Breast Cancer 101:What You Need To Know!
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What's Going On!
This is my experience before I was finally told that I had breast cancer. I'm not the only one, this is the experience with many people that I've come across. Fact is, there is a cancer epidemic. Anyone can be diagnosed with some form of cancer. I do not fit all the risk of someone diagnosed with breast cancer. What you are especially not told is there are ways to prevent cancer. There are proven alternative treatments that can be used while on chemo. And no, not everyone dies from cancer!. I've meet several survivors along the way who survival rates range from five to twenty six years. Don't read into every statistic that you see. Based on my experience, I honestly have to say this, they aren't accurate: Read excerpts from "The Black Cats of Cancer." This book confirms the inaccuracies and myths concerning breast cancer. Also see: Could it be Breast Cancer?
Are you a cancer patient, survivor or care giver? Well, here's a free subscription for you courtesy of www.curetoday.com
Cancer Survivors Rehabbing at the YMCA
- Warming up at the Living Well Living Strong Fitness Program
Andrea (2yr BC Survivor on bike) as Carol,
Y fitness director, looks on--Credit Linda Lynwander
I'm A Survivor
Featured Breast Cancer Lens
Information on Breast Cancer is available
It may not seem like it, but I do believe that breast cancer can be treatable and curable. There are many alternatives that can be used in conjunction with chemo treatments. If patients are diagnosed properly, given the proper treatments and the knowledge of alternatives to go along with chemo treatments, I truly believe there could be more survivors.
10 Myths About Breast Cancer
Affirmation:
What You Need to Know
I need to know what's going on here! You're not telling me anything!
Why am I writing this lens because I was diagnosed with breast cancer, had my tumor removed via a Sentinal Lymph Node Biopsy as an outpatient, am currently on my second round of chemo treatment, and I have found several reliable methods on the Internet that have been practiced for years or much research have been done on the subject. Also, there is much about breast cancer that is not being mention and if you are especially newly diagnosed or even want to prevent getting breast cancer, you need this information.
First people are not given all their information as required on their diagnosis. This is wrong!! I was not given a copy of a document with the most important results of my mammogram until two months later--I had to demand them!
On top of that--the clinic try to make it look as if it was my fault. It wasn't and I let them know that! Look, I have a web site with plenty of information on breast cancer and links to various organizations. I found my own lump because of this information. It would be very stupid of me to die from something that I have available on my web sites.
TIP: Make sure you get your diagnosis and treatments at the most reputable hospital or cancer treatment centers. I've had my final diagnosis, pre-testing, and out-patient surgery at Sloan-Kettering Hospital in NY and my chemo treatments at Hackensack University Cancer Treatment Center in NJ. Other cancer treatment center located in the United States can be found here: http://www.cancercenter.com/cancer-hospitals.cfm.
All I needed to do what to find out what stage was the breast cancer and what could be done about it! And in a nutshell, I'm passing on this info you with the hope that you will benefit from it!
The Sooner The Better!
I'm not getting the information that I need, what should I do?
If you feel something that doesn't feel normal and you haven't notice it until recently, chances are you maybe at the beginning stages of breast cancer and the tumor hasn't spread. Get this taken care ASAP! The sooner the better!
There is a different between an Excisional biopsy and mastectomy. An Excisional biopsy is where an incision is made to the breast and the tumor as well as the surrounding tissue is removed and is performed as an outpatient surgery. Unless cancer is found in the lymph nodes, no additional surgery will be required and you can go home right after the surgery. It is mandatory that you have some one who can pick you up from the surgery. A mastectomy is where the whole breast is removed and inpatient surgery is performed. You are required a few days hospital stay as they removed everything from your breast as well as cancerous lymph nodes.
Be Proactive--Find out as much as you can about your mammograms results. Most of the information that you may receive from a physician can be very vague. That's fine if you don't want to find out anything, but keep this is mind, what you don't know can kill you. The sooner you act on getting a treatment for your beast cancer, the better it will be for you in the long run. It would also save you hugh medical expenses as well as very long-term aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Y-E-S! There is a such thing as Patient's Bill of Right! And reputable hospitals would have this information available to you when you have a consultation for your initial diagnosis. You can get more information on patient's bill of right by visiting The Cancer Patient's Bill of Rights. You can also find out about FMLA and the disability act. Remember, your health is important! No one has the right to deny you treatment simply because you can't afford it. As a patient receiving chemo, your employee can not discriminate against you and by law many employees are required to change your work schedule to meet your needs during cancer treatments.
