Diets are restrictive, leave us feeling deprived, are hard to stick to and hence do not work. The only weight to successfully losing weight and thats by making healthy eating choices, one step at a time.

Complete Guide to Healthy Eating

Try the four week healthy eating drawing to get the figure back on track.
The latest developments in breast cancer, plus find out how ancestors can cut the risk of developing the illness.
Food labels should help us make better choices.
From eye drops to painkillers, find out when it’s protected to save.

Indication of Source
Healthy Eating for Life to Prevent and Treat Cancer, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 2002
The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating During Pregnancy, W. Allan Walker, Courtney Humphries, 2005

Useful Links
Carb Counting- Healthy Eating

Bad Food Technique for Healthy Eating is filed under healthy eating.

(NaturalNews) Ever since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force took a look, finally, at the scientific evidence and announced new recommendations earlier this month for routine mammograms — specifically that women under 50 should avoid them and women over 50 should only get them every other year — the reactions from many women, doctors and the mainstream media have reached the point of near hysteria (http://www.naturalnews.com/027558_m…). Not getting annual mammograms, some say, means countless women will receive a virtual death sentence because their breast tumors won’t be discovered. But what is rarely discussed about mammograms is this: the tests could actually be causing many cases of breast cancer.

In fact, a new study just presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), concludes the low-dose radiation from annual mammography screening significantly increases breast cancer risk in women with a genetic or familial predisposition to breast cancer. This is particularly worrisome because women who are at high risk for breast cancer are regularly pushed to start mammograms at a younger age — as early as 25 — and that means they are exposed to more radiation from mammography earlier and for more years than women who don’t have breast cancer in their family trees.

“For women at high risk for breast cancer, screening is very important, but a careful approach should be taken when considering mammography for screening young women, particularly under age 30,” Marijke C. Jansen-van der Weide, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in the Department of Epidemiology and Radiology at University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, said in a statement to the media. “Further, repeated exposure to low-dose radiation should be avoided.”

Dr. Jansen-van der Weide and colleagues analyzed peer-reviewed, published medical research to investigate whether low-dose radiation exposure affects breast cancer risk among high-risk women. Out of the six studies included in this analysis, four looked at the effect of exposure to low-dose radiation among breast cancer gene mutation carriers. The other two studies traced the impact of radiation on women with a family history of breast cancer. The researchers took the combined data from all these research projects and then calculated odds ratios to estimate the risk of breast cancer caused by radiation.

The results? All the high-risk women in the study who were exposed to low-dose mammography type radiation had an increased risk of breast cancer that was 1.5 times greater than that of high-risk women who had not been exposed to low-dose radiation. What’s more, women at high risk for breast cancer who had been exposed to low-dose radiation before the age of 20 or who had five or more exposures to low-dose radiation were 2.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer than high-risk women not exposed to low-dose radiation.

Bottom line: any supposed benefit of early tumor detection using mammograms in young women with familial or genetic predisposition to breast cancer is offset by the potential risk of radiation-induced cancer. “Our findings suggest that low-dose radiation increases breast cancer risk among these young high-risk women, and a careful approach is warranted,” Dr. Jansen-van der Weide said in the press statement.

The mammogram scam exposed

Incredibly, although it is rarely reported in the mainstream media, the new study follows on the heels of several others that have already sounded the warning that mammograms may cause breast cancer. For example, NaturalNews covered a Johns Hopkins study published earlier this year in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (http://www.naturalnews.com/025560_c…) that warned radiation exposure from annual mammograms could trigger breast malignancies in women with a strong family history of breast and/or ovarian cancers who have altered genes (identified as BRCA1 or BRCA2).

And it may not be only women with a familial risk for breast cancer who are at extra risk from mammography radiation. As NaturalNews covered last year, a report published in the American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine found breast cancer rates increased significantly in four Norwegian counties after women there began getting mammograms every two years. In fact, the start of screening mammography programs throughout Europe has been linked to an increased incidence of breast cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/024901.html).

Comments by the Health Ranger, Editor of NaturalNews.com

Mammogram pushers now have nothing left to stand on. The complete and utter hoax of mammography has now been wholly discredited through a flurry of groundbreaking studies performed by conventional medicine researchers! Yes, even the industry’s own former advocates now admit mammography harms far more women than it helps.

