Healthy Living

This Thanksgiving Eat More! (Non-starchy veggies, that is!)

Fall holidays are known for their festive meals and celebrations. So how do you enjoy the foods of the season and still keep your blood sugar in check?

Patient Story

Palliative Care: Helping Patients Live Their Best Lives

Lynn’s husband Steve was diabetic and diagnosed with end stage renal disease 11 years ago. Without warning, Steve’s condition turned critical three years ago. Desperate for guidance and strength, Lynn was connected to April and the Palliative Care team at Missouri Baptist Medical Center.

Healthy Living

Losing More Than Sleep

Everybody suffers occasionally from not getting enough sleep. But a lack of sleep can do more than just make you feel tired the next day. Chronic sleep problems can be a contributing factor to more serious health problems.

Healthy Living

Are You Ready for Flu Season?

While seasonal influenza (flu) viruses are detected year-round in the United States, flu viruses are most common during the fall and winter. The exact timing and duration of flu seasons can vary, but influenza activity often begins to increase in October. Most of the time flu activity peaks between December and February, although activity can last as late as May.

With flu season approaching, make sure you understand what the flu is and how to avoid it.

Healthy Living

Living a Healthy Life: One Woman’s Journey Back to Health

Like many people, Ginger had let her health slip in priority over the years. But high blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat gave her the motivation to start the journey back to good health.

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Breast Self-Exam: How To

Breasts come in all sizes and shapes, just as women do. Your own breasts will even change throughout your life. Your monthly menstrual cycle and menopause, childbirth, breastfeeding, age, weight changes, and birth control pills or other hormones may change the shape, size, and feel of your breasts.

Breast self-exam is done once a month so that you become familiar with the usual appearance and feel of your own breasts. The best time to do a breast self-exam is two to three days after the end of your period, when your breasts are less likely to be tender or swollen.

If you discover anything unusual, such as lumps, discharge from the nipple or dimpling or puckering of the skin, you should see your doctor at once. Remember, eight out of 10 biopsied breast lumps are not cancer.

Download a PDF of these exam instructions.
Breast HealthCare Center Self Exam card

To perform your breast self-exam:

lie down on your back with a pillow under your left shoulder and your left arm above your head
use the pads of the three middle fingers on your right hand to examine your left breast
press in a circular motion – once with light pressure, then once with medium pressure, then once with deep pressure
press in an up and down pattern similar to mowing a lawn
start in the middle of the underarm of your left side and move toward
the middle of your chest
feel for changes in your breast, such as any lumps or thickening of breast tissue
be sure to check above and below your collarbone
follow this procedure to check the right breast
also, stand in front of a mirror and examine your breasts with your hands on your hips and then lift your hands over your head, again checking for any changes in the look of your breasts
finally, with your hands on your hips, press down and tense your chest muscles to make any changes more prominent