You’re not going to believe what I just read!
According to a new study by the not-for-profit National Women’s Health Resource Center (NWHRC), the nation’s leading source for women’s health information, women who are dissatisfied with their overall physical appearance are significantly less likely to be up to date with preventive screenings, such as mammography and breast self-exam.
Oh goodness … this worries me so much. Just another reason to believe that developing a positive body image is key to a woman’s health and wellness.
So this seems this is a good time to ask yourself a few questions, questions posed by a …read more

On May 12 (geesh, time flies) I gave you all A Menopause Primer and promised you I’d have some resources for the women reading this blog battling menopausal symptoms as a result of your breast cancer treatment.
First, let’s review the symptoms of menopause, whether natural, chemical or induced:

Hot flashes and night sweats
Vaginal discharge or spotting
Vaginal dryness
Diminished sex drive and/or pain during intercourse
Urinary incontinence, UTIs or burning on urination
Insomnia
Mood swings (irritability, depression, anxiety)
Breast changes (shape, texture)

As I typed those I started to feel sorry for us all over again. In particular, those of us dealing with vaginal dryness.
Although I was told …read more

One woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every three minutes, and one woman will die of breast cancer every 13 minutes in the U.S.

(Source: Komen)

Did you know that a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer increases with age? Approximately 95 percent of all breast cancers occur in women 40 years of age and older.

(Source: Komen)

Update: Read through to the bottom of this post if you want to be entered in the drawing to win this journal!
Who here has a pocket folder full of information and notes that you put together when you were first diagnosed with breast cancer? A 3-ring binder? A manilla folder hanging in a Pendaflex file?
Well, take a look at this …
A Survivor’s Guide for the Breast Cancer Journey, by Kim Regenhard, was released in April 2008.
The journal, from RiverStone Journals, and in collaboration with Day-Timer, is specifically intended to help women newly diagnosed with breast cancer understand, organize, plan and …read more

CHECK OUT THE NEW LOOK OF BREASTCANCER.ORG !!!

From the press release I received today:

Breastcancer.org, the world’s most-trafficked website for breast cancer news and information and one of the world’s leading online communities for breast cancer patients, announced today a major re-launch of its website and brand.
Isn’t the redesign out of this world? What a resource and what a great new look!
BREASTCANCER.ORG, for those of you who don’t know, is a fantastic site with an emphasis on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and side effects — a haven for researchers like myself — and a humungous online discussion group system. The site has …read more

Kristen King is a fantastic blogger — and she’s rocked my world by posting this “newsflash” on her weblog, Livey Woman: Breast Cancer News and a Personal Story.
Check it out!

US researchers have acknowledged that poorer women have a greater chance of dying from breast cancer than those who are financially better off.
A study was conducted with 14,000 breast, prostate and colorectal patients — and clearly indicated that socioeconomic status affects a person’s chances of survival. Here’s a quote from a Washington Post article on the subject:
“The study found that cancer patients with low socioeconomic status had more advanced cancers at time of diagnosis, received less aggressive treatment, and had a higher risk of dying within five years of diagnosis.”
The link between race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status is well known — …read more

Did you know that African Americans have the highest death rate from breast cancer of any racial/ethnic group in the U.S.? So while 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, African American women are more likely to die from the disease. This seems to warrant some special attention.
Susan G. Komen is on the job!
Komen for the Cure’s Circle of Promise campaign is designed to engage African American women to help end breast cancer forever by fostering increased awareness, support, empowerment and action.”
Today it was announced that leading African-American actresses, Gabrielle Union has agreed to partner with Circle …read more

You probably heard about the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, maybe even skimmed a recent news story about it. But maybe, like me, you didn’t quite understand what it was all about?
I mean, here’s what crowded my brain: Hasn’t this been around for a while? Haven’t they implemented this yet? Hasn’t it been years since this first hit the scene?
The answers? Yes. No. Yes. Let me explain:
The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act was first introduced by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT — pictured on right) in 1996, after she met with Dr. Kristen Zarfos, a Connecticut surgeon who found herself …read more