Breast Cancer Recurrence

Anxiety feelings after breast cancer treatment are common and occur partly because the end has come to the frequent visits with your doctors, which can serve to comfort - giving you the tangible notion that someone is watching over you and your health. However, you may be struggling with the fear of recurrence that many women experience after their treatments. Remember that during the treatment planning process, you want to develop a plan to optimize your chance of cure and to carry out that plan. When, this is done, it is time for you to go on with your life. For some women, this means putting the whole process behind them, not even allowing the experience to enter their thoughts, but, for most women, life can't ever be the same again. These women feel that they must do something to give cancer meaning in their overall life experience - such as becoming an advocate for other women who may be suffering. Breast cancer enables many changes to take place in your life, whether they come in the form of helping a new friend or whatever other activity may create that meaning or sense of purpose for you.

Once a woman has breast cancer, most often, there is an underlying fear of cancer recurrence. Unfortunately, some women have recurrences, even after they have done everything they are supposed to do to prevent this. Tremendous controversy lies in regard to how much and what kind of surveillance is necessary after breast cancer therapy. How one should be followed up for recurrence and by whom should be given some thought. Since you are most likely being treated by several medical personnel, once your treatment is complete, you should discuss with your team who is the leader and who will offer future tests for you.

At the very least, you should be examined by a physician, usually the same examiner, every six months or so. If breast surgery with radiation, or lumpectomy alone, has been your form of treatment, you should undergo mammography approximately six months after completion of radiotherapy or surgery. This will serve as a new baseline that future tests can be measured against. Mammography should then be repeated annually. If you have had a mastectomy with or without breast reconstruction surgery, the tissue just beneath the skin and armpit are the areas of possible recurrence and a physical examination is all that is necessary for follow up in your case. Although uncommon, it is essential to diagnose local recurrence as soon as possible.

Controversy also exists about how much testing is necessary to look for a systemic relapse. If you are on protocols testing new drug regimes, there is a set of schedules for doing blood analysis, chest x-rays and bone scans. Bone scans, computed tomography scans and magnetic resonance imaging as routine follow up are not recommended for three reasons: these tests are quite expensive; they expose you to radiation; and studies show that finding a systemic recurrence a few months early, as these test allow, does not affect further treatment or response.

Once you have breast cancer, you join a huge group of women, well over 2 million strong, who are cancer survivors. Your life will have changed in many ways forever. How you cope with being a survivor and dealing with the fear of recurrence head-on will largely influence the quality of the rest of your life.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Treatments

In this article I am going to cover options for treating breast cancer, once it has been diagnosed.

Unlike years ago when options for treatment were few and not very effective, today there are many options for treating breast cancer, many with excellent results and chances for full recovery, depending on the type of breast cancer and how advanced it is.

Here is a brief overview of your options today.

1. Local Regional Treatment. This is actually treatment of the lymph nodes in the area surrounding the breast as well as the breast itself. If metastatic disease is present then the treatment is given to specific areas. One of these methods is radiation therapy or radiotherapy. Much to womens’ surprise there are very few side effects from this therapy and they are restricted to the area being treated. Radiotherapy is an effective way to destroy the cancer cells and provide the best chance that the cancer will not come back.

Another method of this type of treatment is surgery which is usually the last recourse when all other methods have failed. With surgery in many cases reconstruction is needed afterwards as often part or all of the breast needs to be removed, which is called having a mastectomy. However, even this radical a surgery is not as drastic as it was years ago. Today every attempt is made to preserve as much of the healthy breast as possible.

2. Systemic Treatments. This is where the whole body is treated as a system.

The most common systemic treatment is chemotherapy. The purpose of chemotherapy is to get rid of any cancer cells that may have spread from the breast to other areas of the body. The reason chemotherapy works and also the reason it is so hard on your body is because it attacks the rapidly dividing cancer cells in your body. Unfortunately cancer cells are not the only cells in your body that divide, thus the reason that chemotherapy can have such a sickening effect on a person. Still, chemotherapy is not as hard to go through today as it was years ago and is an important insurance policy against the spread of the disease, especially to the lymph nodes, which in many cases is fatal.

Another treatment that isn't as common is tamoxifen, which is a very powerful drug. This drug reduces the risk of breast cancer returning after surgery and even reduces the risk of a woman ever getting breast cancer. However the side effects, though not fatal, can be very serious and uncomfortable. They include blood clots and uterine cancer, hot flushes, early menopause, problems with fertility, nausea and vomiting, weight gain, mood swings, depression and loss of energy.

3. Alternative and Holistic Treatments. These are treatments where the body, mind and spirit are all treated. Unfortunately there is very little medical evidence to show that these treatments are effective. Some of these alternative methods include acupuncture, meditation, relaxation techniques, and the use of flaxseed and black cohosh. Flaxseed supposedly reduces the growth and spread of breast cancer. Black cohosh is supposed to stop the hot flushes associated with those who have breast cancer. Again, there is nothing to support either of these claims.

