Why does BC have to be so common???

looneycrew

My boss was just diagnosed today with BC. She is seeing my surgeon tomorrow and has decided on double mast.

The feelings I had Apr 06 were all resurrected these past few days as she was going through this. I couldn't sleep at all last night.

Whether you know them or not, to hear someone say "I have breast cancer" just brings tears to my eyes.

Fitztwins

My bosses wife was dx. 2 coworkers. 3 sisters of friends..the list goes on. Something is causing all of these diagnosis, or we are finding them earlier.

J

christineK

I can just say, let's be glad they are being found. Why? We really have no answers, but to look at the new survival rates, it gives us hope. When I found out about a close friend, I cried and cried. Not because I was afraid she'd die, but because I felt sorry for her, her life would be forever changed and all of the crap she'd have to endure. I fet worse for her dx than mine.

NoH8

While it's very sad that so many others have to suffer, I believe that we're very fortunate breast cancer is as common as it is, because of the research dollars that go into finding treatments and hopefully some day a cure and/or prevention entirely. If we had been diagnosed with some obscure cancer that didn't have protocols for new medications and money sponsoring this, our chances would be very poor. At least we have a fighting chance unlike some cancers.

joanne_elizabeth

I am sure sorry it is so common. I am also sorry I got it.

I believe they do know what causes it - pollution in the food, water and air. As countries become more industrialized, cancer rates soar. They are anticipating this in China in the next 10-20 years.
Is there much research being done in terms of prevention? I know the ACS spends less than 10% on that.
From what I read it is an endless list of blame the victim, she had kids later, she ate tofu/didn't eat tofu, she didn't breast feed, she has/had dense breasts.
Gee whiz the rates went down a bit cause doctors stopped pushing estrogen replacment therapy to "treat menopause". Recently there was researching showing MRIs are much more effective than 50 yr old technology breast x-rays at detecting cancer and pre-cancer, but will insurance cover it? Only sometimes with a fight.

joanne_elizabeth

The real problem is that there is no examination of the real root causes - allowing farmers to put hormones in the beef and dairy for one. When was the last time the Ameican Cancer Society got on TV and said - women - drink only organic milk and eat occasional organic beef if you don't want to get breast cancer. Other countries forbid the use of these hormones, but not here if it makes someone a buck.

No the only thing they do is push these extremely faulty breast x-rays and support research for more poisons to "treat" breast cancer.
Taking the hormones out of food would interfere with agribusiness. The EU also forbids many of the carcinogens in our soaps, shampoos and makeup. Does the US? Of course not.
Just read in the 1960s the incidence of bc was 1/23. What do you think has changed?

lindaDK

I think somewhere, someone already know what causes many cancers including BC, but a real cure would sure put a damper on drug companies, doctors, hospitals, (the list goes on and on) profits now wouldn't it. So instead of finding a cure, they find more and more poisons to push at us. I am thankful they are coming up with better drugs, but.... the "find a cure" pink ribbon hoopla in reality is "forget the cure, lets come up with more drugs".

Speaking of the pink ribbon hoopla, our city just had their 'race for the cure' walk a couple of weeks ago. There were over 20,000 people who walked (and yes, I was one of them). Now, if you just take the cost of entry to walk alone (25.00 x 20,000) that comes up to over $500,000. Not to mention how much money people who walked raised with the donations. Thats an astounding amount of money AND this is just what one city has raised, this race is in several cities every year. How much money total this year was raised from this org alone?? Where is all this money going? Do they ever say, not that I can find.. Makes me wonder....

PS: Hope I didn't offend anyone who is affiliated with the pink ribbon. I'm done ranting now...

Linda

joanne_elizabeth

Now when was the last time anybody told us this? The cattle lobby is strong.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/Meat/usfeedlotbeef.cfm

"ONE study found a sevenfold increase in breast cancer among pre-menopausal women who had high levels of IGF-1 in their bodies, while a similar study discovered a four-fold increase in prostate cancer among men with high
levels of the hormone."