Why? Because mammography causes the very disease it claims to “detect”. It’s much like a clever sleight-of-hand magician’s trick where they reach for your ear and suddenly produce a coin that was presumably hidden there. But as everybody knows, they put it there themselves! Mammograms offer a similar kind of sleight-of-hand trick (or sleight-of-breast, as the case may be) by actually generating the very disease they claim to find. If so many women hadn’t already been harmed by mammography, the whole thing would be quite hysterical.

“Early detection saves lives,” they say. Except they stupidly forget to tell women the other side of the story: “Mammograms cause cancer.” And if you’re gullible enough to actually irradiate your breasts every year, don’t be surprised — shocked! — if they someday find tumors in them.

For more information:
http://www.naturalnews.com/mammogra…

Cell phone radiation graphic

It seems like this question has been around forever: Will my cell phone give me a brain tumor? Unfortunately, the jury still seems to be out.

A 30-year study released on Thursday by the Danish Cancer Society states that there does not seem to be a link between cell phone usage and brain tumors, but another study by the World Health Organization (WHO) will apparently come out soon stating that there is a link, according to a CNN article.

The Danish Cancer Society study conducted in Scandinavia included almost the entire region.  It found that even though there was an extreme increase in cell phone usage during the 1990s, the rate of brain tumor cases during this time remained constant.

The study analyzed incidence rates of two types of brain cancer among adults from 1974 to 2003 in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, according to Reuters. There was no significant pattern between tumors and cell phone usage; however, the research team did acknowledge that this may be because tumors take longer than ten years to show up.

While this may seem like the debate could at least be put to rest for now, that doesn’t seem to be the case.  This other WHO study is supposed to be released within the month (key word is supposed), and is said to show a “significantly increased risk” of tumors “related to use of mobile phones for a period of 10 years or more,” according to CNN.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this pans out, but for now, be positive. The latest research shows that there doesn’t seem to be a link … for now.

A lot of hair loss remedies are based on cures developed in the laboratory. With the long term nature of having to take these treatments people worry about the side effects and build up of the product in the body.

Hair Loss Solution

Project is one way we lend a hand women that are experiencing the devastating affects of hair loss due to chemotherapy. Breast Friends gives these hats to lend a hand these women recapture the sense of humor. It was a comfort to have this workshop to attend and to run into other women that know what breast cancer means and how it affects ones life and house. This workshop is a great start for someone that is recovering from a diagnosis and coverage and needs guidance and support to plan the leftovers of the lives. Transitioning to Survivor is a topic that no one talks about and yet it is as a result needed.

List of References
Hair loss, Jerry Shapiro, 2001
The truth about women’s hair loss, Spencer David Kobren, 1999

Recommended Links
American Hair Loss Association
American Hair Loss Association
Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center

Hair Loss And Hair Facts is filed under hair loss.

The other day Jan-Han, who is going through chemo and has mentioned how sick she is of being Brave Little Cancer Girl, brought up the quote, “It’s not about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

Magnetic Fields – Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing

I think she hit the nail on the head of how to age into greater and greater love, your whole life. An attitude of patient acceptance and seeking of enjoyment in all things, natural and emotional. Abandoning expectations, not letting them poison your outlook and lead you to choose disappointment over delight. I think this is true of all the long-time together and happily-married couples I know. I think they have figured that out. How to dance together, in balance.

I am honestly not ready to continue thinking about it. It puts grace and hope in my heart, but it also makes me feel bittersweet and sad, and fearful for the future. But this song is just as beautiful and deceptively simple as that original idea, and it makes me feel the same as that train of thought did, so I will let it say the rest for me.

Dance with me my old friend
once before we go
Let’s pretend this song won’t end
and we never have to go home
and we’ll dance among the chandeliers

And nothing matters when we’re dancing
In tattered tatters you’re entrancing
Be we in Paris or in Lansing
nothing matters when we’re dancing
nothing matters when we’re dancing

You’ve never been more beautiful
your eyes like two full moons
As here in this poor old dance hall
among the dreadful tunes
the awful songs we don’t even hear…

by Ramiro Stahl on flickr

And nothing matters when we’re dancing
In tattered tatters you’re entrancing
Be we in Paris or in Lansing
nothing matters when we’re dancing
nothing matters when we’re dancing

PHILADELPHIA – Now in its 32nd year, the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium continues to attract the best in breast cancer science and world leaders from industry and academia with the goal of eradicating breast cancer.

