Breast Cancer: “As I Lay Dying..”

[Contrary1]

Demand written copies of the radiologist's report (Your right). Ask questions, especially if there is a difference of terminology from one report to the next. Don't allow any brush off responses regarding changes. You have "hired" their services. You deserve a complete explanation.

I found my own breast cancer 8 months after a "no notable change" report. My oncologist said it had been there for at least 5 years.

I was fortunate. My stage 2 breast cancer was slow-growing. I opted for every available treatment, plus an experimental drug. I am still here...18 years later.

Be vigilant. I have learned so much since my diagnosis. The most important thing being that YOU are your own best advocate.

“As I Lay Dying..” LA Times Writer’s Last Words Will Make You Question Entire Breast Cancer Industry

"A former Los Angeles Times staff writer, Laurie Becklund, battled breast cancer since 1996. Earlier this year she knew her time was limited, and as she greeted her last few months, she wrote an opinion piece “As I Lay Dying” about her story. Becklund died Feb. 8 this year. This is what she wanted you to know about breast cancer. -

Early detection does not cure cancer: “I had more than 20 mammograms, and none of them caught my disease. In fact, we now have significant studies showing that routine mammogram screening, which may result in misdiagnoses, unnecessary treatment and radiation overexposure, can harm more people than it helps.”

To detect a cancer early in many cases means to catch it before it produces symptoms. That is a problem, because not every precancerous condition will actually become cancer or not the type of cancer that can affect a person’s life, but every case is treated as if it was the same type of cancer. Mammogram screening is responsible for about 25% of overdiagnosis in breast cancer, according to an article published in Oxford Journals. The overdiagnosis may harm patients and lead to “overuse of anticancer therapies” such as chemotherapy.

The first time Becklund discovered a lump in her breast in 1996 during a self-exam, she was treated by a lumpectomy and radiation. She had the most “curable” type of breast cancer. Five years after the treatment her doctor told her she had minimal chance of it ever coming back.Yet in 2009 she received a diagnosis of stage IV breast cancer that spread to her bones, liver, lungs and brain..."

Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is the only kind of breast cancer that kills

More at: http://althealthworks.com/8036/i-wont-die-ignorant-what-a-dying-breast-cancer-patient-wanted-you-to-know-about-how-the-medical-system-failed-heryelena/

[SheilaT]

1. I have been aware for some time that

early detection does not necessarily mean early cure.

Perhaps we should focus here on the fact that she lived nearly 20 years after the first diagnosis.