Toughing It Out On Chemo!
Before you can tough it out on chemo, you need to know your medicines!
First what is chemotherapy? You can get the definition here.Chemotherapy can be given orally, topically, or intravenously depending on your type of cancer, how aggressive it is, and how advanced it is. Chemo is administered in cycles depending on how aggressive the tumor was or how advanced the cancer is.
For my chemo treatments, I was administered two types of chemo medicine. I was given Adriamycin for the first four rounds of my chemo treatments. I was given Taxol for the remaining four rounds of my chemo treatments. Both treatments are administered intravenously. However, there are several types of chemo drugs or medicine treatments that can be administered: learn more about them. Before, I could research alternatives medicines or nutritional facts on foods, I had to learn each medicines side effects.
Adriamycin is the strongest of the two chemo treatments. If you can get through this treatment in flying colors, you can get through anything. The side effects are brutal. Taxol is the chemo treatment that I'm currently on and for me this medicine is easier to tolerate than Adriamycin. The side effects for me are minimal. If I were to use a car analogy it would be: Adriamycin is like driving in NY while Taxol is like driving in New Mexico.
FACT:
With Adriamycin every nutrient counts and ranges from spices, vegetables, grains, yogurts, cheese, fruits, meats, poultry and plenty of water.
Adriamycin
Side effects for Adriamycin can be:
Side effects vary from each individual even if they are having the same treatments. Some may experience very little side effects while others will experience a full range of side effects.
- Definitely hair loss usually around your 2nd round of chemo
- Nausea, queasiness, and/or maybe vomiting
- Dry mouth and mouth sores
- Loss of appetite due to the mouth sores
- Fatigue and weakness
- Low white blood count
- Anemia which can be brought on by loss of appetite brought on by the mouth sores.
- Fever, chills and sore throat
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Nail discoloration
How to Lessen the Side Effects of Adriamycin
Side effects can be managed, but it requires lot of work. Maintaining a positive attitude throughout your chemo journey is your best bet. I find that dealing with mouth sores while on Adriamycin is half the battle.
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Always take your nuelasta shot twenty-four hours after your chemo treatment. It helps build up your blood count and it keeps away infections. It is the saving grace for you to stay on schedule with your chemo treatments. LET ME MAKE THIS CLEARER!
Unless medical or scientific research find something else that can build up your blood count, please stick with your nuelasta schedule!
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Drink plenty of water, gatorade and vitamin waters. I found it best to drink liquids at room temperature, Rehydrate as often as possible.
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To avoid dry mouth rinse with tap water as often as possible. This will also help with avoiding mouth sores for as long as possible.
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This seem to work for me with headaches the day after my chemo treatment. Rub essential peppermint oil on my forehead and temples. Apply a warm washcloth on my forehead for about 20 minutes.
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I found with nausea or queasiness that peppermint ball seemed to work for me, along with 1-3 GingerForce capsules daily taken for two days.
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Should you get mouth sores rinse with a non-alcoholic mouthwash like Biotine mouthwash and Natural Dentist mouthwash in the morning and evening. Rinse with baking soda of the conditions worsen. Do the 4-combo routine:wipe the gums and teeth with witch hazel, brush teeth, rinse with baking soda, gargle with a vinegar/lemon combo (using about 1/2 tsp of distilled vinegar, about 1/2 tsp of lemon juice, a couple of drops of three or four of these essential oils--peppermint, lime, rosemary, and/or ginger in glass of water).
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I integrated acupuncture on my second round of chemo. Acupuncture treatments are cumulative. At the start of my fourth chemo treatment the side effects of the mouth sores, sore throats and queasiness were diminishing. At the start of my six chemo treatment, all side effects with the exceptions of a few of the mouth sores were gone.
Acupuncture Needles
Many spices are loaded with nutrients!
I just learned that two teaspoons of cinnamon contains 10% of your daily value of iron. Two teaspoons of tumeric powder also contains 10% of your daily value of iron.
Knowledge of Nutrients is Power
While on Adriamycin knowledge of nutrients are helpful!
When I first started on the chemo treatments, I didn't know which foods were best for helping me heal faster or would help me with the side effect. I did plenty of research first on the foods that I had cravings for. I basically went by trail and error to find out how I felt after eating certain foods. I discovered the nutrients in those foods or spices would actually help me with my chemo treatments and/or prevented cancer in some way.
What I found is that the chemo diet should be low-fat and there must be a balance between your carbohydrates and proteins.
