Breast Cancer blog 

Original Posting by Laurel My Bond

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Amma is an Indian woman who travels around the world giving out hugs. She’s hugged millions and millions of people and in the process collected a large following who claim she’s a saint and has special healing powers. She’s on a U.S. tour now, and happened to be nearby, so I made the trip up to her local ashram with some friends to check it out. I was told that her appearances generate a crazy carnival vibe and I like carnivals. Plus, I really needed a f—ing hug.

Our little motorcade was led through the maze of the ‘shram parking lots by a succession of Amma followers – all wearing white clothing and a somewhat blank expression. As our cars passed, each one put a hand to their heart in a sort of love salute which sounds way creepier than it actually was.

Original Post by Sara OB

Today there are 14 million cancer survivors living in the United States. Today is National Cancer Survivors Day and the goal is to increase the quality of life and have healthier and happier survivors. The American Cancer Society has compiled a great list of resources here.

For me as a breast cancer survivor there are certain things that I try to do (some more successful than others) on a daily/yearly basis.

Maintain a Healthy Weight
This means keeping my BMI between 19 and 24.9. Last years visit to my PCP for my annual physical where my weight had creeped up 10 lbs since finishing treatment was a good wake up call. My weight was still within a healthy range, but if I kept eating cookies like cookie monster I was headed for 10 additional pounds each year. It helped me refocus on getting back to the 80/20 rule. Eating well for 80% of the time and allowing for whatever (cookies!) the other 20% of the time. And, it's always helpful to just keep running.

Millions of women worldwide receive combined estrogen and progestin hormone replacement therapy to counter the unwanted effects of menopause. Yet studies are increasingly suggesting the use of such treatment may increase the risk of breast cancer. A new study shows that luteolin, present in vegetables such as celery, could counter this risk.

Scientists from the University of Missouri in Columbia claim that luteolin, which occurs naturally in herbs and vegetables, can slow the development of breast cancer caused by the com

For the past 10 years, doctors have used a genetic test to decide which patients may be able to skip chemotherapy after surgery for breast cancer.

Now a study confirms that this test, called Oncotype DX, works well for a small group of patients. But a longer, follow-up study is needed to draw conclusions for a fuller range of patients with riskier tumors.

Oncotype DX analyzes 21 genes in the tumor to estimate a woman's risk of the cancer coming back after surgery.

For patients who fell into the test's low-risk category, 99 percent didn't develop metastatic breast cancer five years after surgery, even though they didn't have chemotherapy. The overall survival rate among this group was 98 percent, doctors reported Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine