edie Falco, Olivia Newton John, Cynthia Nixon, Robin Roberts, Kylie Minogue, and Elizabeth Edwards are among the many women in the news who have battled breast cancer and it really indicates how many more women NOT making headlines are facing the disease themselves. According to the Susan G. Komen For The Cure, nearly 200,000 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year and about 40,000 women will die from the disease. With that in mind, I wanted to compile a list of must know information for women about breast cancer—when to get checked out, what to look for, what your personal risk is, etc. Check it out, after the jump….

Back in August, John Edwards confessed that he’d cheated on his wife. Since then, we’ve heard barely a peep from him or his wife. Elizabeth Edwards finally spoke out about his affair in an exclusive interview with the Detroit Free Press. Though she had known about the affair for a long time before it became public, Elizabeth said that since his admission, she’s been focusing on her children and health care reform. “There’s a lot of adjustment to make,” she said. “When you mention trust, that’s probably the most difficult hurdle.” But she isn’t saying much more than that. When asked whether she’d forgiven her husband, she replied, “I don’t want to feed the monster, if you don’t mind.” She pointed out that if her leg had been amputated—rather than, say, her husband having an affair—people wouldn’t ask her: “Are you over that leg thing yet?” More importantly, she’s battling stage IV breast cancer, which has spread to her bones, although she isn’t wallowing. Instead, she’s testifying before Congress on health care reform and listening to Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem.” You go, girl. [Detroit Free Press]

From tofu to chocolate milk, soy has been sweepin’ the nation. In addition to helping lactose intolerant freelance writers enjoy a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal every now and again, the lil’ bean is chock full of calcium, protein, fiber, iron, zinc, and magnesium, plus it’s the only vegetable that can give you amino acids. But the nutritional goodies are just the tip of where the health benefits begin for us ladies. According to new studies, soy will fend off hot flashes from the ‘pause (although it will not stop you from getting dragged to see Menopause the Musical with your mom who laughs waaaaaay too hard at the jokey rhymes). Soy also reduces the risk of developing breast cancer by 18%  in women with a high BMI (body mass index). Not sure how high your BMI is?  Check out this chart while you chow down on a delicious Tofutti ice cream sandwich. [Health World and Health Castle]