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Living With Breast Cancer

  • Facebook and Mastectomy Photos

    Posted 6/17/2013 by hhill
      This is a story that you either will find important or completely trivial. Apparently there has been a simmering controversy about mastectomy (I think with or without reconstruction and maybe other smaller breast surgeries, too) photographs being posted on Facebook. Those in favor of the pictures presumably feel that it can be helpful information for other women and that it destigmatizes the surgery. The opposing views are obvious. Read more... Comments (0)

  • UK Study Finds No Mortality Benefit for Mammograms

    Posted 6/16/2013 by hhill
      To keep the pot boiling, I want to draw your attention to this new study from the UK that suggests that screening mammograms do not reduce mortality. There have been a number of US studies over the past few years that have found that screening mammograms (remember that, when the word "screening" is used, it means that we are talking about annual mammograms for the general population, not for women with a personal history of breast cancer) do not reduce deaths from breast cancer. Whenever we talk about this, feelings run hot and deep as many women have a story of their own breast cancer being found by a mammogram. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Conquer Fear

    Posted 6/14/2013 by hhill
      Just a few days ago, I wrote about the new study from Lancet that suggests many women and couples experience persistent anxiety about recurrence for a very long time after cancer. This came as no surprise to most of us, but it surely raises the question about what might help. Since none of us are going to get  a promise from our doctors that we are cured, we have to find a way to live with the uncertainty and, sometimes, sharp fear. How long does it take before a backache is a sore muscle and not a possible sign of cancer spread? How long does it take before we head for an annual mammogram without a seething stomach? Read more... Comments (0)

  • Supreme Court Ruling on Patenting Human Genes

    Posted 6/13/2013 by hhill
      This is important. The Supreme Court has just announced a unanimous ruling that it is illegal to patent human genes. For us, this relates to the patent Myriad Genetics has held on testing for the BRCA1 and BRACA2 gene mutations; they have, until now, "owned" the patent on human genes. No more. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Triple Negative Breast Cancer

    Posted 6/12/2013 by hhill
      As many of you know, "triple negative" is a relatively new term used to describe breast cancers that are estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative, and her2 negative. For treatments, this means that neither the hormonal/anti-estrogen treatments or herceptin are useful. Often, triple negative breast cancers are grade III and believed to be of an aggressive nature. The "good" news about this is that they are particularly sensitive to chemotherapy as all chemo drugs attack fast growing cells. Read more... Comments (0)
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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
330 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
617-667-1900

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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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