These days, breast cancer isn’t a cause for concern anymore. Many women have been cured of breast cancer as medical science has progressed in the past years.The first few symptoms of breast cancer are redness, swelling, pain, tenderness in breasts, nipple discharge and lumps in the breast. If you examine your breasts every day, there is a good chance that you’ll detect a lump immediately. Cancer takes months or years to develop. If you find any of the above symptoms, it would be advisable to consult a physician and get a mammogram.
Steps to take after breast cancer diagnosis
1. If your mammogram has come back abnormal, the first thing to do is consult your regular physician. Mammograms can be wrong in 10 to 15 % of the cases. The general procedure demands that a biopsy be done after an abnormal mammogram. Biopsy procedures are fairly simple and cause very little discomfort. It involves taking a tissue sample from your breast and having it examined in a pathological lab.
2. A biopsy will confirm malignancy of the tumor. If the tumor is benign, the risk is far lower and this tumor can be operated upon and eliminated from your body. If the tumor is malignant, then the next step is to get a CT scan.
3. A CT scan determines how much the cancer has progressed. If it is in the primary stage, then the tumor will be small. In case the tumor is malignant, the cancer can be present in stages. Stage 0 (no cancer) to stage IV (terminal).
4. Depending on the stage, the treatment plan is devised. It is a good plan to get a HER test done. This test detects the estrogen hormone and its effects on the tumor in a particular body. It is believed that estrogen interferes in the treatment of cancer and thus it is important to determine the hormonal status. Depending upon the severity of hormonal interference, medications are duly administered. In very serious cases, the ovaries are removed to stop the interference.
5. After the prognosis, the treatment is surgery. The tumor is surgically removed from the body.
6. Since cancer can redevelop from a single cell after surgery, a set of procedures are carried out. Patients are generally given radiation therapy, which is relatively painless and has less side effects. A beam of radiation is pointed at the affected part and the cells in the area are irradiated. It lasts for a few minutes and the frequency depends upon the stage of the malady.
7. Radiation therapy should be followed by chemotherapy, which involves giving drugs through an IV traditionally or as pills (new method). There are three types of chemotherapy adjuvant, presurgical and therapautic. Chemotherapy generally lasts in cycles and must be administred because there is a fair chance that cancerous cells may stray into other parts of the body and start new cancerous growths. Chemotherapy is designed to eliminate any cancer causing cells from the body. The side effects of the technique may include hair loss, nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite or low blood cell count. These side effects can be treated as well.
8. Hormone therapy, as mentioned earlier, may be included in the treatment plan as well. This involves the inhibition of estrogen and progesterone receptors in the body. This is done by administering suitable drugs. If the patient is between the age of 20 and 40, the ovaries may have to be removed since, the estrogen interferes with the treatment immensely.
9. Depending on how much the cancer has progressed, the treatment plan and the period are devised. Radiation and chemotherapy last until the physician and oncologist are sure that the cancer will not redevelop.
10. Cancer patients have to be careful for years to come. Regular health check ups, quarter yearly mammograms, and breast examinations must become a part of their routine.
Quick tips
If you are detected with Cancer:
1. Calm down. It’s just a disease. More often than not, people are cured.
2. Educate yourself on the do’s and dont’s of the malady. Knowledge drives away the fear associated with the disease.
3. Get plenty of rest through the treatment.
4. Be regular in all the treatment endevors.
5. Keep the faith.