This year, more than 8,500 scientists and other professionals will gather at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio from Dec. 9-13, 2009. The symposium is a partnership between the American Association for Cancer Research, the University of Texas Health Science Center and Baylor College of Medicine.

Last year, more than 8,000 people attended from 92 countries; 46 percent of the participants were medical doctors and 9 percent were basic research scientists. Last year was the first year the AACR partnered with the symposium in an effort to help increase the presence of basic science. As a result, the meeting began one day earlier than in past years and held standing room only scientific sessions.

“The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium is arguably the best cancer research meeting in the world, and with the addition of high quality science, credibility and outreach efforts from the American Association for Cancer Research, this collaboration continues to garner further scientific prominence,” said C. Kent Osborne, M.D., director of the Dan L. Duncan Center and the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine and president of the symposium.

This year, in addition to the main program, the CTRC-AACR-SABCS press office will host four press conferences for the media highlighting important news from the meeting and a separate media Q&A on December 12 at 10:00 a.m. CT with Dennis Slamon, M.D., Ph.D. on the long-term survival, disease free survival and cardiac toxicity results from his latest research with Herceptin.

The following is a schedule of the press briefings:

• Bisphosphonates: 12:30 p.m. CT, Thursday, Dec. 10

• Drugs in the Pipeline: 8:00 a.m. CT, Friday, Dec. 11

• New Treatment Paradigms: 12:30 p.m. CT, Friday, Dec. 11

• Patient Management and Prognosis: 8:00 a.m. CT, Saturday, Dec. 12

• Media Q&A with Dennis Slamon, M.D., Ph.D, 10:00 a.m. CT, Saturday, Dec. 12

Beyond the press conferences, the press office has selected additional abstracts that may be of interest to the media and will be highlighting them as separate press releases.

AACR will be conducting interviews with researchers throughout the symposium. Recordings of these events and interviews, as well as the teleconferences, will be posted to AACR Scientific Podcast feed and to the AACR website. You can subscribe to this feed through following:

Subscribe to the AACR Scientific Podcast via an RSS Reader.

Follow AACR on Twitter @AACR, and throughout the meeting using the hash tag #SABCS09.

Subscribe to the AACR RSS News Feed.

# # #

The mission of the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium is to produce a unique and comprehensive scientific meeting that encompasses the full spectrum of breast cancer research, facilitating the rapid translation of new knowledge into better care for breast cancer patients. The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and Baylor College of Medicine are joint sponsors of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. This collaboration utilizes the clinical strengths of the CTRC and Baylor, and the AACR’s scientific prestige in basic, translational and clinical cancer research to expedite the delivery of the latest scientific advances to the clinic. The 32nd annual symposium is expected to draw more than 8,500 participants from more than 90 countries.

Media Contact:
Jeremy Moore
(267)646-0557
jeremy.moore@aacr.org
In San Antonio Dec. 9-13:
(210) 582-7031

This entry was written by one of our volunteers:

I’ve been diagnosed twice now, and I think it does get a little easier each time. Has that been your experience?

For me, the worst day was day one –the day I heard that the breast cancer had returned. It was five years after my diagnosis (tubular, no lymph nodes, lumpectomy, radiation) and just as I was finally getting used to the idea that I was really, really going to be finished with “this”.  So the diagnosis floored me. Literally.  I was on the floor.

The second time, 17 years later, was easier.  I had been dealing with back pain, couldn’t figure out the source (“it” was always in the back of my mind) and then we got the answer.  More lesions in my back.

So how did I deal with the roller coaster of emotions?  And how do you?

Lots of ways: panic, crying, fear.  But I think the real answer, for me, was to get as much information as I needed (NOT as much information as I could find-two different things), try to make smart decisions, go to smart doctors, follow good advice.

And I see my therapist.  I listen to what he has to say.  I do relaxation exercises.  I try to eat sensibly.  I exercise when I’m feeling well. I avoid people who don’t make me happy.  I do what I want to do.  I keep track of life: I keep a journal and I keep a log of how I’m feeling. I acknowledge that this stinks and that I’m angry about it.  I’m honest with the people who care about me. 

That’s what I do.  It might not work for you. 

