Fibrocystic disease breast and breast cancer
Can fibrocystic breast disease morph into breast cancer? You bet it can, but it doesn’t have to!
A diagnosis of breast cancer strikes fear in the heart of every woman, but when it’s your mother that receives the diagnosis, emotions go into overdrive.
My mother has a history of fibrocystic disease breast, and has had several breast lumps aspirated over the years, none of which were malignant. She has a mammogram every year, and always gets a good report. This year was different. This year she had to have a breast biopsy.
She had a partial hysterectomy in the mid-70’s, and afterward they put her on Premarin. They left her ovaries, but still put her on Premarin, which was standard medical practice at that time. Bad thing is, they left her on it til the early 2000’s.
Ten years ago as I started into peri-menopause I began reading about HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and all the problems associated with it. Having had problems when I took the birth control pill, I was concerned about HRT and menopause. After compiling all the information I advised her to get off the Premarin – she was in her late 60’s. Her female physician fought to keep her on it….after all, the drug reps were still telling physicians that women needed the stuff. She eventually did quit taking it.
You see, the drug companies fund the medical schools, and the drug reps give info to the physicians on new drugs coming out. The physicians are taught early in their career that what the drug companies are dishing out is gospel. For them to go against that philosophy takes time and money, neither of which most of them are willing to give up. I had one physician tell me many years ago, as I was first looking into alternative medicine, that if he didn’t learn it in medical school, then it couldn’t be good!
Fast forward to today, 10 years later, and she is diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer. Stage 1 is the good news. Bad news is she has more than one type of tumor. The breast biopsy showed two different types of tumor and that they were multifocal, or in more than one location in the breast:
* DCIS – ductal carcinoma in-situ. This is the one you want. It comes out intact and nothing else is needed.
* IDC – invasive ductal carcinoma. This is the most common type. It begins in the milk ducts and invades nearby tissues.
There are 4 different stages of cancer, I-IV. (Stage 0 is pre-cancerous, no invasion of surrounding tissues) Mother’s tumor is 1.8 cm, and anything under 2 cm is considered Stage 1. The biopsy showed some lymph involvement and the margins were not clear, but they were well differentiated. The margins are the edge of the tissue surrounding the tumor that the surgeon removed. To simplify, Mother’s margins showed some micro calcifications and an infiltration of cancer cells, but they were not of the aggressive type. Micro calcifications are tiny bits of calcium found wherever cels are dividing rapidly; it’s considered a first sign of breast cancer, pre-DCIS.
She had 2 options for treatment, modified radical mastectomy or lumpectomy. She chose to have a mastectomy because of the multifocal aspect of the tumors, the invasive aspect of the tumors and the lymph involvement. Stage 1 breast cancer has a 5-year survival rate of 100%. The 5-year survival rate refers to the number of patients who live at least 5 years after their cancer is found.
Think twice or maybe six times before you take prescription HRT. The incidence of breast cancer continues to increase, in spite of the latest technologies and medicine. 20 years ago the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer was 1 in 10. Today it’s 1 in 8! Studies have shown that synthetic hormones INCREASE your chances of breast cancer 25-30%. Contrary to popular belief, the minuscule amount of good that HRT does the heart is far outweighed by the cancer risk. ( Mother had to have a pacemaker put in last fall) There are other risk factors such as age, family history, specific genes, obesity and such. The National Cancer Institute provides an online tool to help you figure out your risk.
There are a lot of great natural hormones out there, you just have to try them and find one that works for you. Ask your current physician to work with you, or find one that is open to alternative medicine. Statistics don’t mean much til it’s you or someone in your family diagnosed with breast cancer.
My mother is 77 and still working full-time, although she will retire for the second time this fall. She is healthy, on a good supplement program, and has a great attitude. Her faith in God is strong and she has the love and support of her family and friends.
