halloween safety

Tips for a Safe and Healthy Halloween

With a chill in the air and the promise of tricks and treats, families take to the streets and enjoy the annual tradition of Halloween. It is a time for fun, and it is also a time for safety. Our team at MSCI has put together a few tips to make sure that you and your family have a safe and healthy Halloween.

  • Discard any unwrapped candy

Despite the media frenzy every year, there are very few cases of people ever tampering with candy. However, it is always safe to discard any unwrapped pieces of candy or anything that looks like it has been tampered with. Go through your child’s candy at the end of the night. It is always better to be safe than sorry!

  • Go trick or treating before dark

More accidents occur at nighttime than during the daytime. Trick or treating at night can be dangerous. While most people understand to be on the lookout for children in the street, it is always best to not take the risk. Trick or treating in the evening while it is still light out is the safest time. If you find yourself out at night and still going door to door, be sure you stick to sidewalks when possible.

  • Wear reflectors or reflective tape if going out at night

If you want to trick or treat at night, get some reflectors or reflective tape. Both of these can stick easily to costumes and should be put on the back of your child’s outfit. Perfect for poorly lighted streets, reflective tape and reflectors catch the light from cars and better alert drivers to pedestrians.

  • Go with your child

Younger children will most certainly want you to come along. Older children can still benefit from parental supervision. If they are not keen on the idea of you escorting them from door to door, you can always compromise by walking with them and staying on the sidewalk as your child knocks on the door. From that vantage point, you can still keep an eye on your child and keep them safe.

  • Don’t dress as a clown (this year)

Because media reports about creepy clowns appearing across the country have unnerved quite a few people, we would recommend not dressing up as a clown this year for Halloween. There have been a few reports of violence against people in clown costumes, and while these dressed-up individuals were probably intending to scare others, it is still not a bad idea to skip even cute clown costumes for your children this year.

 

From the entire team at MSCI, we hope that you and your family have a safe and healthy Halloween!

breast cancer

The Importance of Breast Cancer Examinations

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and our clinic in Irving is doing its part to raise awareness on this terrible disease. Breast cancer will affect nearly 1 in 8 women in their lifetimes. Each year, doctors diagnose nearly 250,000 cases of breast cancer, one of the leading causes of death in women. Regular breast examinations can go a long way in helping to detect breast cancer early so that doctors can provide you with the best treatments.

Women should also schedule regular appointments with our Irving doctors. On top of simply checking your overall health, doctors will ask you questions and look for any indicators of cancer as well as other common diseases. A great tip for women and men alike is to schedule a doctor’s appointment for the same day near your birthday. That way, you never forget to see the doctor and you can go through the year feeling confident about your long-term health.

Women can conduct breast cancer self-examinations at home. Breast examinations should be conducted in two ways: by look and feel.

Look: using a mirror, inspect the breast for odd colorings, visible lumps, pulls, or dents. You should examine your breasts from a few different angles. Lean forward, put your arms on your hips, stand upright, and stand with both arms above your head. If you are uncertain exactly what you are looking for, you can compare one breast to the other, as they should look similar.

Feel: most women tend to conduct this part of the exam in the shower, as the water helps fingers move easily across the skin. Women should try to feel for any lumps, pain, or tenderness. When feeling for abnormalities, use the pads of the fingers and not the tips. Women should also try to feel their breasts in a few different angles, and check different parts of the breasts.

A few other things to remember: any abnormality of the nipple should be cause to see a doctor; because there is not much tissue underneath the nipple, a lump there should be cause for concern. Discharge of the nipples may also be cause for concern; however, consult with your doctor, as this is not always a sign of cancer. When in doubt, always talk to your doctor. It is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to cancer.

Women should conduct a self-examination every month. However, self-examination is not a substitute for a mammogram. Women should still regularly see their doctor for a mammogram, as this procedure offers much more certainty.