What do you think is the best way to choose an experienced and quality surgeon? Some researchers think it's by reputation. That's how I got mine. A friend told me who he'd use if his wife or mother developed breast cancer and then more and more people began recommending the same surgeon. It seemed logical I'd use him too. And I'm glad I did.A study published in the January 20 Journal of Clinical Oncology reveals that women who actively choose their surgeons by reputation are more likely to be treated by experienced surgeons in hospitals with comprehensive cancer programs. Reputation even beat out accepting referrals from other doctors or health plans.
Walking into my cancer center waiting room is one of my most sobering experiences. I enter this room -- jam-packed full of men, women, and children -- every three months for a breast cancer follow-up. It never gets easier. It always startles me, stirs my emotions, makes me realize how so many people are touched by such a treacherous and all-consuming disease. The fact that I sit in this room, that I am one of these many people, still doesn't seem real.
We all want an experienced surgeon, of course, but are you sure your surgeon is experienced enough?
A survey sponsored by CancerCare, a national non-profit cancer support organization, stated that a majority of women surveyed said they know a fair amount about breast cancer however, many remain unaware of the recent progresses made in treatment. Fewer than one in four women in the survey have heard of new therapies available for breast cancer, revealing a gap between awareness and information that women can use toward getting a better treatment plan for themselves.
It's Father's Day. And all dads out there deserve a pat on the back, a sincere thank you, a celebration in their honor. But there's one group of dads to whom I'm giving special attention on this fine Sunday, June 17 -- dads with cancer.
Sidney M. Schwab, M.D., the author of 
If you have just been diagnosed or are ready to go through treatments it is important that you understand your disease and the therapies recommended. A great website, 
My gut hasn't always guided me through life's most difficult decisions and dilemmas. It wasn't until I felt a lump in my breast more than two years ago that my gut kicked into gear and told me something very important.
One of my cancer doctors has cancer. I'm not sure why this surprises me -- it seems many people I know develop the disease in some form or another -- but it does surprise me. And I can't stop thinking about it.
Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, MD, is the deputy chief medical officer for the 
Americans are urged to know their family medical histories -- and to share them with their doctors. 
I think I was the only one who truly believed the lump in my breast was cancer. No one else -- my mom, my sister, my husband, my doctors -- believed I was a candidate for this disease. I was young, had no family history, had no known risk factors. It just wasn't likely, even after an ultrasound revealed something suspicious.
On Sunday, for the very first time, I read a magazine article about the hospital where I received treatment for breast cancer. I had never before seen mention of my hospital, my doctors, my city in anything other than local and regional newspapers and on area television stations. I figured news about Shands Hospital at The University of Florida was out there -- in more areas than my own -- because it's a well-known facility. People travel from all over to receive treatment here. So I know it's a good place. But to see in the October 2006 issue of Good Housekeeping an actual blurb about a new kind of lumpectomy -- pioneered right here in Gainesville, Florida -- is exciting.
He an unlikely breast cancer survivor -- because he is a man. But still he developed the disease that roughly 1,700 men will contract this year. And while that statistics pertaining to women and men with breast cancer differ -- women are 100 times more likely to get the disease -- the biology of the disease is exactly the same. Under the microscope, breast cancer is breast cancer. It does not behave any differently in female and male bodies. And detection, treatment, and survival rates are nearly identical for both sexes.
My sister recently ran into the surgeon who removed my breast cancer tumor almost two years ago -- on December 3, 2004. He asked my sister how I was doing, recalled the unprecedented rash I developed from the latex and Tegaderm tape used during my lumpectomy, and then talked about how terribly busy he has been. 
