Breast cancer treatment is something we need to be aware of. Everything is moving so fast around us that we have started ignoring every such thing. We make them count nil, but these are somethings we should count the most, because when health is good everything is good.
Life of an individual is the most precious thing to count on. When a person suffers from a disease, their families and closed ones care a lot, especially when the disease is some dreadful one. They can do anything to get the suffering person back from that hell.
When talking about the women, they specifically don’t look after themselves. They forget that their good health is equally important to their own families. The greatest risk for them is the hidden devils, “Cancer”, here to be specific I am talking about the Breast Cancer.
But how to understand the signs of breast cancer? A breast lump, or a breast tumor is not visible from outside, but through some physical tests, these signs of breast cancer can be known. An efficient breast cancer treatment or therapy is a must to get them rid of this breast tumor. So, for now it is essential for us to study what is Breast cancer and what are the signs of breast cancer?
What does the Breast Cancer mean?
“Breast cancer is the onset of the normal cells of breast tissues and ducts to turn into abnormal ones and then outgrowing tremendously to form tumor type mass of cancer cells”.
The breast tumor can be malignant also that spreads into the other body parts, infecting them to cancerous parts. This spread of the cancer cells into other parts is known as Malignant Cancer (metastasize).
The breast tissues in case of cancer form breast lump, the breast lump grow into breast tumor showing different signs of breast cancer. Breast cancers may start the growth of cancer cells from different parts of the breast, like from the ducts or the lobules.
Those from the ducts are known as Ductal Cancers and those from the lobules are known as the Lobular cancers. These parts give rise to the growth of breast lump, which further grow into breast tumor, causing different signs of breast cancer.
How to Diagnose the Symptoms of Breast Cancer?
Ladies! You may diagnose the signs of breast cancer by yourself if you have a doubt on it. You may call them Self-exams of breast lump or breast cancer, before undergoing any diagnosis or breast cancer treatment. The signs of breast cancer are very important to be noticed, in women as well as in men.
Yes! Men can also suffer from the breast tumor, or breast cancer. Before understanding the thick and thins of diagnosis and breast cancer treatment, it is important for women to be brave and come forward to the doctor if they have a doubt. Before that they may check the breast lump or breast tumor through self-exams.
You just need to watch and feel carefully. If you feel any breast lump by touching your breasts or somewhere under your armpits, it may be growing into the breast tumor, then follow the breast cancer treatment.
Next, step is to find under the shower with the help of a soap, making it smooth and then observe by touching through your skin if there is some signs of breast cancer, like some roughness, or some breast lump. You can also check the dimpling or some lack of symmetry in both of your breasts.
The other way also is to check if there is some irregular, continuous secretion of liquid from the nipples of the breast. If you find any such signs of breast cancer in your breasts, please take an appointment to your doctor for a check.
Mammograms
This is the most effective way to detect breast tumor before the breast cancer treatment. They can find the breast lump or breast tumor, which are the signs of breast cancer. Through mammograms the lumps up to 2 years before you or a doctor can feel them by hand.
If you are ready to undergo the diagnoses and also for the breast cancer treatment; it is the best way to clear your doubts. Women should have mammograms one every year starting at age 45, and every 2 years between the ages of 50 and 74. Still, the decision about when to have a mammogram to diagnose if they are the signs of breast cancer or not, is personally yours.
But, one should not begin it under the age of 40, and especially take your doctor’s supervision. Imaging tests for breast tumor, such as Mammography, 3-D Mammography, and ultrasound can help her see if the breast lump has the physical features of breast tumor or breast cancer.
The only way to confirm that it is breast cancer or breast tumor is to take some of the tissues from the breast lump and look them under the microscope. Your doctor can do this with a Biopsy that uses a very thin needle. After these tests the doctors make sure if a breast cancer treatment is required.
In this way the signs of breast cancer are confirmed through the breast lump, if they are true; to further discuss the breast cancer treatment options.
What are the Options for Breast Cancer Treatments?
Talking about the options for breast cancer treatment, it is growing better in the technology and the advances against the breast tumor is now bringing new hope in people’s lives. With this development, the breast cancer treatment has also got more options, where the patients can decide well.
According to the type (if it is breast cancer or breast tumor), the signs of breast cancer and stages; a team of doctors decides, what treatment you need for the cure of signs of breast cancer (like breast pain or breast lump).