You might need to yell more or smile more or throw things or embrace things. You might need to dress in pink….or avoid pink at all costs. You might need to indulge your inner-kvetch or indulge your inner-cheerleader.  Whatever works. Get help.  This stinks.  You don’t have to do it alone.  Go to a support group if that works for you. Or go for long walks.  Pay attention to what your heart and head are telling you, not what your family/neighbors/friends think is right for you.  Do what you need to do.  Know that you can get through lots of bad stuff because you’ve already done it and you’ve seen your strength. And your weaknesses.  Acknowledge both.

Ok, enough soap box. I have advanced breast cancer. I wish I didn’t. But either way, I still get to make a life for myself. Thank God for that.

Want to continue the conversation? Become a fan of LBBC on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. And if you need to speak with someone who’s been through the same thing, call our Survivors’ Helpline at (888) 753-5222. Trained volunteers and breast cancer survivors are waiting to talk with you.

A piece of A pie, but not chemotherapy pie eaten.

Back in the third grade, my teacher described me as a “math whiz.” I was never much of a numbers person, but I guess I learned my multiplication facts easily in third grade.

This math wizardry didn’t last past high school and I never took calculus. In fact, I have no idea what calculus is.

With this chemotherapy thing, I do the math constantly.

With all apologies for those who love pie, think of my chemotherapy as a two-flavored pie divided into eight pieces. Each piece represents a chemotherapy session.

The first four were pretty distasteful; I’m not sure why I kept eating them. I ate four pieces of Adriamycin/Cytoxan pie and finished them – that was half the pie. It’s also 100 percent of half a pie. Or 100 percent of the yucky stuff. Or 50 percent of the entire pie.

I’ve had one piece from the other half of the Taxol pie and today I’ll have another, assuming my blood counts are high enough. They should; I’ve had booster shots for my white cells and red cells with my treatments. And I’m feeling really good.

As of today, I’ll have eaten six pieces of pie.  If you do the math, that is three-fourths of the way through. Or you could say, I’ll be 75 percent the way through the entire pie and 50 percent through the other half of the pie.

Matt with Howdy Doody. It probably was no older than age 4.

This math thing reminds me of a story, but what doesn’t remind me of a story? Back when Matt was little, we used to get the Penney’s holiday gift catalog. Four-year-old Matt loved looking at the toys in the catalog.

The one he just loved the most was the  Howdy Doody ventriloquist dummy. He never saw the TV show, which featured Buffalo Bob Smith and the freckled-faced Howdy who had 48 freckles for each state then in the union.

Matt wanted Howdy very badly and his dad and I grew up on Howdy Doody, which was on television from 1947 to 1960 – and was very, very pre Sesame Street.

Matt got Howdy as a gift. He carried it around with him and just loved the little guy.

Howdy came with a record with some of the techniques for learning ventriloquism. One was Matt’s favorite:

Buffalo Bob: “If I had three apples and you asked for one, how many would I have left?”

Howdy: “Two. Two. Two.”

Buffalo Bob: “No, three. You asked for one, but I didn’t give you one.”

Matt thought it was hysterical. So did we, especially that he wanted to act that routine out constantly. He played Buffalo Bob.

So the real question, is what kind of role model was Buffalo Bob being on children’s television?  He certainly wasn’t teaching math. Was he teaching selfishness? Boy that’s something we all need to learn.

By the way, there is no need to eat that pie that I discussed earlier. I’m going to hog it. And if you want an apple, I’ll give you one.

Multiple Sclerosis May Be Triggered by Factors from Common Human Bacteria (Medical News Today)

Current research suggests that a common oral bacterium may exacerbate autoimmune disease. The related report by Nichols et al, “Unique Lipids from a Common Human Bacterium Represent a New Class of TLR2 Ligands Capable of Enhancing Autoimmunity,” appears in the December 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

* * *

Porphyromas gingivalis, a common oral bacterium in humans, produces a unique type of lipid, phosphorylated dihydroceramides (DHCs), which enhance inflammatory responses. These lipids are also likely produced by bacteria found in other parts of the body including the gastrointestinal tract. To determine if these lipids accentuate immune-mediated damage in autoimmune disease, researchers led by Robert B. Clark and Frank C. Nichols of the University of Connecticut Health Center administered phosphorylated DHCs in a mouse model of MS. The severity of disease was significantly enhanced by the addition of these lipids in a manner that was dependent on activation of the immune system. These data suggest that phosphorylated DHCs from bacteria commonly found in humans may trigger or increase the severity of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis…More…

Study Questions Safety of Mammograms for Young Women at High Risk of Cancer (NY Times)

For young women who have a high risk of breast cancer because of genetic mutations or family history, the radiation from yearly mammograms may make the risk even higher, researchers reported at a radiology conference on Monday.

