.....FAITH.....

.....FIGHT for FAITH.....

http://youtu.be/A42NX1zr8ug

I made this video from photos I had taken of Faith our "foster furbaby" and I added a large caption to tell her story.  When I made the video I had hoped to use it to help raise donations for her surgery.  Unfortunately she didn't live long enough for that to happen.  I decided to change up the ending to help raise funds for the shelter she came from and to spread her story.

to be OR not to be (III)

LCIS - Lobular Carcinoma In Situ

Page last modified on: September 10, 2010

 

Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is an area (or areas) of abnormal cell growth that increases a person’s risk of developing invasive breast cancer later on in life. Lobular means that the abnormal cells start growing in the lobules, the milk-producing glands at the end of breast ducts. Carcinoma refers to any cancer that begins in the skin or other tissues that cover internal organs — such as breast tissue. In situ or “in its original place” means that the abnormal growth remains inside the lobule and does not spread to surrounding tissues. People diagnosed with LCIS tend to have more than one lobule affected.
Despite the fact that its name includes the term “carcinoma,” LCIS is not a true breast cancer. Rather, LCIS is an indication that a person is at higher-than-average risk for getting breast cancer at some point in the future. For this reason, some experts prefer the term “lobular neoplasia” instead of “lobular carcinoma.” A neoplasia is a collection of abnormal cells.
LCIS is usually diagnosed before menopause, most often between the ages of 40 and 50. Less than 10% of women diagnosed with LCIS have already gone through menopause. LCIS is extremely uncommon in men.
LCIS is viewed as an uncommon condition, but we don’t know exactly how many people are affected. That’s because LCIS does not cause symptoms and usually does not show up on a mammogram. It tends to be diagnosed as a result of a biopsy performed on the breast for some other reason.

to be OR not to be (II)

Tamoxifen

A Major Medical Mistake?

by Sherrill Sellman

Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 5, #4 (June - July 1998)

Once praised for its benefits in preventing breast cancer recurrence, the lucrative pharmaceutical drug tamoxifen is now implicated in causing dangerous side-effects, including other types of cancers.

In the early 1970's, a shameful chapter closed on the widespread use of a known carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting drug called DES (diethylstilboestrol), the first synthetic, non-steroidal estrogen drug. Against the advice of its creator, Sir Charles Dodd, between four and six million American and European women and 10,000 Australian women innocently used DES for the prevention of miscarriage and pregnancy complications.

In addition, DES became a popular though unproven drug for a variety of other conditions. It was used for the suppression of lactation, the treatment of acne, the treatment of certain types of breast and prostatic cancer, and as an inhibitor of growth in young girls, an estrogen replacement in menopause and a "morning after" pill.

It would take 30 years to accept what laboratory tests had indicated as early as 1938 — that DES was a highly dangerous and harmful drug. It was reported that, 20 years after taking DES, mothers had a 40 to 50 per cent greater risk of breast cancer than non-exposed mothers. In addition, the children of DES mothers showed a high incidence of reproductive abnormalities, miscarriages, vaginal cancer, testicular cancer, sterility and immune dysfunction. In fact, it is feared that repercussions of this drug will be felt for generations to come.

The irony of this entire debacle is that the medical establishment finally acknowledged that DES was useless in preventing miscarriages. Thus, DES, another disastrous experiment on women, was added to the long list of major medical blunders.

Out of this early research, a new drug appeared on the horizon which would be soon be heralded as a shining star in the war against the growing epidemic of breast cancer. In the late 1960's the pharmaceutical industry developed a drug called "tamoxifen". As a synthetic, non-steroidal compound with hormone-like effects (many of which are poorly understood), tamoxifen has a similar structure to DES. In fact, it was observed that tamoxifen caused the same abnormal changes seen in cells of women taking estradiol and DES. (1) This similarity raised alarm bells for some.

Pierre Blais, well known as a drug researcher who was ejected from Canada's health protection bureaucracy when he spoke out about silicone breast implants, describes the story of tamoxifen as "the story of modern drug design which produces garbage drugs". He says, "Good drug design ceased, unfortunately, in the 1930s." Tamoxifen, Blais asserts, "...is a garbage drug that made it to the top of the scrap heap. It is a DES in the making." (2)

Blais's dire predictions were ignored with the promise of a potential drug treatment for breast cancer. Tamoxifen was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a birth-control pill; however, it proved to induce rather than inhibit ovulation. Although tamoxifen didn't work as a contraceptive, it was found to lower mammary cancer rates in animals. Animal studies showed that tamoxifen prevented estrogen from binding to receptor sites on breast tissue cells. Tamoxifen also reduced the incidence of breast cancer in rodents after administration of a breast-carcinogenic substance. This discovery provided the impetus to study its effects in treating human breast cancer.

