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Living With Breast Cancer

  • Prophylactic Mastectomies

    Posted 5/9/2013 by hhill
      I have written before about the increasing incidence of prophylactic bilateral mastectomies for women with early breast cancer who "only" need surgery on one side. It is terrifying to hear the cancer word, and most of us are frantic to do whatever we can to protect ourselves now and to insure our future good health. For some women, that translates to a strong wish to "get rid" of the other breast, a possible source of another crisis in the future. It may not be soothing to be told that the future risk of a second cancer in the other breast is very small, about 1% per year, and that breast cancer almost never goes to the other breast. The worries of cancer spreading are that it might metastisize to another part of the body; removing the second breast does nothing to minimize that risk. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Same Issues in England

    Posted 5/3/2013 by hhill

      It is always comforting to me to realize that others share our concerns. There is nothing surprising in this article from the BBC about survivorship issues in England and the need for physicians to expand the conversation beyond the specific medical concerns. People completing cancer treatment the world over must share the same worries about returning to work, families, sexuality, energy, etc. The health care system is somewhat different in Britain, and GPs (general practitioners, similar to our PCPs) seem to do more of the oncology follow up than is generally true in the US. Studies here have suggested that women who are followed by their PCPs after breast cancer treatment do just as well as those who continue to see their medical oncologists, but that is generally not the system. I suspect, in the era of more attention to costs, that may become increasingly true here, too. It is less expensive to see the PCP than to see a specialist.

    Read more... Comments (0)

  • Coffee and Recurrence

    Posted 5/2/2013 by hhill
      There hasn't been the same amount of attention paid to any relationship between coffee and breast cancer risk or recurrence as there has been to any associations with alcohol. However, a group in Sweden has just published the results of a study that suggest that, for women with a hormone positive breast cancer, drinking at least two cups of coffee (and, no, I don't know if that means a Grande or something bigger) may cut the rate of recurrence by half. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Understanding Risk of DCIS

    Posted 5/1/2013 by hhill
      Whatever the specifics of a breast cancer diagnosis, women worry. Of course we may worry a little more or a litte less depending on the statistics we hear or some of the details of the pathology, but we generally understand that no one gets a guarantee and that we are each an "n" of one. It has always interested me that this is equally true for women who are diagnosed with DCIS (or LCIS) which is generally described as "Stage 0". In fact, some doctors say that DCIS is not cancer, that it is something that might become cancer in the future if not treated. And the real kicker there is that many DCISs (is that the plural?) would never become invasive, but that we don't know how to tell those sleeper ones from the potentially dangerous ones. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Side Effects and AIs

    Posted 4/29/2013 by hhill
      Rarely do I receive an email from one of my doctor colleagues with the suggestion that I share a particular study with you. This, however, is one of those rare moments. The study, from JCO, suggests that women who experience side effects (vaginal dryness, stiffness, etc) may have a lower recurrence rate than those who do not. The very big caveat is that this is a single study, and, especially if you are one of the rather rare women who does not have any side effects, do not be concerned. 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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