The data is curated by HealthGrove.com and sourced from Cancer.gov, the National Cancer Institute and NIH.
Showing posts with label breast cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breast cancer. Show all posts
Thursday, October 1, 2015
For Breast Cancer Awareness Month: The CDC estimates that more than 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the U.S. Below see the incidence rate of breast cancer by state, the incidence and mortality rate of breast cancer, and the amount of research funding allocated toward breast cancer research in the country.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
A nurse with fatal breast cancer says end-of-life discussions saved her life - The Washington Post
Amy Berman writes: "I am a nurse, a nationally recognized expert in care of the aged and senior program officer at the John A. Hartford Foundation, which is devoted to improving the care of older people in the United States. Yet my perspective is not simply professional. For, you see, I live with Stage 4 (end-stage) inflammatory breast cancer. And while this metastatic cancer will one day kill me, the advanced-care planning conversations I have had with my health-care team have been lifesaving since my diagnosis.
I use the word “lifesaving” advisedly because that is what these conversations are truly about. When done well, they can shape care in ways that give people with serious illness a chance at getting the best life possible. This kind of conversation initially helped my care team understand what was important to me and helped clarify my goals of care. Faced with an incurable disease and a prognosis where only 11 to 20 percent survive to five years and there is no statistic for 10-year survival because it so rarely happens, I came to understand that my priority was to seek a “Niagara Falls trajectory” — to feel as well as possible for as long as possible, until I quickly go over the precipice. Quality of life is more important to me than quantity of days, if they are miserable days....
All people deserve care that meets their emotional and financial needs. Unfortunately, health-care providers, including those paid by Medicare, have not had the incentives, time or training to sit down with people facing a life-threatening illness and discuss what’s important to us as our health deteriorates, things such as where we want to die (I want to be at home), what’s most important (control my pain) and what treatments we want to avoid (I don’t want to be on life support and don’t want to be resuscitated). As a result, our system provides a lot of expensive crisis care as people reach the end of life — care that people, if asked and engaged, might say they never wanted."
A nurse with fatal breast cancer says end-of-life discussions saved her life - The Washington Post
I use the word “lifesaving” advisedly because that is what these conversations are truly about. When done well, they can shape care in ways that give people with serious illness a chance at getting the best life possible. This kind of conversation initially helped my care team understand what was important to me and helped clarify my goals of care. Faced with an incurable disease and a prognosis where only 11 to 20 percent survive to five years and there is no statistic for 10-year survival because it so rarely happens, I came to understand that my priority was to seek a “Niagara Falls trajectory” — to feel as well as possible for as long as possible, until I quickly go over the precipice. Quality of life is more important to me than quantity of days, if they are miserable days....
All people deserve care that meets their emotional and financial needs. Unfortunately, health-care providers, including those paid by Medicare, have not had the incentives, time or training to sit down with people facing a life-threatening illness and discuss what’s important to us as our health deteriorates, things such as where we want to die (I want to be at home), what’s most important (control my pain) and what treatments we want to avoid (I don’t want to be on life support and don’t want to be resuscitated). As a result, our system provides a lot of expensive crisis care as people reach the end of life — care that people, if asked and engaged, might say they never wanted."
A nurse with fatal breast cancer says end-of-life discussions saved her life - The Washington Post
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Julia Baird on What She Learned from Cancer - The New York Times
"I am still grappling with what all of this means. But in this short time, three age-old truths became even more apparent to me.
First, stillness and faith can give you extraordinary strength. Commotion drains.
The “brave” warrior talk that so often surrounds cancer rang false to me. I didn’t want war, tumult or battle. Instead, I just prayed to God. And I think what I found is much like what Greek philosophers called ataraxia, a suspended kind of calm in which you can find a surprising strength.
Second, you may find yourself trying to comfort panicked people around you. But those who rally and come to mop your brow when you look like a ghost, try to make you laugh, distract you with silly stories, cook for you — or even fly for 20 hours just to hug you — are companions of the highest order. Your family is everything.
Third, we should not have to retreat to the woods like Henry David Thoreau to “live deliberately.” It would be impossible and frankly exhausting to live each day as if it were your last. But there’s something about writing a will that has small children as beneficiaries that makes the world stop.
My doctor asked me a few days ago how I became so calm before the surgery. I told her: I prayed, I locked out negativity and drama and drew my family and tribe — all big-hearted, pragmatic people — near. I tried to live deliberately.
“Can I just say,” she said, “you should do that for the rest of your life.”"
Was It Cancer? Getting the Diagnosis - The New York Times
First, stillness and faith can give you extraordinary strength. Commotion drains.
The “brave” warrior talk that so often surrounds cancer rang false to me. I didn’t want war, tumult or battle. Instead, I just prayed to God. And I think what I found is much like what Greek philosophers called ataraxia, a suspended kind of calm in which you can find a surprising strength.
Second, you may find yourself trying to comfort panicked people around you. But those who rally and come to mop your brow when you look like a ghost, try to make you laugh, distract you with silly stories, cook for you — or even fly for 20 hours just to hug you — are companions of the highest order. Your family is everything.
Third, we should not have to retreat to the woods like Henry David Thoreau to “live deliberately.” It would be impossible and frankly exhausting to live each day as if it were your last. But there’s something about writing a will that has small children as beneficiaries that makes the world stop.
My doctor asked me a few days ago how I became so calm before the surgery. I told her: I prayed, I locked out negativity and drama and drew my family and tribe — all big-hearted, pragmatic people — near. I tried to live deliberately.
“Can I just say,” she said, “you should do that for the rest of your life.”"
Was It Cancer? Getting the Diagnosis - The New York Times
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Blog — The Battle We Didn't Choose
"Jen’s death has pushed me to accept that one day I will die. It is inevitable. I am not saying that I am not afraid of death, but by accepting my own mortality I have embraced that I am alive. I am healthy. I have a roof over my head. I am loved and able to love.
I don't mean to sound idealistic and I know that life is not always great. I watched the woman of my dreams take her last breath. It was on me. There are definitely days when I want to stay under the covers.
But I am still alive. I want to embrace every moment and search with all of my heart for something in every day that makes me smile. This may be something as simple as the sound of my cats purring or the smell of a spring breeze. I will not take life for granted."
Blog — The Battle We Didn't Choose:
'via Blog this'
I don't mean to sound idealistic and I know that life is not always great. I watched the woman of my dreams take her last breath. It was on me. There are definitely days when I want to stay under the covers.
But I am still alive. I want to embrace every moment and search with all of my heart for something in every day that makes me smile. This may be something as simple as the sound of my cats purring or the smell of a spring breeze. I will not take life for granted."
Blog — The Battle We Didn't Choose:
'via Blog this'
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