Self Breast Exam

Dear Dr. Bone,

I am a good patient who goes for annual mammograms, but I do not do breast self exam.I am afraid that I won’t know what I am feeling or that I will find something. I feel guilty about it but have heard various things about how important it is to do regularly. What do you think?

M.M.

Dear M.M.

If only I had a nickel for the number of times that I’ve heard those comments! You are not alone. There are many studies pointing stressing the importance of self exam to find cancers, especially ones that do not show up on mammogram and come up between mammograms (called interval cancers). Other studies show that breast self exam does not necessarily improve survival from breast cancer or long term outcomes. My feeling is that you should try to do them, but not beat yourself up about it if you do not do them regularly. There are now kits available to improve your technique by using silicone or other liquids between to layers to improve your skill. While these may be helpful, if you can just start with soap and water in the shower and try to cover all areas of the breast and armpit it is a good start. Remember, almost every woman has some lumps and bumps. Anything hard, stuck, and painless may be important. Try to examine during the week after your period is over when the breasts tend to be less sensitive. If you are postmenopausal, just pick the first of the month or your birthday number. I liken breast self exam to moving to a new city. In the first few months you don’t know your way around, but eventually, you know the streets well and would notice if there is a traffic detour. Once you make breast self exam a habit, any changes, even small ones, will probably stand out without a conscious effort.

Having said all that, don’t cancel your mammogram! Do them both.

Dr. Bone

Please take advantage of the following videos of Dr. Melanie Bone explaining both a stand up and laying down breast self exam.

Prevention

Dear Dr. Bone,

With all the time, money and effort spent on finding cures and treatments for cancer, why is there not the same done to prevent? If we never got cancer in the first place, we wouldn’t have to cure it! You really don’t need to reply.

Reader

Dear Reader,

That is the million-dollar question. I hope to devote an entire column to it soon. Suffice to say that cancer is not just one disease. The causes are numerous. Each person’s body deals with cancer cells differently so each person would probably require a different prevention strategy. Lastly, there are already a lot of medical and charitable dollars spent on prevention. Open the paper and you will read about the dangers of excess alcohol consumption and cancer. Still, a large percentage of the population drinks too much. I don’t even need to discuss the risks of smoking. Yet we are not a smoke-free nation. The challenge for public health experts is to get America to adopt more healthy lifestyles that would not only decrease cancer, but heart disease, lung disease, diabetes and a host of life-threatening ailments.

Dr. Bone

Life After Cancer

A guest blog by: Sue Bock

Walking down the dim hallway, I have a light bulb moment; "I don’t need any more answers, I no longer need to research about my breast cancer." At that moment in time my roller coaster of feelings came to a close. Before that, I was always stressed, never comfortable with the uncertainty waiting for the next shoe to drop. I was scared and of course, clinical (since I am an RN after all), researching and searching for answers. Self-care was a big focus for me. I used exercise, yoga, acupressure, and retail therapy with friends to keep me sane. Love was abundant from family and friends. After 3 lumpectomies (because no one ever expected to find any cancer), the specimens were sent for gene testing. All the while, I was hoping, for a positive outcome. After a university tumor board reviewed my results, they agreed unanimously that treatment only by radiation was the best course of action. After I completed my last radiation treatment in January 2011, I celebrated with the therapy team. Then my husband and I drove away to spend a very silly day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk playing games. No worries. No thoughts of cancer. 

During treatment one of my radiotherapy technicians told me her own breast cancer story; how she finished 9 months of chemo & radiation and was forced to decide what was next for her. Her increased risk of injury with subsequent increased risk of infection & lymphedema prevented her return to her career as a jewelry designer. This inspired me to take my life coaching in a different direction. Now it is my mission and pleasure to help women after breast cancer to live a life they deserve. It’s about living your best life possible with or without disease. Let me help you find where you fit, maximize your strengths, your impact, and your contentment.

Breast cancer doesn’t define you; it frees you to arrive at different choices.

Sue Bock

Coach Sue

“Inspiring women with courage to dream, change, and live life’s adventure

http://bestlifeafterbreastcancer.com

Cancer Quiz

Quiz/statistics/ poverty

Cancer Quiz

1.      What is the most common kind of cancer worldwide?

2.      Which cancer is considered the most curable? 

3.      Which causes more deaths in the United States: cancer or heart attack and stroke?

4.      Which cancers are most preventable?

5.      What percentage of cancer is probably preventable?

6.      What is the biggest risk factor for cancer?

Answers

1.      The most common cancer worldwide is lung cancer, causing over 1.2 million deaths each year. While 85% of the patients with lung cancer are smokers or were smokers, more and more lung cancer is occurring that is unrelated to smoking. In developing countries where smoking is more common and pollution is not as well regulated as in the United States, the incidence of lung cancer is rising.

2.      Many cancers are curable at an early stage. Skin cancers, breast cancer, testicular cancer, and prostate cancer all have excellent prognoses when detected early. Skin cancer is easy to detect and treat if you are having regular skin checks, reputation the reputation of most curable. 

3.      Though they are neck-and-neck, the combination of heart disease and stroke causes more deaths than cancer in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

4.      Lung cancer is highly preventable by avoiding smoking. Having regular colonoscopies should reduce the diagnosis of colon cancer dramatically because precancerous growths can be removed before they turn into cancer. Cervical cancer, a major worldwide risk in developing countries, could be reduced dramatically by the HPV vaccine and by implementation of global screening for this sexually-transmitted virus.

5. A full 30% percent of cancer could be prevented by not smoking, eating fruits and vegetables, and maintaining a normal body weight through regular vigorous physical activity. Unfortunately there are many socioeconomic barriers to attaining these goals.

6. Tobacco smoking is the highest risk for cancer.

These answers may seem obvious, but I was amazed at the number of people who thought that breast cancer was the most common and most deadly worldwide. We take it for granted that people all over the world know the dangers of cigarette-smoking, but data show that people living in other countries are unaware of the health hazards of smoking.

Few people realized how rare some cancers are in the US. For example, there are only about 11,000 cases of cervical cancer diagnosed in the US annually, but this cancer is a leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa. Again, lack of effective public health.


~ Dr. Melanie Bone

NEW! Cancer Connect Podcast

STAY TUNED!

Cancer Connect (to be released this week), is a weekly short through inspiration and motivation. Feel free to listen at home, or work to the wonderful people who have become innovative during the healing process and would like to share their journey with you. We will also be interviewing caregivers to help express the anxiety and stress they undergo with little to no support. Our goal is to change the way people think of cancer and bring a new resource into the homes of that many more patients, caregivers and professionals.

Our first guest will be recent blogger Susan Parker. We are so excited to share this new journey with our followers and we hope you will enjoy!

Lean On Lavender, The Color Of All Cancers,
Cancer Shop USA Team