ADK

A friend of a friend's father passed away yesterday from cancer. My friend was pointing out to me that she lost her father to cancer and two of her closest friends now have lost their fathers to cancer. It's not just breast cancer that has become more common. It's all of them. I am convinced it is our polluted society. Perhaps the additional hormones in our food has added to the increase in breast cancer. I agree whole heartedly with Linda about the drug companies - no one is really looking for a cure - they are looking for a way to contol it when it happens because our society is not willing to give up our creature comforts or profits which are probably the root cause of the increase in all cancers. Yes, I am a skeptic and I do intensely dislike the pink ribbons because I know that the money is not going to look for a cure. Just a way to make money by selling a product (expensive new drugs) to a captive audience. JMHO

lindaDK

Oh wow Joanne, that article was informative and disturbing on so many levels, thanks for sharing it.

Anymore, I'm scared to eat anything I don't grow myself in my own backyard!!

looneycrew

The Des Moines Affiliate of Komen for the Cure shares their information of where money is going each year in their annual report. A majority of the RFC proceeds are spent locally to support uninsured women to get screening. Another portion goes to National proceeds for research and communication efforts.
Ask your local chapter to share this info with you.

joanne_elizabeth

I would like to see a "Race for the Prevention".

I also loathe the pink ribbons. What do they give men who get prostate cancer?

susan_CNY

watch what you grow in your back yard also, I was informed by government to not grow and eat vegetables on my property, the whole area is laden with lead, wish they had told me that 35 years ago, when we bought the house, was proud of feeding my family my homegrown produce, this was shared when my grandson was found to be lead poisoned.

NoH8

My neighbor's wife died last week just a few weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was due to start chemo the following day. She had no signs before being diagnosed. Pancreatic is such a fast moving cancer and I thought to myself how lucky I was to have been diagnosed with breast cancer and have a fighting chance.

I think we also have to look at whether it's true that more people are being diagnosed with breast cancer or is it that because we have better screening and awareness, more are being diagnosed while the cancer is treatable. I'm not sure exactly how long mammography has been a tool in routing early detection-- but I know it's not all that long and one or two generations ago if they even knew there was a cancer, they didn't always know where it started.
Chemos hasn't been around all that long either.
I don't think the road ahead it positive, not just for breast cancer, but for cancer in general and other diseases, particularly once we get a new president who will back federally funded dollars for stem cell research.

lvtwoqlt

I think that with the advancements in mammography (digital)and MRI that the cancers are being found in earlier stages. My aunt was diagnosed in 1978 with cancer but they could not find her primary tumor, she had 'seeds' that spread throught her body. The doctors at NC Baptist put her through the tests that were available then but all they could do was treat the mets. After her death 7 months later through an autopsy, her primary tumor was found in her ovary.

When my mother was dx 6 years ago, her mother cried saying that my mom was going to die like Arlene. Mom comforted her mother by saying that they did not find Arlene's primary tumor but they found mom's and they took it out. She had to go through the chemo and rads.
After her dx they started watching me closer and my DCIS was found in stage 0. double mast with no additional treatment for me.

Sheila

joanne_elizabeth

There is much debate about whether or not breast x-rays save lives. They detect cancer earlier SOMETIMES (they completely missed mine and 20-30% of other bc patients), but that may mean the woman simply lives with bc longer than in the past, not necessarity that she lives longer. Breast x-rays have been around for many decades. They provide a false sense of security to many women. Just a week ago or so they finally admitted that MRIs are much superior for detecting cancers. What took them so long?
Rates of bc have been on the upswing since the 60s until a few years ago when they finally saw a decrease. This is a well know statistic. This was NOT due to breast x-rays, but due to a drop in women taking hormones.

Fitztwins

I truly do not agree with anyone who thinks they are hiding a cure for BC or a cause. There are a hell of a lot of other diseases and other forms of cancer to cure and make money from. Research people have loved ones die too of cancer. It is tricky and hard to predict. Each morphs differently.

As to all the 'Walks' for a Cure, do you realize that BC walks like Komen, ACS Making Strides has really made a difference?? there are more drugs and clinical trials for BC then any other cancer! Ladies, that is amazing.

Do you realize that 30 years ago Childhood lukemia had a 5-10% SURIVAL rate? That is up in the 90s now?? AMAZING.

My husband works in part of the industry. Printing..Studies are not Clinical Trials. I hate that any money is spent on grapefruit or frenchfries or those who slept on the R side cause BC.

We know that smoking is a leading cause of lung cancer. But people still do it.

Just some rambling thoughts on a Thursday night.

