The 10th
month of the year….October, most people think of……the color orange, pumpkins, Halloween, ghosts, goblins and witches, pumpkin spiced lattes (yum!), costumes,
black cats, candy corn, trick-o-treating, haunted houses, scarecrows, corn
mazes, fall colors and…. snow storms (if you live in Wyoming, yes…we had one
today).
I, on the
other hand, think totally different. You want to know what comes to mind when I
think of October??? Boobies…yes, I said the “B-word”…. Breasts, boobs, ta-ta’s,
the girls, whatever you want to call them, go for it. I’m sure you’re asking
yourself “why does this girl think of boobs instead of normal October things?”
The answer is simple.
October is
Breast Cancer Awareness month, and not only is it something that BOTH women and
men need to be aware about; it’s a topic that hits very close to home for me. I’m
proud and blessed to say that both my Gramma’s are Breast Cancer SURVIVORS! One
being a two time survivor and the other being a seven, yes I said seven, time
survivor… Can you say strong, inspiring, determined, hard-core, butt kicking
women??
For as long
as I can remember, I've been doing many different Breast Cancer walks/runs in
the Western Washington area (ahh, I miss home!). My biggest memory of a Breast Cancer event is, one of the first years that Avon
had their "3-Day-60-Mile-Breast Cancer-Walk” in Seattle… my momma, another huge inspiration
in my life, went out full force, determined to participate, trained and raised
ALL of the money that was expected and then completed all 60 miles! Being a young
one at the time, I wasn't allowed to participate with her. I was SO upset,
actually I was more than upset, I was MAD! I just didn't understand why I wasn't allowed to walk with my momma in honor of my Gramma (at this time only one of my Grammas had had
Breast Cancer), when all along I had been participating in other walks/runs
throughout the years. Well, looking back, now that was a no-brain-er… an eight
year old walking 60 miles? So, momma being the creative-artsy-fartsy person she
is, came up with plan-b… took some paint, painted the bottoms of my bare feet
and made footprints on the back of her race shirt! This made my attitude a tad
bit better because I “sorta” walked the 60 miles with her… take that, stupid
rules!
The point of the story above?? I was taught at a young age about
Breast Cancer Awareness and how vital it is. You can NEVER have too much information
or knowledge about the topic, or anything in that matter!
It’s amazing how much I've continued to learn throughout the years, being a granddaughter of two
survivors, doing high school projects on Breast Cancer, reading endless tid-bits of info and articles, and even more importantly the in-depth
information I have learned throughout my medical classes and clinical experience
(so far)…..The information is endless!
With that
being said; my goal for this blog-post is that, vital information about Breast
Cancer should spread, like wild-fire, among everyone, males
included, and most importantly the younger generation. The more knowledge, we as
individuals or a society has… the more pro-active we can be…. the more
pro-active we are…. the higher chance we can kick ANY type of cancers butt!
Cancer, we
all cringe at the sound of it and agree that there is nothing good about cancer
itself, but do we really know what that awful thing is?
"Cancer,
a malignant neoplasia marked by the uncontrolled growth of cells, often with
invasion of healthy tissues locally or throughout the body."
Uhh?? overload,
too much medical terminology? I completely understand; that’s how I felt the first year of my medical classes. Let’s put it this way: cancer is a new growth (neoplasia)
that is getting worse and/or resisting treatment (malignant) and the cells
multiply uncontrollably which then attacks the tissue around it (locally) or
throughout the body (widespread).
*Note that
cancer and carcinoma are used interchangeably. Medical terms are built from
word parts such as:
- Word Root
- Prefix
- Suffix
- Combining vowel
example: Carcinoma: carcin=
cancer, oma=tumor
As with any
cancer, there are many different types of Breast Cancer…I could go on and write
a 50 page paper about Breast Cancer but, considering I promised my momma this
would be a “short, simple and to the point” blog-post that she could read
before bed and not fall asleep… I will try and take what I feel is the most
important information and sum it up!
Two Main Categories
of Breast Cancer:
- Invasive- spreads to other tissues
- Non-Invasive (in situ)- does not spread to other tissues
The most
common type of Breast Cancer (approx.. 80% of all Breast Cancer) is the IDC-
Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. IDC is cancer that has broken through the wall of
the milk duct and invades the tissue of the whole breast. IDC has the potential
to spread to the lymph nodes and other regions of the body.
Although,
IDC is the most common type of Breast Cancer overall, the most common type of
non-invasive Breast Cancer is DCIS- Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. DCIS takes place
inside the milk ducts and stays directly in its original place (in situ), it
does NOT spread. DCIS is typically not life threatening but it is not something to take
lightly. After having DCIS, the patient will have a higher risk of developing
invasive Breast Cancer later on in life.
