Our Neighbors

Today, Kaity Marie will deliver Sunday's posting as a flyer along with this one of Pierce. When we first started this effort one week ago, no one knew us. But that's changing now.

We're getting to know our neighbors. Right above our office is a large realty firm. They're the same ones who left their automatic coffee maker running one weekend. I happened to be working at 6:30 on a Saturday, when their pot runneth over... soaking through the carpet upstairs and pouring a stream of java into my office. There's an attorney tucked away upstairs. He was away last week on vacation. His two legal secretaries celebrated denim day everyday. I've finally met the nephrologist downstairs. His wife runs the practice, and she's agreed to participate. She's a gem.

When we gave a big poster of Pierce to the pediatrician's office manager, she claimed she was taking it home. We convinced her otherwise --use it to raise money for the cause before tacking it to her garage workbench next to the hammers and jars of nails! I always like my daily trip downstairs to buy water at the pharmacy. They're selling pink tic tacs and sponge bobs for the month of October.

Physical Therapy Associates, Inc. has a USC banner that I see every Monday and Thursday. I go down for physio on my rebuilt foot. Though I'm a Bruin, I can't complain. They're in the lead. If they can come up with an additional $50, I'll shout, "Go Trojan" on Friday.

I appreciate the gracious spirit in which these materials have been accepted. For the most part, these are all small businesses. Some only have two to four employees. Others (like the PT's) are bigger. All amounts that we receive are needed to drive this message through:

From the Denim Day information sheet:

Nearly 2,000 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.
Nearly 212,920 women will be diagnosed will be found to have invasive breast cancer this year.
40,000 women will die.

And here is another fact:

The American Cancer Society is a wonderful resource for the patient, family and caregivers. The ACS offers literature in different languages (valuable, as 25% of our patient base is ESL), transportation services to help patients get from their home to treatment, support groups, and a regularly updated website. The ACS would be my first stop if I were diagnosed. At Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, they're located on the first floor.

One more:

Patients are being referred to our office everyday with breast masses. There's much to do. We can all help.