Janis

NoH8

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I truly do not agree with anyone who thinks they are hiding a cure for BC or a cause. There are a hell of a lot of other diseases and other forms of cancer to cure and make money from. Research people have loved ones die too of cancer. It is tricky and hard to predict. Each morphs differently.

As to all the 'Walks' for a Cure, do you realize that BC walks like Komen, ACS Making Strides has really made a difference?? there are more drugs and clinical trials for BC then any other cancer! Ladies, that is amazing.

Do you realize that 30 years ago Childhood lukemia had a 5-10% SURIVAL rate? That is up in the 90s now?? AMAZING.

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I totally agree with you and if anyone has any credible evidence to the contrary I'd be quite interested in seeing it.
I believe that when we thumb our noses at the walks, runs, pink ribbons for awareness etc. we're not realizing just how lucky we are to have a "nice" cancer. Lung cancer survivors are constantly asked, if they smoked, as if that means they deserve to have cancer. Because our cancer is so common, we have sites like this one and message boards. I know someone's mother who has such a rare cancer that only 9 people they know of have it, so treatment is hit or miss.
I believe that a grateful heart is a happy heart, that the glass is indeed half full and that I'm a lot better off focusing on the positive.

joanne_elizabeth

I find your language totally offensive. There is no such thing as a nice cancer unless you are a masochist!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070824/hl_nm/hrt_dc;_ylt=Arfif.IyWBVfJPJJa8V3yLEQ.3QA
As I said, since they have stopped shoving hormone therapy at women, the rates have dropped. Imagine how the rates would drop if they cleaned up the meat, poultry and dairy?

joanne_elizabeth

I don't think anyone said anyone is hiding a cure. I do believe our gov't is doing NOTHING in terms of prevention.

The reason childhood cancers have a higher remission rate is that many more kids participate in clinical trials, breast cancer women do not. I have also worked in research.

Did you know the main sponsors of the races for cures are big pharma? When was the last time AstraZeneca put any money into prevention? When was the last time they cared that the rates have soared? How much does big Pharma make every time a woman gets diagnosed? There is no money to be made in prevention and I rest my case.

NoH8

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I find your language totally offensive. There is no such thing as a nice cancer unless you are a masochist!

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I was talking about how society views it-- offensive to you or not, that's the way it's viewed by many, many people. Have you ever talked to lung cancer patients? There aren't many long term survivors you can talk to.There are few if any walks and fund raisers for these folks, even though they die at a much higher rate than breast cancer survivors. Like it or not society views breast cancer differently, in a much kinder, nonjudgmental way.

NoH8

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I don't think anyone said anyone is hiding a cure. I do believe our gov't is doing NOTHING in terms of prevention.

The reason childhood cancers have a higher remission rate is that many more kids participate in clinical trials, breast cancer women do not. I have also worked in research.

Did you know the main sponsors of the races for cures are big pharma? When was the last time AstraZeneca put any money into prevention? When was the last time they cared that the rates have soared? How much does big Pharma make every time a woman gets diagnosed? There is no money to be made in prevention and I rest my case.

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What about the HPV vaccination? You aren't talking in terms of FACTS-- you've just inferred conclusions based in bias. I'd like to see some stats on how many children participate in clinical trials vs. breast cancer patients in terms of percentages-- since you're grouping all childhood cancers together.

lindaDK

I've never heard anyone say BC is a nice cancer. If anyone ever tells me I have a 'nice cancer', there not going to get a very nice response back. BC is not nice, not even close.

I read an article somewhere, can't remember where, that there hasn't been a cure for any disease since polio. The article may not be credible, don't go shooting me if I am wrong.

This may be off topic in a way, I have always been a anti-drug person, hate taking medications and don't unless its absolutely necessary (until this year, sigh). I cringe everytime I see a drug commercial, (which is quite often), they would like us to believe we need to pop a pill for everything under the sun. The image they are protraying (at least to me) is by bombarding us with these commercials its all about the profits, and we'll mask the symptoms, but not cure them.

Research needs to be done to find the cause, you find the cause and you've found the cure. Are the pharma companies doing that? My bet would be no.

Fitztwins

No cancer is nice. BUT ....BC has one of the biggest arsenal of defenses. Plain and simple. Yes, we need to find the cause. But it isn't cut and dry. It has so many variables and many of us don't have the luxury of time to figure out how to prevent it, we need a cure. We are in our 30's, 40's and 50, 60, and 70's , we need a cure.

Janis