With that said, I was actually surprised on what I found about cinnamon, tumeric powder, kefir, yogurt, shredded cocunuts, whole cloves, ginger, cumin seeds, chicken, spinach, onions, cilantro, whey protien, nutritional yeast, and whole list of others. Learn more download Every Bite Counts!
If you would like to find more nutritional information for those of you going to treatment look no further than God's Love We Deliver Nutritional: Publications & Newsletters.
- Ground Cinnamon
Cinnamon has a long history both as a spice and as a medicine and has unique healing properties. Cinnamon is an excellent source of many of our nutrients like iron. Read more about cinnamon's nutrients and other health benefits.
- Tumeric Powder
Tumeric has been long used as a powerful anti-inflammatory in the Chinese and Indian systems of medicine. Tumeric is one of the best known ingredients for making curry. Read more on Tumeric's daily nutrient value and its health benefits. You maybe surprised at what you find!
- Cumin Seeds
Cumin seeds belong to the same plant family as caraway, dill and parsley and is available all year round. Cumin is mostly used in Mexican, Indian and Middle Eastern Cuisine. This unassuming seeds packs a punch with its nutritional value.
- Whole Cloves
What I didn't know are unopened flower buds from the evergreen clove tree. Cloves are also available all year round. I was surprised that cloves are a good source of Omega 3 Fatty Acid as well as manganese. This spice is compact and also packs a punch with its nutritional value.
- Flaxseeds and Flaxseed Oil
I started off with the flaxseed and flaxseed oils about a week before of my chemo treatments. I started off with the Joann Ludwig cottage cheese mixture or I would grind flaxseeds and put it in yogurt. The deeper I got into my chemo treatments the less, I relied on flaxseeds. When my mouth sores were at their worst, I would combine grind flaxseed or flaxseed oil in a smoothie. Flaxseeds are loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids and provides a good source of other nutrients.
- Nutritional Yeast
Nutritional yeast is grown on mineral rich molasses and is used as a food supplement. It is a complete protein, excellent source of B vitamins, contains 18 amino acids and 15 minerals. Find out how to use this wonder food!
- Ginger
Modern scientific research has revealed that ginger possesses numerous therapeutic properties. I have shredded ginger and put it in my smoothie or used as an ingredient in sour cereal. Sour cereal is a breakfast cereal I was introduced to more than 20 years ago when I practiced Siddha Yoga. You get the recipe for sour cereal here.
Taxol
Side effects for Taxol can be:
The side effects of Taxol is minimal for me. It hasn't affect my appetite. I don't get as tired as I did when I was on Adriamycin. I'm getting rid of the mouth sores. As I mentioned before, side effects varies for one person to another. Chemo treatments are not one size fit all. Acupuncture is cumulative, so this alternative treatment could have lessen the side effects in the long run.
- Pain, swelling, redness or skin color changes where the medicine was injected
- Muscle, bone or joint pain
- Hair loss
- Sores or white patches on your lips, mouth or throat
- Numbness, tingling, or burning in your hands, arms, legs, or feet
- Tiredness or weakness
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Dry and sometimes itchy skin
“Now that I'm on Taxol--coming to chemo round #7, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!”
The Light At The End
Went flying through seven chemo treatments..
Don't need to wait for #8 to know...
I may have meet with some Divine intervention
I may have experienced a miracle
Because
I've made it! I truly made it!
I am a SURVIVOR!
Just by being positive, being creative, and
learning and experience along this journey--
I am more knowledgeable
I am Free
I have more choices
Because I am alive
and I will live for a very long time!
Inspirational Stories
It also helps when you have friends, family and inspirational stories to pull you through. Because you need all of these! I feel blessed because I do have lots of support from family and friends. I know there are countless of unknown faces praying for me. I frequently get calls from family and friends asking how I'm doing. I really appreciate their calls and I usually get this phone calls when I need them the most. However, I was feeling pretty crabby this mid-morning until I came upon Scott Hamilton's story.
- To Find Happiness, turn your losses to wins
- In his book, "The Great Eight," Scott Hamilton reveals his secret to happiness that helped him win his battle with cancer.
- Kathy Bates Reveals Victory Over Ovarian Cancer
- Kathy Bates has kept her battle with ovarian cancer until now!
- Breast Cancer Saved My Life
- This is a remarkable story in which Carolee Carmello's breast cancer actually saved her from stage IV lung cancer.