The report is particularly troubling because it suggests that the very women who are told they need mammograms most may also be the most vulnerable to harm from them. Doctors routinely urge high-risk women to have mammograms earlier in life and more often than women judged to be at average risk.

Researchers caution that the new report is not conclusive, and that the issue needs more study…More…

Tests Find More than 200 Chemicals in Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood (Scientific American)

U.S. minority infants are born carrying hundreds of chemicals in their bodies, according to a report released today by an environmental group.

The Environmental Working Group’s study commissioned five laboratories to examine the umbilical cord blood of 10 babies of African-American, Hispanic and Asian heritage and found more than 200 chemicals in each newborn.

“We know the developing fetus is one of the most vulnerable populations, if not the most vulnerable, to environmental exposure,” said Anila Jacobs, EWG senior scientist. “Their organ systems aren’t mature and their detox methods are not in place, so cord blood gives us a good picture of exposure during this most vulnerable time of life”…More…

Western Diets Turn on Fat Genes (PhysOrg)

Those extra helpings of gravy and dessert at the holiday table are even less of a help to your waistline than previously thought. According to a new research report recently appearing online in The FASEB Journal, a diet that is high in fat and in sugar actually switches on genes that ultimately cause our bodies to store too much fat. This means these foods hit you with a double-whammy as the already difficult task of converting high-fat and high-sugar foods to energy is made even harder because these foods also turn our bodies into “supersized fat-storing” machines…More…

Can Cleft Palate Be Healed Before Birth? (PhysOrg)

In a study newly published in the journal Development, investigators at the USC School of Dentistry describe how to non-surgically reverse the onset of cleft palate in fetal mice – potentially one step in the journey to a better understanding of similar defects in humans…More…

A diet based on increased levels of protein but not excessive has been proven to help with weight loss.

Free Weightloss Weight Loss EBook

Weight loss, toxic chemicals and environmental pollutants are all helpful measures in the prevention of breast cancer. Dietary inclusion of dried beans, and whole grains have proven beneficial. Breast cancer is recognized by survivors, family and friends of survivors and victims of the disease. A pink ribbon is worn to recognize the struggle that sufferers face when battling the cancer.

Indication of Source
100 Days of Weight Loss, Linda Spangle, 2006
Daily Word for Weight Loss, Colleen Zuck, Elaine Meyer, Janie Wright, 2001
Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss Shopper’s Guide, Howard M. Shapiro, 2001

Useful Links
Aerobic Exercise and Weight Loss
Fatty Weight Loss BlogLoss
Weight Loss Help

Understand the Link Between Low Blood Sugar Levels and Weight Loss is filed under weight los.

Today the U.S. Senate voted to give women access to preventive screenings and testing. The Mikulski amendment was accepted by a 61-39 largely partisan vote and has been proclaimed as the women’s health amendment. In all honesty, there is very little in the amendment to improve women’s health specifically.  In terms of women specific items: there will be no cost sharing requirements for preventive services that women need on a routine basis. Oh yeah, every woman’s philandering hero, David Vitter (R-LA), made sure women can get mammograms despite scientific evidence that it might cause more harm than good.

A majority of the bill language is dedicated to ensuring lower income children and adolescents have access to health insurance programs. While true, women are the chief care takers in many families and are more likely to have interaction with the health care system when a child is sick. As the recent Shriver Report points out, the changing face of the American family has many more women are making up a larger portion of the workforce.  The role of the woman in the family is changing.

The women’s health movement, however, is headed in a very different direction.

As Barbara Ehrenreich, a breast cancer survivor herself, pointed out in a recent LA Times Op-Ed, the feminist movement of the 1970’s has been replaced by a “pink-ribbon culture.” Used often as a marketing tool, companies have latched on to the breast cancer movement in an effort to appeal to women’s wallets, she notes. Ehrenreich asks where women were when the Stupak amendment, passed by the House, essentially stripped most women but the wealthy of their right to choice and essentially created “abortion insurance.” This begs the question, the Senate will likely begin debating an identical amendment as early as next week- where is the outcry?

