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Living With Breast Cancer

  • Friends are Good for Your Health

    Posted 5/20/2013 by hhill
      We already knew this. We all need friends, and we especially need friends when we have troubles. We need friends, then, who can comfort us, cry with us, hug us and care for us. We also need friends who make us laugh and push us a bit and plan excursions when we can't begin to imagine finding the energy to do so. In Social Work 101, they teach you that people with strong social support networks do better in all kinds of ways in life. They are less likely to be depressed, are more successful, even live longer. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Caffeine Intake and Coffee and Breast Cancer Risk

    Posted 5/19/2013 by hhill

      I debated whether or not to write about this, but decided that it is too good an example of the deluge of confusing and conflicting news to ignore. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will remember that not long ago, I wrote about a study that suggested that moderate coffee drinkers had a lower risk of breast cancer than those who drank less or no coffee.

    Read more... Comments (0)

  • What do I Say

    Posted 5/18/2013 by hhill
      We all have had people say really stupid, at best, or hurtful, at worst, things to us about our cancer. When you are feeling well and forgiving, it is possible to remember that these remarks usually come from a place of good will and that hardly anyone has the overt intention of cruelty. When you are not feeling so well, it is very easy to be hurt and angry. Comments that often stimulate our strong negative responses may be the stories about the speaker's friend/cousin/co-worker/neighbor who "had just your kind of cancer....and died." or words that make it clear that the speaker is trying to put distance between us. Read more... Comments (0)

  • TSA Tries to be Helpful

    Posted 5/17/2013 by blewando
    Many of us have horror stories about interactions with the TSA at various airports. Some of them have even made the national news; do you remember the very old woman in a wheelchair who was taken aside and frisked because she was wearing Depends? My own infuriating experiences have always been related to the newer x-ray screening machines and the fact that I wear a prosthesis. To be fair, the bad episodes are happening less often as (I assume) the TSA people who read those images have become more experienced at differentiating a prosthesis from a bomb. It does still happen, however, so I approach each machine with some trepidation. As I have written before, my strategies depend upon the mood of the moment. If I am feeling especially tough and feisty, I whip out the prosthesis and toss it in the bin along with my shoes. That always garners a number of horrified looks, but sometimes I don't care. If I am feeling more shy or vulnerable, I take it out in the ladies' room and stick it in my purse. And sometimes I just take my chances. Read more... Comments (0)

  • And Still More about Angelina Jolie and her Decision

    Posted 5/16/2013 by hhill
      I am aware that one way of looking at this is that I can't let it go or know when enough is enough or am obsessed with the news about Angelina Jolie's decision. I suppose that all three views are a little true, and I am sometimes (my husband might say often) guilty of not knowing when enough is enough. However, in my defense in this instance, this news has continued to dominate my time, and I am hearing from so many women who are reacting strongly. At the end of a group for women post treatment yesterday, this came up. One woman, who has had bilateral mastectomies after a high risk breast cancer, began to talk passionately about her own situation, and it was clear that the news had stirred up many intense feelings that were overwhelming. Read more... Comments (0)

  • More about Angelina Jolie and Choices

    Posted 5/15/2013 by hhill
      I sort of feel that I should apologize for continuing the conversation about yesterday's big news regarding Angelina Jolie's choice to have bilateral prophylactic mastectomies. However, it is very clear from the continuing deluge of news articles and all the emails that I have been receiving that this is still very much on our minds. The women whom I know, virtually all of whom have had breast or ovarian cancer, have had strong and mixed opinions about her decision. They have been honest and self-aware about their reactions--one of my favorites was one woman, a nurse, who chose this same surgery after a breast cancer diagnosis. She said that, although she knows it is very trivial, she is bothered by the "double mastectomy" phrase that is so often used. As she commented, there is no such thing as a "triple" mastectomy. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Angelina Jolie and Breast Cancer