Some more points are considered before the breast cancer treatment by the patients:
- Planning for your breast cancer treatment.
- What types of treatments are available according to your consequences, your convenience?
- Getting a second opinion.
- Reasons for getting a second opinion about your breast cancer treatment plan, how to go about getting one, and what to do once you’ve got it.
The different types of Breast Cancer Treatment are:
Surgery
In the surgery of the breasts, there are 3 methods in breast cancer treatment, i.e., Lumpectomy, Mastectomy and the Lymph Node dissection. As earlier mentioned when the breast lump starts turning into the breast tumor; doctors go for the surgery first.
If you need to choose between surgeries, Mastectomy or Lumpectomy; there is the information on this breast cancer treatment.
Lumpectomy: In the breast of the patient, there is the removal of only the breast tumor, no surrounding tissues. This breast tumor has outgrown from the breast lump and a small amount of surrounding tissue.
Mastectomy: Mastectomy is the removal of the breast tissue, not just the breast lump or the breast cancer. In Mastectomy, no muscles under the breast are removed.
Lymph node Removal: The lymph node removal is also termed as Axillary lymph node dissection. It is also done during lumpectomy and mastectomy, if the diagnosis shows that the cancer has invaded out to the milk duct.
Chemotherapy
How chemotherapy as a breast cancer treatment works? Who should get it?…are the several questions that come in our mind before opting to chemotherapy. Here are the answers to it.
Chemotherapy, a breast cancer treatment, uses the medicine to destroy the breast tumor cells and the signs of breast cancer in the body, including cells at the original cancer site and any cancer cells that may have spread to another part of the body.
Chemotherapy, often shortened to just “Chemo”, is a systematic therapy, which means it affects the whole body by going through the bloodstream.
The chemotherapy medicines are a few. In some cases, a combination of two or more medicines will be used as chemotherapy under the breast cancer treatment. According to the signs of breast cancer, it is decided what kind of chemo should be done under the breast cancer treatment.
Chemotherapy is used to treat:
- Early-stage invasive breast cancer patients go through the chemo after the surgery, so that nothing is to be left behind.
- The doctors use chemo on the Advanced-stage breast cancer patients in order to destroy the cancer cells.
- At times, chemotherapy is also given before conducting the surgery to shrink the breast tumor, during the ongoing breast cancer treatment.
Radiation therapy
Now, talking about this breast cancer treatment, again we are surrounded by plenty of questions and doubts. Like.. how radiation therapy works? What are the side effects? Who it is for?
Radiation therapy– Is also called the radiotherapy; it is a highly effective way to destroy the breast tumor cells that are left after the surgery. The Radiotherapy is relatively an easier breast cancer treatment to tolerate and its side effects are limited to the treated area.
Hormone therapy
There are certain different ways to eliminate through this type of breast cancer treatment, the cancerous cells from the breast and surrounding parts. As we discussed earlier, Estrogen is among the risk factors of breast cancer, this hormone is so used in the therapy to cease the signs of breast cancer.
Now how does this breast cancer treatment works?
The Hormonal therapy treats hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer in two ways during this type of breast cancer treatment:
- It lowers the amount of the hormone estrogen to release in the body.
- And the second way is blocking the overall action of estrogen on breast cancer cells.
The hormone estrogen in women’s bodies is made by the ovaries mostly. Estrogen makes hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers grow. So, reducing the amount of estrogen or blocking its action can reduce the risk of early-stage breast cancers coming back after surgery.
This breast cancer treatment uses hormonal medicines as well, to help shrink or slow the growth of advanced-stage cancers.
Hormonal therapy medicines are not effective against Hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer.
Targeted Therapy
In the breast cancer treatment, the Targeted therapy, the chemo or some high dose drugs are targeted on to the abnormal cells only, that can outgrow into cancerous cells; showing the signs of breast cancer. The doctors use targeted therapy as a breast cancer treatment, to kill those cancerous cells initially only.
They are different for different types of breast cancer cells.
What are the side-effects of breast cancer treatment?
The breast cancer treatment has several after treatment effect. Though we believe that these treatments kill the cancerous cells, but somewhere the breast cancer treatment (chemo and radio) may harm the healthy cells and may change how you normally feel.