Estrogen is the common link between most breast cancer risk factors, i.e., genetic, reproductive, dietary, lifestyle and environmental. It both stimulates the division of breast cells (healthy as well as cancerous) and, especially in its 'bad' form, increases the risk of breast cancer. Thus, hormonal drugs such as tamoxifen that block the effects of estrogen on the breast were expected to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurring in women treated for breast cancer. (3)

Tamoxifen acts as a weak estrogen by competing for estrogen receptors much as phyto-estrogens do. Like phyto-estrogens, tamoxifen has mild estrogenic properties but is considered an anti-estrogen since it inhibits the activity of regular estrogens. More accurately, tamoxifen is an estrogen-blocker. It fights breast cancer by competing with estrogen for space on estrogen receptors in the tumor tissue. Every tamoxifen molecule that hooks onto an estrogen receptor prevents an estrogen molecule from linking up at the same site. Without a steady supply of estrogen, cells in an estrogen-receptor-positive (ER+) tumor do not thrive and the tumor's ability to spread is reduced. (4)

However, tamoxifen exhibited two conflicting characteristics. It could act either as an anti-estrogen or as an estrogen. Therefore, while tamoxifen is anti-estrogenic to the breast, it also acts as an estrogen to the uterus and, to a lesser extent, the heart, blood vessels and bone. So, although it initially showed the tendency to counter breast cancer recurrence, it would soon be revealed that it also promoted particularly aggressive uterine and liver cancers, caused fatal blood clots and interfered with many other functions.

Doctors, however, were quick to jump on the tamoxifen bandwagon, turning a blind eye to its more injurious tendencies. Starting in the 1970's oncologists began using tamoxifen to treat women with cancer, often in combination with other drugs, radiation or surgery such as lumpectomy and mastectomy, with modest success. Like DES, tamoxifen's benefits were then extended for use as a preventive against osteoporosis and heart disease.

Today, doctors are treating about one million American breast cancer patients with tamoxifen, about 20 per cent of them for more than five years. As studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1989 and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 1992 showed, women with breast cancer who took tamoxifen reduced their chances of developing cancer in the other breast (contralateral cancer) by about 30 to 50 per cent. (3) These findings would later be challenged.

Tamoxifen is now recommended for all pre-menopausal women with hormone-positive cancers, as well as for most postmenopausal women with breast cancer and/or a growing number of women with hormone-negative cancers. Tamoxifen is currently used by more women with breast cancer than any other drug. (6)

Tamoxifen (brand name Nolvadex) is now the most widely prescribed cancer medication in the world. It generated revenues of US $265 million in 1992. By 1995, worldwide sales of Nolvadex reached $400 million. (7) And at AUD $90 for one month's supply, it doesn't come cheap (the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme covers $70).

Tamoxifen was developed by UK-based Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), one of the world's largest multinational chemical corporations. Zeneca, an ICI subsidiary, is responsible for manufacturing and marketing the hormone and is now the world's largest cancer-drug company.

It is no surprise that ICI's profits come from playing both sides of the cancer industry. ICI's agrochemical division, which includes Zeneca, manufactures chlorinated and other industrial chemicals including herbicides. All are poisonous, and many are known endocrine-disrupters that have been incriminated as causes of breast cancer. ICI's profits swell by manufacturing chemicals that on the one hand cause breast cancer, and on the other hand reputedly cure breast cancer.

LIMITED BENEFITS OF TAMOXIFEN

Tamoxifen 's benefits are determined by several factors: (8)

• Postmenopausal women who are ER-positive (have a positive estrogen receptor status) get the most benefit.
• For postmenopausal women who are ER-negative, the benefits appear to outweigh the risks.
• For pre-menopausal women who are ER-positive, it's a tough call. Potential benefits are small.
• Pre-menopausal women who are ER negative receive virtually no benefit.
• Tamoxifen is more effective in women who have cancer in their lymph nodes than in those whose nodes are cancer-free.

• In 1992 the Lancet published a review of a number of studies in which a total of 30,000 breast cancer patients were randomly assigned either to take tamoxifen or not. The average patient in this collaborative study was followed up for between five and six years. Of the patients taking tamoxifen, 74.4 per cent survived, as compared with 70.9 per cent in the non-tamoxifen group — a less than impressive improvement.

The report found that the group helped most consisted of post-menopausal women with ER-positive status. The study went on to report that pre-menopausal women who are ER-negative had absolutely no benefit from taking tamoxifen. (9)

Despite tamoxifen's proven ability to reduce breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women, major studies have shown that tamoxifen reduces death from breast cancer only marginally. (10) The majority of women who take tamoxifen live no longer than women who do not take it. (11) Furthermore, some breast cancers learn how to use tamoxifen to stimulate their growth.