    Posted 5/14/2013 by hhill
    Today's obvious topic is all over the news: Angelina Jolie had bilateral prophylactic mastectomies and reconstruction earlier this year. Her mother died of breast cancer at 56, and Ms Jolie tested positive for the BRCA1 gene. She has six children and, very understandably, is scared of her risk and wants to do everything that she can to stay healthy and well. As one friend said this morning: "She may have done more for breast cancer than all the pink ribbons of the past decade."
    Yes and not so fast.... Read more... Comments (0)

  • Sex and Cancer

    Posted 5/13/2013 by hhill
      I have written many times before about sexuality and cancer. The bottom line is that cancer is never a sexual aide, that a diagnosis and treatment impacts intimacy for everyone, and that it is not talked about as much as it should be. For most people with a new diagnosis, worries about sex are not at the top of the worry list; there are exceptions, but most of us are more distressed about possibly dying, the impact on our children, worrying about chemo and hair loss and nausea, professional issues, etc. It is also usually not at the top of our doctors' lists as there are so many things to discuss in the relatively brief appointment times. And, of course, are doctors are human and not all are so comfortable talking about sex. In our practice, I know that one of the common reasons for a referral to me is sexual concerns--expressed to the oncologist and quickly referred. Read more... Comments (0)

  • Barbara Brenner

    Posted 5/12/2013 by hhill

      There is only one possible blog to write today, a sad one. Barbara Brenner, a longtime breast cancer activist and all around extraordinary woman, has died of ALS. She was the Executive Direction of Breast Cancer Action in San Francisco, and especially well known for the Think Before You Pink campaign. Until a few days before her death, she continued to write her Heatlhy Barbs blog, and this was the final entry:

    Thanks and Blessings
    Posted on May 7, 2013 by bbzinger
    As my life comes to an end, I want to thank readers of this blog (and our Caring Bridge site for reading all that I have written while I deal with ALS. I’m sure some of what I wrote was difficult to read, some of what I wrote helped others, while other pieces just made you think. This blog will be up awhile — and some ambitious person might turn it into a book. If you think of others who might benefit from anything I’ve written, please send it along to them.

    I have been blessed to lead a rich life, full of love and culture and travel and work that had meaning for me. I have no regrets except that I got ALS in the first place.

    I have met amazing people both in person and on-line. Everyone I have come in contact with has had something unique to offer the world. The world is a better place because these people are or were in it. Some of these people I have mentored (and you know who you are), others have taught me. What I know about all of these people is that I have been blessed to know them, and that they will succeed at what they set their hearts and minds to do.

    In the Jewish tradition there is a Priestly Blessing. I copy below it because it is what I wish for all readers of these words:

    May the Lord bless you

    and keep you;

    May the Lord make his face shine on you

    and be gracious to you;

    May the Lord turn his face toward you

    and give you peace.

    Read more... Comments (0)

  • Changing Names of DCIS and LCIS

    Posted 5/11/2013 by hhill
      DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) and LCIS (lobular carcinoma in situ) cause a lot of misery and confusion. The "misery" part is obvious, but the confusion part often makes the misery worse. Numerous studies have suggested that women who are diagnosed with one of these conditions experience the same anxiety and sadness as those who are diagnosed with an invasive cancer. Indeed, not too long ago, both DCIS and LCIS were routinely treated with mastectomy. Only within the past 20 years or so has wide excision and radiation become a standard of care. When mastectomy was the surgery dictated, it was really confusing for women to try to understand why they, with a "cancer" (and most would say these are not cancer) that could not spread, were given only the option of mastectomy while women with invasive breast cancers could often be treated with a wide excision or lumpectomy. Read more... Comments (0)
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About the Blogger

Hester Hill Schnipper, LICSW, OSW-C is the Manager of Oncology Social Work at BIDMC. For more than thirty years, her daily work at BIDMC has been primarily focused on supporting women with breast cancer. A nationally known writer and speaker, she was the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's first Hatcher Survivorship Professor. In 1993, and again in 2005, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through the standard treatments of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy. These experiences have given her great credibility with her patients and transformed her life's work to her life. Ms. Schnipper lives gratefully with her husband in an ancient farmhouse outside of Boston and spends as much time as possible in a water front cottage on Mt Desert Island. Between them, they have five adult children and seven grandchildren; she claims biological responsibility for two and three of them.

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