Is a breast cancer diagnosis a death sentence?

Breast cancer is curable, it’s okay to be afraid to get screened but don’t let fear cause you to lose your life. Breast cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence. Read on breast cancer, go and get screened by a medical professional at least once a year, learn to examine your breast by yourself and do it regularly.

How do you end up with breast cancer?

Certain factors increase the risk of breast cancer including increasing age, obesity, harmful use of alcohol, family history of breast cancer, history of radiation exposure, reproductive history (such as age that menstrual periods began and age at first pregnancy), tobacco use and postmenopausal hormone therapy.

Is breast cancer cured or in remission?

If you had a tumor in your breast and it shrank from successful treatment, your cancer is in remission. Your doctor may also use the word response, which means the same thing. Remission doesn’t mean you’re cured. Cancer cells can still live in your body, even after treatment.

Can breast cancer go away permanently?

But for some women with advanced breast cancer, the cancer may never go away completely. These women may continue to get treatments to help keep the breast cancer under control and to help relieve symptoms from it.

Can Stage 3 breast cancer be cured?

Because stage 3 breast cancer has spread outside the breast, it can be harder to treat than earlier stage breast cancer, though that depends on a few factors. With aggressive treatment, stage 3 breast cancer is curable; however, the risk that the cancer will grow back after treatment is high.

Does a mastectomy cure breast cancer?

A mastectomy is surgery to remove all breast tissue from a breast as a way to treat or prevent breast cancer. For those with early-stage breast cancer, a mastectomy may be one treatment option. Breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy), in which only the tumor is removed from the breast, may be another option.

Can you be cancer free after breast cancer?

Women who’ve had breast cancer can still get other cancers. Although most breast cancer survivors don’t get cancer again, they are at higher risk for getting some types of cancer. The most common second cancer in breast cancer survivors is another breast cancer. (This is different from the first cancer coming back.)

Why are nipples removed during mastectomy?

Because the nipple is insensate, the nipple can often be removed under local anesthesia or no anesthesia in the office by the plastic surgeon several weeks after surgery. In most cases, the nipple is removed and the areola is retained, so the cosmetic appearance is still acceptable to most patients.

Is there life after a mastectomy?

Women who had one or both breasts surgically removed (a unilateral or bilateral mastectomy) had lower scores on a quality-of-life survey, indicating worse quality of life, than women who had surgery to remove just the tumor and some nearby healthy tissue (breast-conserving surgery), researchers found.

Can you live 40 years with breast cancer?

For 20- to 35-year-old women, compared with women 45-75 years of age, 5-year relative survival for stage I-II breast cancer was 84% versus 92%, respectively; survival for stage III disease was 47% versus 55%; and for stage IV disease was 15% versus 20% (Figure 7).

What is the most serious type of breast cancer?

Metastatic Breast Cancer The most serious and dangerous breast cancers – wherever they arise or whatever their type – are metastatic cancers. Metastasis means that the cancer has spread from the place where it started into other tissues distant from the original tumor site.

How to deal with end of life concerns with metastatic breast cancer?

End of Life Concerns With Metastatic Breast Cancer 1 Beginning Discussions. There is no best way to bring up the end-of-life concerns, and what may work well for one family may not work for another. 2 Stopping Treatment. 3 Anticipatory Grief. 4 Hospice Care. 5 Advance Directives/Living Will. 6 End of Life Planning.

Can I decide what is the best treatment for my breast cancer?

Unless you are a minor or are deemed medically incompetent in a court of law (situations that rarely occur with breast cancer), no one but you can determine what is or what is not in your best interest—even if you decide that the best treatment for your breast cancer is no treatment at all.

Why do some women refuse breast cancer treatment?

Among some of the more common reasons for the refusal of breast cancer treatment: A period of adjustment: No one really knows how they will respond to a cancer diagnosis until they get one. Denial: Denial is usually self-protective, allowing a woman to manage her emotions until she is better able to process the news.

Can a court force a woman with breast cancer to undergo surgery?

In such a case, the court would have to declare the patient mentally incompetent and unable to make or carry out important decisions regarding her health. Even so, the very notion that a court can force a woman with breast cancer to undergo surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy is legally unsound and unheard of in medical practice.