Monday, July 16, 2001

Living Life After Cancer Can Be Tough For Women
posted by Karen Weber Monday, July 16, 2001

Tuesday, July 17, 2001

Identifying multiple sentinel lymph nodes improves diagnostic accuracy

Value of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor, HER2, p53, and Steroid Receptors in Predicting the Efficacy of Tamoxifen in High-Risk Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Patients - concludes that: neither HER2, EGFR, nor p53 overexpression/accumulation should be used as a contraindication for giving tamoxifen.

Cancer-Related Fatigue: Prevalence of Proposed Diagnostic Criteria in a United States Sample of Cancer Survivors . Despite what my new onc seems to indicate about cancer-related fatigue (CRF), this article concludes: In a sizable number of people, CRF persists well beyond active treatment and should be a focus of intervention.

Herbs tested on breast cancer / UCSF research investigates Asian remedies
posted by Karen Weber Tuesday, July 17, 2001

Thursday, July 19, 2001

Nutrition During and After Cancer Treatment: A Guide for Informed Choices by Cancer Survivors

Physician Referral Patterns to a Breast Cancer Support Program

I had a moment of revelation this week. I was standing in my bathroom, hands on hips, naked, staring at my potbelly. OK, I admit it, I was talking to my potbelly. Giving it a pep talk about picking up and moving out. That's when I noticed my armpit. I had never really looked too closely at it in comparison to the other armpit. But all of the sudden, it was apparent to me that it is vastly different from the other armpit. Both the pit and the back of the arm have concavities in them where tissue was removed during the axillary dissection. I don't know why I didn't see this before. It's not immediately obvious. It certainly wouldn't keep me from wearing sleeveless shirts (the fat on the back of my arms is enough reason for that!). But it disconcerted me for a second. Made this whole thing a little bit more real. I've been pretty lucky about not needing to really face a deformity, as my scar is on the lower side of the breast where I can't see it, and my breast really looks just like the other unless it's swollen for some reason. So this was the first time I had to really look at that and say, my body is changed because of breast cancer. I'm not angry about this, largely because I'm not vain and it's so minimal anyway. But I am still angry about the lymphedema, which is directly tied to this. So I am doing some work on anger and it's not too much fun. Ah well, that is the nature of this beast.

Oh! I forgot to post the good news. My doc had some additional blood work done to check the liver function more carefully. It's all back but the 4 tests looking at hep b & c antigens and antibodies. What's in is all normal! And better, still, my white blood cell count is above normal now! I had been very concerned, because it was normal in October and then has gone steadily downhill in every blood count since. I was worried something was going on. Anyway, it was nice to see that it was well within normal limits! We celebrate all miracles here, even the small ones!

"What You Should Know as You Begin Treatment"
posted by Karen Weber Thursday, July 19, 2001

Friday, July 20, 2001

Green tea consumption linked with reduced breast cancer risk

Cancer Clinical Trial Patients in the Information Age - "...online information seeking and the desire for electronic communication must increasingly be acknowledged, understood, and supported. A proactive and comprehensive approach to addressing patient information and support needs can facilitate patient empowerment and satisfaction."

Drug Destroys Only Oxygen-Starved Cells Within Tumors - AQ4N is heading for Phase 1 clinical trials.

Nature's cancer update page - stay abreast of what is happening in basic research. (Basic research is research done in labs, as opposed to clinical research, which is done in humans and monitored in the clinic setting.)

Minimizing the Complications of Chemotherapy

Free video order form: Participating in a Clinical Trial: A Patient's Story

The Soy-Breast Cancer Controversy
posted by Karen Weber Friday, July 20, 2001

Saturday, July 21, 2001

Breast Lumps In Women - don't panic! Not all lumps are cancer!
posted by Karen Weber Saturday, July 21, 2001

Next - July 22, 2001