A child of the deep south, I heard my mother say more than once that sex, politics and religion were topics to avoid in conversation. I wonder what she would have thought about a diagnosis of ‘the big C’?
Telling others that you have cancer
Can I safely skip aggressive breast cancer treatment?
After being diagnosed with breast cancer, a woman faces a mountain of choices about treatment.
Lumpectomy or mastectomy? Reconstruction or flat? Chemotherapy? Radiation? Estrogen-blocking medicine?
Wouldn’t it be great to have our own personal Minority Report? A service that could predict cancer that will spread and kill (rather than people who will commit a crime in the future).
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Breast cancer: what are the risks?
About 190,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 60,000 cases of non-invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women this year. Approximately 2,000 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American men this year.
The number one risk for breast cancer is being a woman over 50. Women under 45 account for about 1-in-8 invasive breast cancers. Women older than 55 account for 2-in-3 invasive breast cancers. The longer we live, the more opportunity for genetic damage.
Sexual assault and breast cancer: is there a link?
There’s a hashtag trending on Twitter today, #metoo, started by actor Alyssa Milano. The goal was to continue to raise awareness of sexual assault and harassment in U.S. culture, which should be considered epidemic: 300,000 Americans (one person every two minutes) are sexually victimized each year.
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Breast cancer risk associated with dense breasts
If you’ve ever heard, “you’ve got dense breasts” during a mammogram … were you also told how that might affect your risk of breast cancer?
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BRCA, the breast cancer gene
In May 2013, the breast cancer gene (BRCA) entered public discourse when Angelina Jolie told the world that she had undergone a preventative double mastectomy with reconstruction.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BReast CAncer) have become the best-known genes linked to breast cancer risk.
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What is lymphedema?
The lymphatic system transports lymph (limf), a protein-rich clear fluid containing white blood cells, throughout the body. A key part of the body’s immune system, lymph fluid moves through lymph vessels and hundreds of lymph nodes.
Lymphedema — swelling or edema — happens when the lymphatic system isn’t working properly. It is sometimes a side effect of breast cancer treatment and is considered secondary lymphedema.