Spotlight on Geralyn Lucas' Book
Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy
Why I Wore Lipstick: To My Mastectomy
Amazon Price: $3.59 (as of 05/26/2012)
Recently I attended a Many Faces of Breast Cancer Event at Hackensack University Medical Center. I came across Geralyn Lucas who is a breast cancer activist and the author of this book. At twenty-seven she faced breast cancer and her book talks about her journey with breast cancer. In her story, she had been faced with the delimma that she may not ever have children. Today, she has two children, Skye and Hayden. I was honored to receive an autographed copy of this book.
Scott Hamilton's "The Great Eight"
The Black Cats of Breast Cancer
Alternatives That Were Helpful for Me
At hospitals or cancer treatment centers such as Sloan Kettering that have alternative medicines on hand such as aromatherapy message, shiastu message, acupuncture, yoga, tai-chi, and qigong.
- Acupuncture
Acupuncture helps relieves nassau and vomiting in chemo patient. It also helps to relieve fatigue, dry mouth, pain, anxiety, constipation, diarrhea, and shortness of breath. I never had too many problems with vomiting nor did I experience any real pain. What I do know is acupuncture is cumulative that for sure! I went for my acupuncture sessions religiously. A day or two day before my chemo treatments and bad weather nor did tiredness kept me away from these sessions. With each sessions the results of my chemo treatments got better and better.
- Reiki
After my post-operative consultation on November 11, 2008. I came across this article on Margaret's breast cancer treatment journey with reiki. I have a sister who practices reiki. My first session with her was on December 26, 2008 and my six and a half year old son also helped in my reiki session. Reiki is one of the oldest healing practices in the world and it is not a religion. Some of the benefits of Reiki is it helps to reduce stress and tension, boost the immune system, reduce pain and assists with the management of chronic conditions. Find out more about The Simplicity of Reiki.
- Aromatherapy
I first heard about aromatherapy when my daughter was diagnosed with MS. At that time, my daughter was temporarily paralyzed. She couldn't walk. I would massage her legs with a combination of sesame seed oil, cinnamon, peppermint, and ginger oil. I did this day and night for about six weeks along with exercises from physical therapy that were done on her at the hospital. I incorporated the use of these same oils except olive oil substituted the sesame seed for arm stiffness of my left arm that occurred after my surgery. I also used these same oils to elevate nausea, peppermint oil for headaches, lavender and rosemary with olive oil to message my scalp after hair loss, tea tree to prevent infections, and lime oil as a deodorant.
- Flaxseed Oil and Cottage Cheese
Dr. Johanna Budwig was a biochemist, blood specialist, and seven times Nobel nominee who treated and yes, cured all types of cancer of terminally ill patients that hospitals had given up on. For this reason, At the start of my chemo treatments, I had included flaxseed oil and the cottage cheese protocol as part of my daily diet since the start of my chemo treatments. Then I discovered the spices and the nutrients they contain and with each new discovery and more choices available to me, I started eating other things that were more helpful for my healing and lessening side effects.
Flaxseed Oil and Cottage Cheese Recipe- Dr Murray's Chemotherapy Article
I find this article to be very helpful with my chemo treatments. The majority of my antioxidants come from celery, tomatoes, apples, herbal green tea extracts, roobios tea, onions, spinach, carrots, cranberries, strawberries, potatoes, triple antioxidant vitamin water,flax seeds, gingerforce capsules, and a maitake mushroom extract.
Visit these links for more information on antioxidants: Dr Kedar Prasad and Antioxidant 101
I support New Chapter because of what they stand for. Therefore, I use two of their products the maitake mushroom extract and gingerforce. I'm not using these products as a substitute for curing cancer but to enhance the positive effects of chemo. On my third round of chemo my blood count was good again. But what may have worked for me, may or may not work for you but at least you know there are alternatives. I tried out various regimens. Read and re-read on the well-documented research that I found. I stayed with the ones that made me feel very good and discard regimens that didn't seem to work.
- Yoga and Meditation
Many cancer treatment centers or hospitals that are specialzed in cancer treatments often offer yoga and meditation classes in addition to conventional medicine. I've found when I did hatha yoga exercises and meditate at home, I found that I had more energy and my day went smoother and it was a lot less stressful. You may want to check out The Ultimate Yoga and Meditation Guide! You may also consider the Learn Yoga e-book.
- My Point Exactly--Read This Article!
This article talks about traditional chinese medicine as a complementary approach to preventing and living with breast cancer. Nearly one-third of women diagnosed with breast cancer decided to enhance their treatment with some form of alternative, integrative or complementary care.
