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Living With Breast Cancer

  • 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)

  • Breast Cancer Primer

    Posted 6/10/2013 by hhill
      This interview with Larry Norton, MD of Memorial Sloan Kettering, published in MedScape, is an excellent overview of breast cancer. If you have ever wondered about the basics of breast cancer biology and treatment, spending a few minutes with Dr Norton will be time well spent. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Anxiety But Not Depression Persists

    Posted 6/8/2013 by hhill
      It is so very satisfying when a study comes along and says what I (and you) have known all along. In this case, this study from Lancet compared results from a number of studies to find that, compared to adults who had not had cancer, cancer survivors had a similar level of depression but were 27% more likely to harbor anxiety two years after diagnosis and 50% more likely to have those feelings ten years later. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Soy and Breast Cancer

    Posted 6/5/2013 by hhill
      There has long been expressed concern about the possible negative link between soyfoods and breast cancer recurrence risk. Since soy is a phytoestrogen, the belief has been that it may act as estrogen in the body--not a good thing for women who have ER positive breast cancers and are trying to reduce estrogen. There has even been worry that soy might diminish some of the positive effects of tamoxifen or the AIs. For some women, being told not to eat soyfoods is not an issue, but for others, it means a big dietary change. Read more... Comments (0)

  • 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)
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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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