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Living With Breast Cancer

  • Targeted Therapies and Breast Cancer

    Posted 5/24/2013 by hhill
      All of us have heard the buzz around "targeted therapies", and most of it is good. The simplistic definition is that these are molecular agents that are designed to attack a particular part of a breast (or other) cancer cell. Rather than trying to kill the whole cell all at once, as does chemotherapy, a targeted therapy uses stealth to depower or kill or otherwise ruin a single tiny part that then makes the whole cell inoperable--or dead. Think of tamoxifen (perhaps the first targeted therapy although it wasn't called that) and ER positive breast cancers or, more recently, herceptin and her2 positive ones. Read more... Comments (0)

  • VIctorias Secret and Mastectomy Bras

    Posted 5/23/2013 by hhill

      First, I need to explain the incorrect punctuation in  the title. I know that "Victoria's Secret" has a hypen in the name, but the system won't accept any punctuation marks. Hence, "Victorias Secret".

      This is a story that received quite broad press a few days ago about a young woman who led an effort to convince Victoria's Secret to offer a line of pretty mastectomy bras. Any of us who are in the market for such lingerie know that even those that try to be attractive...really aren't. As an aside: many normal bras with underwires work just fine without pockets. Try and see if that works for you.

    Read more... Comments (0)

  • Dietary Supplements

    Posted 5/22/2013 by hhill
      This is another controversial and frequently misunderstood topic. Many, if not most, cancer patients at least think about their diets and wonder if there are foods that can be added or subtracted that would make a difference in their cancer progression. As far as I know (and I do try to keep up), there is zero proof that anything we eat or don't eat causes cancer or cures cancer or even has an impact on recurrence risk or progression. Certainly there is a great deal known about healthy eating, and the usual advice is the usual advice: meaning eat lots of fruits and vegetables, minimize the amounts of red meat, white flour, sugar. Today's article takes this all a step further with a careful look by the Clinical Practice Committee of the Society of Integrative Oncology at commonly used nutritional supplements. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Cancer Experience Registry

    Posted 5/21/2013 by hhill
      It is such a pleasure to write this morning about the Cancer Experience Registry, a program of the Cancer Support Community. The Cancer Support Community (www.cancersupportcommunity.org) is the name of the merged Wellness Community and Gilda's Club, and provides a multitude of support and educational services to cancer patients and their families at their many affiliates around the country. The Registry has been developed by their Research and Training Institute to identify and advance the understanding of the emotional and social needs of people who have been diagnosed with all kinds of cancer. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Friends are Good for Your Health

    Posted 5/20/2013 by hhill
      We already knew this. We all need friends, and we especially need friends when we have troubles. We need friends, then, who can comfort us, cry with us, hug us and care for us. We also need friends who make us laugh and push us a bit and plan excursions when we can't begin to imagine finding the energy to do so. In Social Work 101, they teach you that people with strong social support networks do better in all kinds of ways in life. They are less likely to be depressed, are more successful, even live longer. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Caffeine Intake and Coffee and Breast Cancer Risk

    Posted 5/19/2013 by hhill

      I debated whether or not to write about this, but decided that it is too good an example of the deluge of confusing and conflicting news to ignore. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will remember that not long ago, I wrote about a study that suggested that moderate coffee drinkers had a lower risk of breast cancer than those who drank less or no coffee.

    Read more... Comments (0)

  • What do I Say

    Posted 5/18/2013 by hhill
      We all have had people say really stupid, at best, or hurtful, at worst, things to us about our cancer. When you are feeling well and forgiving, it is possible to remember that these remarks usually come from a place of good will and that hardly anyone has the overt intention of cruelty. When you are not feeling so well, it is very easy to be hurt and angry. Comments that often stimulate our strong negative responses may be the stories about the speaker's friend/cousin/co-worker/neighbor who "had just your kind of cancer....and died." or words that make it clear that the speaker is trying to put distance between us. Read more... Comments (0)

  • TSA Tries to be Helpful

    Posted 5/17/2013 by blewando
    Many of us have horror stories about interactions with the TSA at various airports. Some of them have even made the national news; do you remember the very old woman in a wheelchair who was taken aside and frisked because she was wearing Depends? My own infuriating experiences have always been related to the newer x-ray screening machines and the fact that I wear a prosthesis. To be fair, the bad episodes are happening less often as (I assume) the TSA people who read those images have become more experienced at differentiating a prosthesis from a bomb. It does still happen, however, so I approach each machine with some trepidation. As I have written before, my strategies depend upon the mood of the moment. If I am feeling especially tough and feisty, I whip out the prosthesis and toss it in the bin along with my shoes. That always garners a number of horrified looks, but sometimes I don't care. If I am feeling more shy or vulnerable, I take it out in the ladies' room and stick it in my purse. And sometimes I just take my chances. Read more... Comments (0)

  • And Still More about Angelina Jolie and her Decision

    Posted 5/16/2013 by hhill
      I am aware that one way of looking at this is that I can't let it go or know when enough is enough or am obsessed with the news about Angelina Jolie's decision. I suppose that all three views are a little true, and I am sometimes (my husband might say often) guilty of not knowing when enough is enough. However, in my defense in this instance, this news has continued to dominate my time, and I am hearing from so many women who are reacting strongly. At the end of a group for women post treatment yesterday, this came up. One woman, who has had bilateral mastectomies after a high risk breast cancer, began to talk passionately about her own situation, and it was clear that the news had stirred up many intense feelings that were overwhelming. Read more... Comments (0)

  • More about Angelina Jolie and Choices

    Posted 5/15/2013 by hhill
      I sort of feel that I should apologize for continuing the conversation about yesterday's big news regarding Angelina Jolie's choice to have bilateral prophylactic mastectomies. However, it is very clear from the continuing deluge of news articles and all the emails that I have been receiving that this is still very much on our minds. The women whom I know, virtually all of whom have had breast or ovarian cancer, have had strong and mixed opinions about her decision. They have been honest and self-aware about their reactions--one of my favorites was one woman, a nurse, who chose this same surgery after a breast cancer diagnosis. She said that, although she knows it is very trivial, she is bothered by the "double mastectomy" phrase that is so often used. As she commented, there is no such thing as a "triple" mastectomy. Read more... Comments (0)
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About the Blogger

Hester Hill Schnipper, LICSW, OSW-C is the Manager of Oncology Social Work at BIDMC. For more than thirty years, her daily work at BIDMC has been primarily focused on supporting women with breast cancer. A nationally known writer and speaker, she was the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's first Hatcher Survivorship Professor. In 1993, and again in 2005, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through the standard treatments of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy. These experiences have given her great credibility with her patients and transformed her life's work to her life. Ms. Schnipper lives gratefully with her husband in an ancient farmhouse outside of Boston and spends as much time as possible in a water front cottage on Mt Desert Island. Between them, they have five adult children and seven grandchildren; she claims biological responsibility for two and three of them.

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