Some of the after treatment effects are:
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea and vomiting
- Weakness and fatigue
- Mouth sores
- Hair loss
- Weight gain
- Early menopause
- A higher risk of infections
- Bleeding or cramps
- Diarrhea
Medications and other therapies can help these effects of breast cancer treatment.
How Cost-effective the Breast cancer Treatment is?
The expenses of the breast cancer treatment is increasing on a high rate, and it’s really shocking to think how a poor person could afford treating such diseases. The recent surveys explain that as the technology is growing the cost of breast cancer treatment is also increasing on a high pace, and on the same track these dreadful diseases are also increasing.
These high growing rates of breast cancer treatment is getting more and more difficult for all classes of people to afford. It is best suggested that in case to be assured with your health and future of yours and your families, if a person goes for medical insurances, then he might get a better treatment options for sure.
It’s fearful to know that nearly 5 lakh ( 500 Thousand) people die annually of cancer. So, get a lifetime security for yourself and your families in order to be easy at the time of crisis.
Which are the best cancer hospitals in India providing Breast Cancer Treatment?
Here to help you some more, is a list of some best hospitals you can take help of if someone in your acquaintance is suffering from the breast cancer. Counting on to which should be the best hospitals in India, for the breast cancer treatment are:
- Adyar Cancer Hospital, Chennai
- Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai
- Apollo Cancer Institute, Chennai
- All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi
- Max Healthcare, Delhi
- Artemis Hospitals
- P.D. Hinduja National Hospital, Mumbai
- Dharamshila Hospital
- Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute
- Fortis Hospital, Mumbai
These are the best ten hospitals which give the breast cancer treatment to their patients.
What are the Dos and Don’ts of the Breast Cancer Treatment?
If you are reading this, we believe that you will become well aware of how to deal with after breast cancer treatment. However, with advances in treatments, there is a hope. Chemotherapy is one form of breast cancer treatment where chemicals or drugs are used to kill the malignant cells.
The downside of the breast cancer treatment is even the healthy cells die in the process. Doctors have always given some Dos and Don’ts before and after the breast cancer treatment. Here are some that may help you.
Maintain proper hygiene
The body of a woman after the breast cancer treatment is very vulnerable and becomes too weak, due to the effects of high dose medicines and the high-rays radiations. Thus, the body is prone to even small diseases and infections. So its necessary to maintain good hygiene, whether its your personal health or personal eating habits. You just can’t take a chance. Some tips are:
- Avoid eating stale food or refrigerated food.
- Don’t eat uncooked or raw vegetables or meat as the bacteria may cause infection.
- Always wash and peel the vegetables to make sure they are free of pesticide.
- Eat fresh produce.
- Keep yourself clean with a mild hand wash or soap.
- Keep your nails trimmed.
- Don’t keep your skin dry, or don’t let any rashes or itchiness of the skin.
- Keep your clothes and usable items sanitized. After breast cancer treatment you need to take special care of the cleanliness of your clothes.
- Avoid crowded places, as the crowd carries a number of people who are infected by some or the other diseases.
- Avoid places that are generally as public places as well as that have high rates of pollution.
Important Dos
- Take your medicines on time, that the doctor prescribes you before or after the breast cancer treatment. Leaving medication in the mid-way of the breast cancer treatment is highly risky and could be life-threatening.
- Stay active. Do some exercise, walking, running, or yoga for your fitness and to keep your health out of danger.
- Always keep a keen notice on the signs on breast cancer, and rush to the doctor as soon as you feel some doubts. Also if the side-effects that occur after the breast cancer treatment worsen do not ignore them and consult your doctor as soon as you can.
- Stay in touch with your doctor, keep him consulting your health conditions and if some abnormalities occur inform your doctor. Especially after a breast cancer treatment.
- Maintain a positive attitude, never feel giving up. Whatever the treatment be, the will power to fight with the cancer is the most important. If you are positive that you will be fine after the breast cancer treatment then you will be, don’t be negative.
Also there is an important point to those whose closed ones are suffering from breast cancer or undergoing the breast cancer treatment. You should encourage the patient to be optimistic and never give up during the breast cancer treatment. You also need to take care of their proper diet, hygiene and health.
I hope this write-up is going to help a lot. Thank you for your patience.
Stay hale and hearty.
Have a happy reading.
Thank you!
Kamna Singh
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