Are You Afraid of Breast Cancer? If so, you're not alone. Cancer is a scary thing...And all the pink in the world can't change that. Sure, pink ribbons may be pretty, but breast cancer is ugly and scary. Here are some facts about breast cancer...

• An estimated 182,800 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2000.
• Approximately 42,200 deaths will occur in women from breast cancer in 2000.
• One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.

Many women are blogging about their breast cancer fears. From little fears to big fears. They have fears of mammograms, fears of treatments, fears or recurrences, fears of dying...and on and on. What are your breast cancer fears?

From Womenonthefence - Breast Cancer Awareness Month...

I had my own scare when I was 22 years old. One day, I found a lump in my left breast. It was scary as hell. I have a history of breast cancer in my family, and until I saw the doctor and got some answers, I did not sleep. At all. Even my husband, (who was my boyfriend at the time) became so desensitized to “feeling me up.” I mean, he felt my left boob like twenty times, and said, “I don’t like the way that feels.”

From On The Road To Queendom - Mammo...what?

I was petrified at the thought of the big scary monster of a machine smashing the hell outta my little skittle titties.

See, there is also the little fact that my mother's sister, my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer about 6 years ago. They found it early and she was able to treat it and it has not come back. So, there was also that deep rooted fear that maybe, just maybe it had crept into my tiny little body too. That the big scary "C" monster would get me too.

From Battling Breast Cancer With Class - Fear of Recurrence...

I read the survival statistics for my particular stage of breast cancer at the five-year mark and they say I have a 49 percent to 67 percent chance of making it. Every once in awhile I'll get stuck in a mode of fear and start obsessing about these grim facts. Then I realize all I can do is pop a Tamoxifin pill every day that is supposed to suppress estrogen, cross my fingers and carry on. I reason that yes, cancer could come back at anytime. But right now, I have my health back and I will never take that for granted again. So why not enjoy feeling normal as much as I can? The seasons change this week. Nothing ever stays the same, so cease the day!

From Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer - My Pregnancy Fears Allayed...

I have mentioned before that the effect of chemotherapy on my fertility was the most devastating aspect of being diagnosed with breast cancer. For some women, the result is permanent infertility, others, like me, have complicated fertility issues post treatment. One of my chemo buddys did get pregnant post treatment with the help of IVF, but tragically developed a recurrence while pregnant. This brings up a lot of fears for me. If a miracle were to happen and I conceived, would this increase my own chances of recurrence. There is not enough statistical evidence as yet to answer this question satisfactorily. However, the latest research does show that pregant women who develop breast cancer do not have worse odds of death or of cancer returning than other young breast cancer patients.

From Thought from Mary Alice Monroe - Life At The End Of A Fishing Line...

"This was her body. She knew she should let go of her old self-image and make peace with the way her body was now... Mia closed her eyes and said a small prayer for strength. She had to let this fear of cancer go down the drain with the dirty water. To live fully, she had to believe she would live." (pg. 49, Time is a River)

From Susan Heim on Parenting - A Mother's Story of Breast Cancer...

Since the cancer had already spread, it was necessary to find out just how far it had gone. Did it travel through my nodes and bloodstream, finding a home someplace else in my body? Needless to say, the days and weeks that followed were filled with full body scans, tests, and anxiety about the unknown.

Let’s face it: my son was four years old at the time I was diagnosed. Every mother knows that the will to survive comes in part from wanting to be here for yourself, but in larger part because your child needs you to be here.

From Secret Agent L - Month of Missions...

She hopes this little journal will be an inspirational and safe place for a woman battling breast cancer to write her hopes and fears. And Secret Agent L sends loving thoughts to every woman battling this disease.

From My Breast Cancer Blog - Stand By Her: A Breast Cancer Guide For Men...

STAND BY HER is a step-by-step program targeted to men who want to become invaluable breast cancer caregivers to their loved ones, while at the same time helping them address and overcome their own personal fears, frustrations and anxieties caused by this disease.

From Weather Vane - Why I Wear Pink...

During the next thirty minutes these two strangers shared their personal story with me. I learned how their world had been turned upside down. He placed his arm around her shoulder, as she described how events had unfolded and he hugged her close when her voice began to tremble. It was apparent that they were both in it together and he was as scared as she was.

Six weeks prior she had been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. She had already undergone a mastectomy. Staging revealed a large tumor which had spread beyond the original growth site. She was facing months of treatment and a questionable prognosis.

Because of new genetic testing, more and more women are finding that they are at an even greater risk for breast cancer (or a recurrence of breast cancer) than the average woman. It is called a BRCA, and it's done with a simple blood test. There is also something called LCIS which is diagnosed from a breast biopsy (although not cancerous, it does put the woman at a greater risk for breast cancer).

In some of these cases the woman makes the (what some believe is a controversial) decision to have a prophylactic mastectomy, rather than living in fear of breast cancer. What would you be willing to do to reduce your risk of breast cancer?

From WebMD - More Women Choosing To Remove Noncancerous Breast...

Greater social acceptance of double mastectomies and improved cosmetic surgery techniques are additional reasons for the growing numbers, says Simmons.

Of the 6,275 women who had prophylactic mastectomy in the study, 81% of them had been diagnosed with cancer in one breast. The rest had no personal history of breast cancer, suggesting they had high risk factors for breast cancer such strong family history and positive BRCA test results.

From Picture of Health - More Women Opting To Remove Health Breast...

"For some women, their quality of life is better with their breasts removed because you get rid of the concern, the anxiety" about recurrence, said Dr. Lisa Jacobs, a surgical oncologist with the Johns Hopkins Breast Center. "A lot of women come in and say, `I don't ever want to do this again.'"

Breast Cancer Mom is one of a number of women choosing to have a mastectomy before she develops cancer. Fear, Worry, Bargaining...

Here is an overview of my conversation last winter with my second opinion oncologsit:

ME: "I have LCIS and want to know what I should do"
Oncologist: "You should go home and come back if you get 'real' cancer."
ME: "But isn't LCIS something to worry about?"
Oncologist: "There are a number of things that could kill you before breast cancer."

There is nothing quite like waiting for the results of a biopsy and having those results take weeks to receive. You get to do alot of thinking during that time. Your options become pretty clear as you wait. You wait. You wonder. You worry. You bargain with God. You pray. You hold your children closer. You connect with those closest to you. You pray. You worry.

-----

Well, I will know in two days if my plan for DIEP reconstruction after a bilateral mastectomy will work for me. I am meeting with a plastic surgeon in Boston and hope she says that I am a 'great' candidate for the DIEP. I am excited, scared and even more scared, but I want to get this breast cancer monkey off my back and reduce my risk to less than 10% from 50+%.

One woman's story of Preventative Mastectomy and Reconstruction...

“But the doctors sat me down and said that my own breast health—having very dense fibrocystic breasts— combined with my family history suggested I needed a prophylactic double mastectomy,” she explained. Margee cautioned that this isn’t the solution for women who simply want to avoid breast cancer. However for someone like her, given her family history and personal tendencies, she was advised that it was a wise choice.

“Perhaps given the context of my sister’s prognosis, it was an easier decision,” she admitted. “There was an element of feeling a bit smug, as if I could outsmart the cancer by getting there first.”

What would you do? Would you have a preventative mastectomy? Is your piece of mind more important than your breasts?

Also See:

• Breast Cancer: When You Can't Afford A Mammogram
• Bloggers For More Birthdays - My Friend Becky

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
at Catherine-Morgan.com and Women4Hope