Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer is one of the biggest killers of women. Even though it is rare, men can get breast cancer. Breast Cancer devastates families! Many ask what it is, how to prevent it, and if diagnosed, what are the treatment options.

Symptoms of breast cancer are thickening of the breast, nipple discharge, change in shape or size, enlargement of armpit, and puckering of the skin on the breast (King 14). The most common is a hard lump in your breast. Breast cancer involves cells that go out of control and form a tumor (O'Donnell 3). That tumor then destroys healthy tissue; therefore, you have breast cancer.

Caucasian women are most likely to get breast cancer. The second most likely are African Americans, then Asian, and Hispanic are less likely to get breast cancer (O'Donnell 7). Some risk factors of getting breast cancer may be radiation therapy of chest at a young age, having dense breast, body fat around the waist, and being tall (King 13). If you are over the age of 50 or if your mother, daughter, or sister has had breast cancer, then these are major risk factors as well.

An estimated 192,370 cases are expected to have of occurred in 2009 and 40,170 women died in just the U.S. An estimated 1,910 male cases are expected to occur and 440 will die out of the U.S (American 1). Although getting breast cancer at a young age is possible, 95% of the time patients are over the age of 50. Eighty-five percent of the time patients do not have a family history. One eighth or 12.6% of women will get breast cancer. Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer, and 77% of them are over 50. Thirty-three to eighty percent of women present no risk factors from the factors of breast cancer (Women's Health 1). Though many show at least one risk factor.

There are ways to try to prevent breast cancer. One important step to take is watch what you eat and how much. You want to try to lower the total fat you eat by as much as 20%, saturated fat by at least 10%, and animal proteins by about 6% (Hirshaut 242). Along with diet, exercising about three times a week is important. Also, not becoming pregnant for the first time after 30, and have less alcohol consumption (King 13). All of these things are helpful ways to try to prevent breast cancer.

Picking a doctor can be one the most important decisions you can make when you are diagnosed with breast cancer. It is very important that your doctor and specialist should talk and determine what would be the best treatment for you (Guide 1). Communication and trust plays a big role in your process of treatment. You want a doctor that you can count on to talk to you about your options and other factors like potential risks, benefits, and side effects of treatments (Doctors 2).This can be a very big job.

There are several specialists that will play a big role during a patient's treatment. A medical oncologist specializes in the treatment of cancer and