Years ago breast cancer was pretty much a death sentence. Today with the effective and relatively safe treatments that have been developed a woman can not only survive breast cancer but also have a normal healthy life afterwards.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Breast Cancer

Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

The first step to getting a diagnosis is detection. Monitoring your own breast tissue contains 3 main components including a) Breast Self-examination b) Clinical Breast Exam and c) Mammography.

A woman may notice abnormalities while doing a self-exam. By examining your breasts every month, you will become familiar and be able to detect changes better. The following are the steps to perform breast self-examination.

a) Breast Self-Examination

1) Put your hands on hip while standing in front of a mirror to visually examine your breasts. Then stand with your hands behind your head with fingers interwoven and look for changes in size, lumps, shape, contour, color, dimples or inverted nipples.
2) Press each nipple to see if there is a discharge.
3) Lie down putting a pillow under your left shoulder. Place your left hand under your head while lying down. Using your right hand, fingers flattened together into a pad form and press on the top portion of the left breast in a circular motion to examine the outer, then the inner circle of the breast including nipple. Use light pressure for area under skin’s surface. Then add a little more pressure to feel halfway into the flesh. Finally, use deep pressure to feel down the ribs. Examine the breast and chest area under your armpit. With the same way, repeat on the right side using your left hand.

With the above self-examination method, you should be able to feel any unusual lump or thickening tissues or skin.

b) Clinical breast Exam

This is conducted during your annual gynecological examination. Your doctor will place pressure on your breasts in circular motion the pads of his or her fingers. You will have one hand tucked under your head while the other breast is being examined.

c) Mammography

Mammography is able to detect any cancerous growth before it can be felt by a manual

exam. It is an X-ray image of the breast. A screening mammogram is done when a clinical breast exam is normal. It consists of two views of each breast including:

a) An up and down view and

b) Side to side view.

A diagnostic mammogram is performed to evaluate any abnormality found during a breast exam. Mammograms may sometimes cause discomfort because the breasts must be compressed until the skin is taut. Mammograms can detect breast calcifications made of minute amounts of calcium that cannot be detected by self or clinical exams. Generally, a radiologist can make a prediction on the likelihood of a lesion is malignant based on a screening mammograms. For women who already have symptoms suggestion of breast cancer (e.g. a palpable lump), diagnostic mammographics is necessary as they include additional views to give a more accurate prediction as to the likelihood of cancer.

Jennifer Comm is a registered nurse and acclaimed author with over 20 years of health care experience.

Free Tips on Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Facts- Men Get Breast Cancer Too

One of the most common cancers among Black women, as you may know, is Breast Cancer. And that, my friends, is only surpassed by the number one culprit Lung Cancer. More than 217, 000 people will be affected by Breast Cancer this year. Now tell me that this fact isn’t a good reason for us to feel some fear. Every 2 minutes, my friends, a woman is diagnosed with Breast Cancer. And every 13 minutes because of Breast Cancer, one woman’s life is over. Imagine, 20, 000 newly diagnosed cases are expected to occur among Black Women. Of that, 57 hundred Black Women, because of Breast Cancer, will leave this earth my friend. Black Women 5 year survival rate is 74%. Compared to White Women whose survival rate is 88%. Scientists still don’t know why Breast Cancer affects Black Women differently to White Women. There’s a higher incidence of Breast Cancer in Black Women as compared to White Women. Black Women are more likely to be diagnosed with much larger tumors. And they are also more likely to be diagnosed with more advanced stages of Breast Cancer. Among women under 45 Black Women have a higher incidence of this disease. And this is compared to the incidences among women, if you please. The risk of Breast Cancer for all women surely increases with age. But yearly mammograms and monthly self- exams help to discover it at an early stage. Women between the age of 20-30 should have a mammogram every 3 years. Be familiar with your breasts so you’ll notice any changes occuring there. Report any changes that you find to your doctor without delay. The best method of protection is early detection, that’s what I always say. Mammograms are avalable; they are free for everyone. But if you have no insurance you can still get yourself a free one. Ladies remind your husbands and boyfriends to check their breasts when you do; They should report any changes they see in their breasts because men can get Breast Cancer too.

I have been busy promoting my book- Smiling Thru the Tears- A Breast Cancer Survivor Odyssey, doing radio interviews, television appearances and booked solid with Motivational Speaking engagements. I publish an enewletter- Metamorphosis, for Breast Cancer survivors and I stay busy. It is my way of staving off the demon and I thrive on the challenge of staying busy. Every new pain or change could become a potential point of worry and that is no way to live and I have no time for worry. I rise every morning cognizant that I overcame breast cancer...I am a survivor. I live with chemo related vertigo and neuropathy but I try not to let it define who I am. I know I have a new reality; the things I once took for granted have now become a challenge. I can't turn my head suddenly or lay flat on my back, but I can breath, I can laugh and I can rejoice and thank God for His New Year gift to me- my blessing. I had a biopsy on my left breast and on January 5th, 2005 after a second breast cancer scare, I was told that my biopsy came back negative. Yes folks, I am cancer free...isn't God great?

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