Feminism hasn’t seen a united philosophy in decades.  The 2008 presidential election was a political science lab test of that. Perhaps breast cancer can be that uniting force.  Before it can be, women must remind the current “pink-ribbon culture” what they are fighting for. Breast cancer kills too many and can financially devastate millions of women and families. It is an horrific epidemic for which a cure is necessary.  As Ehrenreich points out,

What we really need is a new women’s health movement, one that’s sharp and skeptical enough to ask all the hard questions: What are the environmental (or possibly lifestyle) causes of the breast cancer epidemic? Why are existing treatments such as chemotherapy so toxic and heavy-handed? And, if the old narrative of cancer’s progression from “early” to “late” stages no longer holds, what is the course of this disease (or diseases)?

Women must demand more equality from the health care system, our elected representatives and society, all of which have historically biased women on the pre-existing condition no one can control: their gender.

By Emma Sandoe

“Life is not fair; deal with it” or “You can always find someone who’s got it worse than you.”
The tension was palpable in the ‘interior’ waiting room at the MN Breast Center. This is the place where you undress/dress for your mammogram. You are told to “undress from the waist up, put the gown on with the opening in the front and you have the option of putting your belongings into a tiny square locked cubby, or bringing it with you”. I undress and put on the standard hospital gown, with the opening in front, just as instructed. No one seems concerned that there is not a way to tie the opening shut. I guess modesty is really not an option here. I shove my stuff in the little square cubby, trying to keep my gown closed with my arms, as I need both hands to open the door, put my stuff in and lock it with the key.

I sit down in the little waiting room. I’m not sure I have ever sat here before. I think it’s little because people usually don’t sit, unless there is bad news. Usually when I’ve been here it’s a quick in and out and no time for sitting. This time was different. I was here on the ‘dreaded mammogram call-back’. I’ve been getting regular mammograms for 6 years now (yup, I’m 46 years old). I’d never received a call-back, nor anything other than a letter stating everything was normal. It’s amazing what a call-back will do to the mind… and the anxiety it creates. I’m trying not to think of cancer, but I can’t help it. The room smells of….. curiously it smells of nothing. Not hospital, not deodorant, not even sweat. Just an absence of smell. Except that I can smell my own sweat. You’re not supposed to wear deodorant, and this is a sweat inducing situation.

At home, the night before, I had googled it: “mammogram call back”. They actually had a lot of information under “dreaded mammogram call back,” which I found curious. Although that is what it is: dreaded. I found a whole lot of information about mammograms that no one ever tells you. I also found a lot of useful advice including, “what questions to ask when your doctor tells you have breast cancer.” Yeeowzaa… not sure I want to go there. But of course I do.

I’m trying to distract myself as I sit and wait. I’m trying to think calm thoughts and breathe deeply. A woman about my age and someone who appeared to be her mother come in and sit down next to me. The younger women (my age) is crying. Her mother (now established) is saying, “It’ll be o.k., you’ll just have to go through the treatment and get better.” The younger woman (my age) says, “Life is not fair. I just can’t believe I have cancer again. I just got over the last cancer and now, this – breast cancer?!?” Her mother responds, “Well, this is the hand you’re dealt, life isn’t always fair and you’re just gonna have to figure out how to deal with it.” And then she says a bunch of other reassuring things to her daughter about support and making it through, etc. My anxiety, by this time has increased. Of course I’m picturing what if this is the news I receive, and how will I deal with it. Life is not fair. How will I deal with it?

I leave the Breast Center with no news of cancer and a big sigh of relief. And I’m very cognizant of the fact that I could have been that woman sitting there, just having received news of having breast cancer. What does one do after being told they have cancer? Although it’s not really considered a ‘death sentence’ by research – isn’t’ it, by those who receive this news? At least initially? How does one deal with this kind of news? How do we deal with the hand that life has dealt? What are the coping mechanisms people have to deal with this or any other dreaded news? What do we have control over when we really have no control?

Questions/thoughts to ponder:
• How do you deal with life’s bad news?
• What are some of your coping skills? Make a list of both the healthy and unhealthy coping skills you have. Which are your favorites?
• Who can you turn to for support?
• When you are uncertain, where can you turn to for information?
• When life is not fair, how do you deal with it?
• What life situations have you struggled with, and survived….. or even come out a stronger, better person for it?
• What helped you get through those tough times, and how can you continue to use these skills in the future?

