Life After Breast Cancer Treatment

Many women are very uncertain and apprehensive about what to think, what to say and what to do after breast cancer treatment is over—at least for the time being—and they have recovered.

From the very first sign of breast cancer—maybe a lump in the breast discovered by a mammogram—and other symptoms of breast cancer, to a diagnosis to discussing treatments to receiving treatments and recovery, it’s been a long and arduous process for most women.

What now?

A big concern on the brain is the ever-looming threat of breast cancer recurrence. There are ways of preventing breast cancer recurrence, and many women decide to take tamoxifen after their treatments to prevent such a recurrence, but the important thing here is to not allow the fear of breast cancer coming back to haunt you every day.

Other issues have to do with your quality of life post-breast cancer treatment—managing pain and fatigue, dealing with the side-effects of treatment and other medications, breast reconstruction, menopause, sex, fertility and pregnancy, dealing with well-meaning friends, family members and strangers, and continued health checkups and medical followups.

Many women who come out of breast cancer treatment get a new “lease on life” and become health nuts, engage in appropriate amounts of physical activity, do more volunteer work, work on special projects, devote more time to family and friends and just generally have a greater zest for life.

A much more likely scenario for women who have come through breast cancer treatment, however, is that they will experience a darker breast cancer recovery period. Some feel like there is always something to worry about and are afraid of ever having a normal life again. Some women experience strong symptoms of anxiety and depression, even paranoia or something close to post-traumatic stress disorder.

It’s helpful for these women to do something for themselves during this transitional period between breast cancer treatment and “normalcy.” Many take some time off to just be with the ones they love, relaxing and resting. Or they take a vacation, for example, with their husbands and kids, or with a bunch of girlfriends.

Something else to consider is short-term counselling or therapy. Many women find it helpful to talk it out with a professional after enduring breast cancer treatments and dealing with the aftermath of recovering from a major life-threatening illness. Others look for a “support group” of other breast cancer survivors, and find that to be even more helpful.

No, life will never again be the same. But that doesn’t mean it has to be a depressing, fearful or terrible life. It will be different, but it can be better. It just takes time.

Stay up to date on information, cures and news at the Breast Cancer Information Site.

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Breast Cancer Treatment Options

Over the past decade there has been advancements in many of the treatments
available for Breast Cancer. Through constant research we have come a long way from the limited treatment options available in the past. The top treatment choices available today are surgery, radiation, hormonal treatment (anti-estrogen based) and chemotherapy. These 4 regimins are often used in conjunction with each other or adjuvantly. If you have been diagnosed with breast cancer and are offered a choice of treatments from this wide array it can be very confusing. We all know we want what is best for us but sometimes with the many options available how can one be sure?

We will try to provide you with an overview of the treatments available and how they
relate to the stage of cancer you might have. Use this information to educate
yourself so when it comes time for you and your doctor to make a decision you will
know the facts on hand.

There are 3 General Types of Treatment Categories Available Today:

Local Treatment (Regional Treatment) - this type of treatment is localized to the
breast and local lymphatics only or adjacent lymphatics to where the tumor was
located.

Systemic Treatments - treat the whole body and are usually reserved for the
prevention of spread (metastases) or directy to target spread that has occured.

Alternative Therapy - these are considered holistic therapy and can be helpful but
have never been proven to cure.
We will pay close attention to Local and Systemic treatments as the choices available
to cure breast cancer.

Surgery: surgery has been the number one treatment option available for breast
cancer for well over the past century. Today unlike surgery in the past the surgeons
can precisely target the area consisting of the tumor and surrounding tissue and
remove only what is necessary and leaving a considerable amount of breast tissue in
tact. These new methods have come a long way from the days of the radical
mastecomy where patients where often left deformed for life. And even the newer
techniques available for a mastecomy today are alot less drastic than they where say
30 years ago.

Today most surgery done for breast cancer is considered breast-conserving therapy
or what is commonly called a lumpectomy. A lumpectomy is where only the tumor is
removed and then once this has been done the patient will undergo a series of
weeks of Radiation treatments to cleanse the surrounding tissue and prevent
recurrance.

The mastectomy is still available as a treatment options and this is basically where
all of the breast tissue is removed down to and sometimes including the chestwall
muscles. Radiation is also performed to cleanse the affected area after a
mastectomy in alot of cases.

Radiation Therapy: radiation therapy consists of the use of high powered X or
gamma rays that precisely target the area that is being treated. These X or Gamma
rays are very effective in destroying the cancer cells that might recur where the
tumor was removed.
The use of radiation therapy for breast cancer is usually given after surgery has
been performed and the purpose of the radiation is to reduce the change that the
cancer will recur. Radiation reduces the risk of recurrance of breast cancer
consdirably.

Hormone Therapy: some breast cancers are hormone-receptor positive. This means
that the cancer will grow and spread if the hormone estrogen is present. If this is
found to be the case with your type of breast cancer then the us of anti-estrogen
hormone therapy will probably be used to lower the levels of estrogen in your body
which in turn will prevent the cancer cells from beign stimulated and growing or
spreading to other parts of the body
Tamoxifen has been used for years as a anti-estrogen hormone therapy drug with
breast cancer. In 2005 clinical trials from all of the world provided information
saying that aromatase inhibitors worked alot better than Tamoxifen in post
menopausal woman with hormone-receptor positive breast cancer. Now this was
only in post-menopausal woman and Tamoxifen is still the drug of choice for pre-
menopausal woman.

Chemotherapy: in some breast cancers the risk over spread (metastases) is greater
than in others. Remember everybody is different and everybody's cancer will be
different. If involvment of the lymph nodes is found,tumor size is great enough, or a
higher grade is found your oncologist might suggest chemotherapy alone with other
treatments including surgery and radiation.

William Ransom provides information of breast cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment at http://breastcancer.tk

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