breast cancer

Many women are hard-hit when the diagnosis for a breast lump is confirmed as breast cancer. One thing that would come to the mind of this patient is endangered life and loss of breast. There is a big fear for cancer. However, with an earlier diagnosis and treatment, a breast cancer patient will have a high survival rate. When your cancer surgeon decides on your mastectomy to prevent the spread of cancer in the breast, you should never panic. Mastectomy has a short healing process and without the cancer-affected breast, you can be blessed with a longer life.

Mastectomy is the surgical removal of the breast - total removal and perhaps some of the tissues surrounding the affected breast. And there are different degrees of mastectomy. These are partial, simple or total, modified radical and radical mastectomy. The kind may be dependent on the stage of the breast cancer and the spread and aggressiveness of cancer cells in the breast, lymph nodes or chest walls. In several cases, mastectomy is preferred over lumpectomy. The latter is merely the removal of the tumor and all the tissues that surround it.

Partial mastectomy will involve a simple removal of the lump and a few of the tissues surrounding it. This does not only remove cancerous tumor. The procedure may also remove some healthy tissues surrounding the tumor. Lumpectomy can also be classified as partial mastectomy except that in the partial mastectomy, a bigger amount of breast tissues are removed.

The simple or total mastectomy will require the removal of the breast but will not involve removal of the lymph nodes or the muscles underlying the breast. When both breasts are affected, a double mastectomy can be the surgical procedure. Some cancer surgeons do skin sparing mastectomy which involves removal of the areola and the nipple. In the subcutaneous mastectomy, the surgeon removes the breast tissues but the nipple will be left untouched.

In simple or total mastectomy, the focus is the surgical removal of the breast tissues. This will not involve the auxiliary lymph node dissection. The simple or total mastectomy is performed when the patient is diagnosed to have multiple patches of carcinoma. This is also prophylactic in nature, not a treatment per se, but may be a preventive measure against occurrence of high risk breast cancer.

Breast removal involving the whole breast and some auxiliary lymph nodes is known as modified radical mastectomy. In this procedure, both breast tissues and lymph nodes are removed. The procedure will involve the removal of the whole breast after which the lymph nodes are dissected such that the underarm nodes can be removed.

A diagnosis of invasive cancer may force the woman to undergo mastectomy, usually a modified radical mastectomy. This will make the examination of the lymph nodes thorough and easier. This will determine whether the cancer has spread or not beyond the breast area.

The radical mastectomy may be the highest level of breast removal and surgery. Here, the breast, auxiliary lymph nodes and the chest wall muscles are removed. This procedure is more common in the past. Today, this is no longer the last resort; in fact this is only done when the cancer had spread to the chest muscles. Modified radical mastectomy is usually sufficient.

Felicitas Ramos is writing articles as a hobby and she writes on different niches. She is in her 4th year of battle with Stage 2-A breast cancer. Read more about breast cancer by visiting her site Health And Fitness Today

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It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I had a question from one of my clients about why should she worry about breast cancer "at her age?" We devote a lot of press to mothers and daughters and sisters and spouses, but what about grandmothers and great-grandmothers? What I am going to share with you in this posting may seem a bit of a surprise, because we tend to focus a lot of our attention on women who are in their prime when we think about breast cancer. We may even think that older - and very post-menopausal - women need not be as concerned about a medical risk often associated with hormonal activity.

There has been research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering that basically says that regular testing works as well if not better for older patients as it does for younger patients, because if the cancer is caught early - and therefore small - these women have a very favorable prognosis. In other research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston doctors followed about 65,000 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer using Medicare data alongside women without breast cancer who numbered 170,000. Women over 65 who were diagnosed in this group with what is called ductal cell carcinoma in situ and stage I cancer - what they refer to as DCIS - were just as likely to survive for the study period of eight years as those without this diagnosis. Now, this is the amazing part. The women who were diagnosed before 80 years of age actually lived a bit longer than women who did not have breast cancer.

Treatment decisions can be complicated for older patients. And it is mostly because older patients tend to have other medical issues going on which providers refer to as co-morbidities. As we get older, we may also have high blood pressure, diabetes, or something else. In other research physicians have found that more conservative, non-surgical, non-radiation, even non-chemotherapy can be effective. But again, it comes down to early detection to avoid the complications of a more aggressive cancer.

Even if we just come out and say women who got breast exams were just taking better care of themselves, early detection seems to be working better for older women than their younger counterparts. And, of course, we should take the larger lesson that early diagnosis and treatment are incredibly important for any elder for whom we are caregivers. When I first looked into breast cancer and older patients I actually thought I was going to find professionals suggesting it is not as essential to have breast exams as patients get older. The research seems to be saying that doctors ought to be talking to their female patients at every age, because stage II and stage III patients did not fair as well. Talk to your provider to see what is optimal for the age of the elder for whom you care.

Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Case Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families. Please email your questions to Charlotte Bishop.

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The American Cancer Society expects that 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2011, 57,650 new cases of CIS (the non-invasive form of breast cancer), and that about 39,520 women will die from breast cancer. That's too many! What should Boomer women know about prevention?

There has been much publicity about Vitamin D of late. Now studies have shown that the mighty vitamin D can also help protect all of us Baby Boomer women against breast cancer.

I encourage every woman to check her vitamin D level regularly and keep it in the optimal range. Based upon the outdated requirements for this important vitamin, which have recently been increased, "normal" is not the same as optimal. Many of us have been told by our physician for years that our vitamin D levels are normal. It's time to get them checked against the newer "optimal" standards.

Most docs today now recommend supplementing with 2,000 IUs of vitamin D3 per day, as well as getting as much from your diet as you can. I know it's hard to get all you need from food. Fatty fish like Salmon, herring, catfish and halibut are good sources, but if you don't like fish it can be difficult to find high levels of this important vitamin in other foods.

There is another easy way to optimize our vitamin D. Make sure you are getting plenty of regular, safe, sun exposure. Believe it or not, the sun is actually the best source of vitamin D. The sun's UVB rays help our bodies manufacture vitamin D in the fat layer under the skin. Our own body can make all the vitamin D we need from regular sun exposure. We should spend about fifteen minutes showing some skin before we put on our sunscreen; exposing the skin is good for us as long as we don't burn.

There is also evidence that Vitamin K not only helps activate proteins that are involved in the structuring of bone mass, which is good news for all of us Baby Boomer women, but recent studies show it also has an anti-cancer effect; vitamin K has been used in the treatment of several different cancers, including breast cancer. You can get your vitamin K in swiss chard, kale, parsley and spinach, broccoli and cauliflower, brussels sprouts, liver, soybean oil and wheat bran. Many more choices here than with vitamin D, however, supplements are also available if you'd prefer.

Dietand Exercise are hugely important in preventing breast cancer. A study published in the " Journal of Clinical Oncology " reinforces previous findings that women with breast cancer greatly reduce their risk of recurrence by eating a healthy, plant-based diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and exercising regularly. This study, conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, tracked dietary patterns and exercise habits of nearly 1,500 women who were diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. Researchers found that the death rate for women who consumed a high-fiber diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and practiced good exercise habits, was 44% lower than the rate for women who exercised little and ate few plant-based foods. Almost half the risk, wow!

So, as my dear ol'gram used to say: "take your vities, eat all your veggies, and get plenty of fresh air!"

Best of Health,

Kathi

Kathi Casey, The Healthy Boomer Body Expert provides weight loss tips, relief from Menopause Symptoms, Sciatic Nerve Pain Remedies and more: http://www.healthyboomerbody.com/

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