Thanks for listening!
~Sandi

I don’t want to make a habit of referring to pieces on other blogs without significantly commenting, but since the things I am working on seem to be taking a while to finish, I’ll recommend Barbara Ehrenreich’s blog on the controversy about breast cancer screening. This is one topic I don’t have to blog about now because she nails it.

Has feminism been replaced by the pink-ribbon breast cancer cult? When the House of Representatives passed the Stupak amendment, which would take abortion rights away even from women who have private insurance, the female response ranged from muted to inaudible.

A few weeks later, when the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that regular screening mammography not start until age 50, all hell broke loose. Sheryl Crow, Whoopi Goldberg, and Olivia Newton-John raised their voices in protest; a few dozen non-boldface women picketed the Department of Health and Human Services.  If you didn’t look too closely, it almost seemed as if the women’s health movement of the 1970s and 1980s had returned in full force.

Never mind that Dr. Susan Love, author of what the New York Times dubbed “the bible for women with breast cancer,” endorses the new guidelines along with leading women’s health groups like Breast Cancer Action, the National Breast Cancer Coalition, and the National Women’s Health Network (NWHN). For years, these groups have been warning about the excessive use of screening mammography in the U.S., which carries its own dangers and leads to no detectible lowering of breast cancer mortality relative to less mammogram-happy nations.

Read more here.

The first thing I asked when I woke up in recovery was, “did you find any cancer in the lymph nodes?” Happily, I got the ideal answer! No cancer in the lymph nodes and only a 5-10% chance that they will find it later. This means that I most likely won’t have to have chemo!  On top of this very good news I was relieved to find that my pain level is much, much lower than I thought it would be. Today though I did a little bit too much moving around and learned that I DO have a limit. I just feel so much better than I expected that I want to get back to my normal life! I’ve promised that I will take it easy and I will all weekend…I’d really love to be back to work on Monday!

I have an appointment to get the results of the surgery on the 10th, although I got the best news today it’s not completely over. They will continue to run tests and will give a full  biopsy report including staging and I will have to have radiation. I could still have to have more surgery if the margins (non-cancerous area) around the lumpectomy are not enough to ensure that it won’t continue to grow. For now though, I’m going to bask in the good news and how great I feel!

I want to thank everyone for all the good vibes, prayers and positive thoughts that I very much felt surrounding me and holding me up. I know I say it every time, but I don’t think I can say too often how incredibly blessed I am.

I have had 6/12 of my taxol treatments.. The day after Thanksgiving would have been #7 but Docs office closed and Doc said the 1 week break in the middle wouldnt be a bad thing. I am showing great improvement so if we are going to have a break having it right in the middle is good.
It doesnt even seem like its been 2 monthes since I got that call. It doesnt seem like 7 weeks have passed since I started treatment. BUT it has… I so thank God for keeping me through this time. I honestly dont know how are what I am doing half the time because I am so busy living! Still working a FT schedule, doing treatment & still doing all the things I did before I found out I was sick almost keeps me from sitting down long enough to think about being sick.
Its been a month since the whole bald thing and I think I have adjusted nicely. I dont wear a wig or scarf or anything unless ofcourse my head is cold which does happen alot. I am comfortable with how I look BUT it is hard for me to figure out how to explain my situation to the little kids in my life.
I went to a girlfriends house earlier in the week who has 3 little ones whom I usually play with alot and am very active with but on this visit (my 1st since I got the news) I couldnt and I kept my hat on the whole time I was there. Her five year old son must have sensed something because he kept asking me to take of my hat n let him see my hair. I didnt tho because I have no clue how to explain what is going on with me to a small child. I dont want to scare them or anything so I have been avoiding it.
I have been experiencing an increase in my state of emotion. I am happy but willing to cry at any time. Not because I am sad, just super sensitive right now. I dont know what that is all about but Im glad I atleast do recognize it which makes it much easier to keep myself in check.
I will be in chemo #7 tommorrow and this week and next i will be networking and promoting the Fundraiser Event my church is having for me.
I hope alot of ppl come.. Im looking forward to seeing many I havent seen in years and probably crying alot