Breast Cancer 101--what's your say?
Is there information on Breast Cancer that missing and you would like to see hear? Do you know anyone who was newly diagnosed with Breast Cancer and could benefit from this information? Are you diagnosed and find this information helpful?
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needatitleokc
Oct 22, 2010 @ 10:37 am | delete
- I haven't had to go thru chemo i am on Fermara and it seems to be working. I am on www.squidoo.com/myjourneywithcancer. would like your opion of my page.
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CofCJenny
Oct 5, 2010 @ 10:40 pm | delete
- Thanks for sharing your story! My nana passed away in 1994 from breast cancer. She knew about it and chose to ignore it, because she was scared, and by the time she decided to get treatment it was too late. Breast Cancer is my biggest weakness and it is SO wonderful to hear survival stories. God bless you!! And everyone else fighting the fight. I hope this lens can bring comfort to others battling this horrible disease.
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Diamond_Wizard
Oct 6, 2010 @ 5:25 pm | delete
- Thanks for your comment and this is why I continue to do just what I'm doing to make people more aware that they can do something that in most cases it is never too late. I was scared to at first, but I was very annoyed that no one would tell me anything. Lots of people, I'm finding out now aren't as persistent as I was about finding information concerning them in regards to breast cancer. There are lots of program and information out there that lots of people are not aware of and will not find out about until they are diagnosed with this disease. I am a member of Gilda's Club and I am involved with several organizations that have programs available (often free programs) for the cancer community. You can find out more about them by visiting my blogspot: http://theafundscent-team.blogspot.com/. In addition to my involvement with these organization, I'm finding there are lots of lung cancer survivors on the rise as well.
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howtocurecancer
Sep 22, 2010 @ 4:29 am | delete
- you don't have to suffer and have pains doing chemotherapy, surgery or any kind of radiation........please follow my mom because she is a breast cancer survivor and now she decided to tell everyone how she did it.......http://www.squidoo.com/breakfast-of-a-cancer-survivor
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Diamond_Wizard
Sep 22, 2010 @ 9:43 am | delete
- Hi,
Thank you for your comments! But, if you had read this entire lens you should have noted all the different options available that I did while I was chemo treatment. I mentioned the different spices that I was using in my foods and their nutritional benefits. I mention about the peppermint oils and other essential oils that do work. I do mention about eating vegetables, fruits, cheeses and yogurts as well. I also dranked plenty of water and gatorade during my treatment. The acupuncture treatments also helped tremendously I didn't know much about breast cancer when I was first diagnosed which is why I opted for the chemo treatment. I did read various articles on alternatives treatments and Sloan Kettering has an integrative program (which I took full advantage of) so before going into the chemo treatment, I already knew there were numerous things a person could do to lessen side effects that really work. Yes, and these alternatives that I incorporated into my cancer treatments lessen side effects a great deal! I never experience any pain while on chemo or even with the radiation. The nassau experience was almost non-existant. Being fatigue and weak as well as losing my hair were the only side effects I experienced. But really, losing my hair was the least of my worries. Nobody really cares, especially if you live in the NY and NJ areas. In fact when I got to my five round of chemo, the doctors stop asking me if I experience pain. It became so obvious that I wasn't. But still, it takes time for the body to heal.
What I wish I had mention was the outcome of coming out of chemo and radiation treatments so well. The down side is because I had less experience of the side effects, I returned to work sooner and I was expected to do the same tasks, very long hours, and with a half/hour lunch. There was no adjustments made to my schedule because my manager at the time felt that according to the company's policy this would show favortism. In addition, I experienced survivor's guilt, people seem to be going out of my life in more ways than one such as resigning, getting fired, sick leave, and dying. There were also creditors harassing me for payments. There was the situation with parking tickets that I had to pay because according to the NY Traffic Violations Bureau courts reason: "Being sick is no excuse for not coming to court" when I had explained that I was undergoing chemo treatments at the time as well as included documents to support my reason. I would have to travel from NJ to NY when I was too weak and fatigued to go from one room in my house to another. Of course, I got stronger as the week went on but the courts certainly didn't see it that way. All which eventually landed me in the hospital for severe depression. These circumstances, I will go into more detail later on in a blog. However, I would add your mom's treatment as another option that can be integreted into a cancer treatment program: http://www.squidoo.com/breakfast-of-a-cancer-survivor
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Daily Updates: Breast Cancer Feeds
by Diamond_Wizard
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On October 13, 2008,...
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