Some Risk Factors
for Breast Cancer:
- Personal history of Breast Cancer
- Age (risk increases with age)
- Family History of Breast Cancer
- Age @ first live birth (women who had their first child after age 30 and women who have never give birth are at a higher risk)
- Age @ first menstrual period (women who had their first period before after 12 are at a slightly higher risk)
- Benign breast changes
- Race
- Genetics- several genes (including BRCA1 & BRCA2, among others) increase a women’s chance of developing Breast Cancer
- Oral contraceptive pill and hormone replacement therapy may both slightly increase the risk of developing Breast Cancer
- Obesity
- Alcohol Use- The greater the alcohol intake, the greater risk.
So what’s
next?? Take FULL control and responsibility of your body and life; become
PRO-ACTIVE! Because the signs and symptoms of Breast Cancer can vary widely among different people, the most vital, yes, I will repeat myself, THE. MOST. VITAL.
step that YOU can take yourself, as a patient, in being pro-active is performing a monthly breast self-exam. I can’t stress how important this is!!
I learned about monthly breast self-exams, I’m sure, before the rest of my
elementary class even knew what breasts were. Get familiar, stay on top of it,
check for abnormalities. The SOONER Breast Cancer is found and diagnosed, the
better chance of kicking its butt! After you have mastered this step of being
pro-active, the next step is, if you are over the age of 40 you should schedule a yearly mammogram and physical check-up with your
regular physician! If you are younger than 40 and have had history (personal or family) with Breast Cancer talk with your physician to see if you are eligible for a mammogram.
A
Mammo-What?! A mammogram is probably the most common and important tool that
physicians use in diagnosing, evaluating, treating, and following up with
patients. Simply put, a mammogram is an X-Ray photo of the breast. Like I said before, medical terms are broken into parts, in which then defines the term, literally. Example: Mammogram, mammo= breast, gram= record or picture...would you look at that?! Breast picture is the literal definition for mammogram. Make sense? Good! I've heard you learn something new everyday...Back to mammograms, I won’t
explain the procedure, but, I hear its quite fun or should I say interesting…or...actually,
I’ll let you figure it out yourself when your time comes..Just know they are extremely important, so go get one!
So, we humans
aren’t quite super heroes… we can’t prevent every.single.thing…. All I can say
about treatments for Breast Cancer is WOW; they have come a long ways! After
talking with my Gramma, that has had it seven times, the treatment she received
for the first round of cancer is totally different than the treatment for her
seventh round. You could say, times have changed.
A Few Common Treatments (Tx):
·
Surgery-
many different types of surgery depending on type of cancer, severity, etc.
·
Chemotherapy-
uses medicine to weaken or kill the cancer cells
·
Radiation
Therapy- uses a special high-energy beam to damage the cancer cells
·
Hormonal
Therapy- medicine in which alters amounts of estrogen
·
Targeted
Therapies- target specific characteristics of cancer cells
I promise, I’m
almost done! I told you I could sit
down and write a 50 page paper on this topic, Breast Cancer is near and dear to
my heart and I want as many people as possible to be informed with this
important info!
Breast
Cancer is commonly associated to only women… NEWS FLASH, that is so totally wrong! So listen up MALES, DADDY'S, BOYFRIENDS, FIANCES, UNCLES, BROTHERS and
GRANDPAS:
MEN CAN GET
BREAST CANCER…..
Although,
Breast Cancer in males is rare….you should still be aware and informed. Not in
the dark, clueless about a possible cancer that you could potentially
get.
Males technically
have breasts because they have breast tissue, just like women, the only difference
is that males/boys don’t produce nearly the same amount of breast-stimulating
hormone as women, that is why males typically have flat breast tissue.
So, MEN: once again, in-case you weren't paying attention...don’t
think you are Super Man and are invincible to Breast Cancer, because I hate to break it to you, you aren't Super Man…. You are capable of getting Breast Cancer…because you technically have breasts. YOU, just like women, should be pro-active, get familiar, perform a monthly breast self-exam, and if you come across any abnormalities, go
get checked out right away!
With that, I’m
done…. I think…. Just remember:
Get
Informed. Be Pro-Active. Spread the Knowledge. Live Healthy. Get Involved.
October is Breast Cancer awareness month so.. Wear Pink, Think Pink, Love Pink!
Go, Fight, Cure!
Find the
beauty in your life-
XoXo Kate
*Some of these medical terms/definitions were taken from "Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary" which is basically my baby and doesn't leave my side. A lot of the information above though, was simply key concepts or terms that I have learned through out my education in the medical profession and/or clinical experience*
***Please
note: This information should NOT be used in replacement of any medical advice
you have ever received, ALWAYS meet with your physician first! The purpose of this
article was to inform people on the basic information of Breast Cancer, not diagnose, advise,
evaluate or treat.***