The benefits of tamoxifen are limited. Virtually all women who take it become resistant within five years. (12) A recent randomized controlled study showed that tamoxifen reached its maximum protective effect on breast tissue with women who took it for five years. Taking it for five more years didn't offer any more protection, and may actually have caused more cancers. In other words, after a while the breast cells become resistant to tamoxifen and actually start to be fed by it. (13)

This result surprised the researchers. According to Dr. Susan Love, author of Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book: "This is a dramatic example of why you need good, long-term studies. If we had based all of our recommendations on the five-year data without doing further studies, we would have had women taking tamoxifen forever. So convinced were we that tamoxifen was a wonder drug that the only reason researchers did the later study at all was to prove it wrong. Luckily, we found out that we were wrong in time to prevent doing further damage. We have learned, not for the first time, that more isn't always better." (l4)

TAMOXIFEN'S DARK SIDE

While the initial findings of tamoxifen's role in breast cancer treatment seemed so promising, as with so many of the synthetic hormone drugs, further research presented grave concerns for its widespread use. In fact, the MIMS Annual lists 25 adverse reactions to tamoxifen: some of l these can be fatal.

Menopausal Symptoms

Tamoxifen often induces menopausal symptoms in menstruating women. About half of these women experience hot flushes. Fluid retention and weight I gain occur in about 25 per cent of l women and can be controlled by reducing the dose. Vaginal discharge and vaginal atrophy are additional symptoms. Some studies have also found l that pre-menopausal users are at risk of developing accelerated bone-mineral loss and osteoporosis.

Menstrual irregularities also occur in pre-menopausal women. Amenorrhea (absence of the menstrual cycle) often results and can be permanent.

Eye Damage

According to a 1978 study in Cancer Treatment Reports and another published in Cancer in 1992, about six per cent of women taking even low-dose tamoxifen suffer damage to the retina and corneal opacities and decreased visual acuity. Irreversible corneal and retinal changes can occur in those taking 20 mg. of tamoxifen twice a day (twice the usual dose). These changes may have no immediate effect on visual acuity, but may predispose the eyes to later problems including cataracts.

Blood Clots

Tamoxifen irritates the walls of the veins, and inflammation (a natural healing response to irritation) follows. The constant irritation and inflammation weakens the veins, causing bleeding, clotting, thrombophlebitis and, in the worst cases, obstruction of the blood vessels serving the lungs, which can be deadly and can occur with little warning. The incidence of thrombophlebitis in women using oral contraceptives is generally regarded as significant (1 in 2,000); however, with tamoxifen it's 30 times greater."

Several studies, including one reported to the FDA's Oncological Drugs Advisory Committee by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project in 1991, showed that the risk of developing life-threatening blood clots increases about seven times in women taking tamoxifen. (6)

Psychological Symptoms

Depression has been reported as a potential side-effect of tamoxifen in 30 per cent of women. Cases have been reported of an inability to concentrate.

It is important that patients observe their moods and mental states. If it is suspected at tamoxifen is causing depression or lack of concentration, it is suggested that a period of tamoxifen avoidance be considered.

Other Symptoms

Tamoxifen can trigger asthma attacks in some sensitive patients.

Changes to the vocal cords resulting in impairment of singing and speaking abilities are occasionally caused by tamoxifen.

CARCINOGENENIC EFFECTS

It wasn't long before laboratory studies showed that tamoxifen acted as a carcinogen. It has been found that tamoxifen binds tightly and irreversibly to DNA, the genetic blueprint of a cell, causing a cancerous mutation to take place. Even Australia's conservative National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) warned that no amount of tamoxifen is safe when it comes to carcinogenic effects.

In California there is a law called "Proposition 65" that requires the state to publish and maintain a list of all known carcinogens. In May 1995, the state's Carcinogen Identification Committee voted unanimously to add tamoxifen to its list.

Following suit, in 1996 the World Health Organization formally designated tamoxifen a human carcinogen, grouping it with 70 other chemicals — about one quarter of them pharmaceuticals — that have received this dubious distinction.

Liver Cancer and Liver Disease

Tamoxifen is toxic to the liver, and there have been reports of acute hepatitis in patients treated with tamoxifen. Liver damage has occurred in every animal given tamoxifen. According to Gary Williams, medical director of the American Heart Foundation, tamoxifen has been shown in animal studies to be a "rip-roaring" liver carcinogen, inducing highly aggressive cancers in about 12 per cent of rats. (7)

The latest human studies show a six-fold increase in liver cancer among women taking tamoxifen for more than two years." Liver failure and tamoxifen-induced hepatitis, although rare, have been reported. Even Zeneca admits that tamoxifen is a liver carcinogen — while nevertheless aggressively promoting its use.

Uterine (Endometrial) Cancer

As early as 1967, ICI scientists noted that "tamoxifen persists for some days in the uterus". In rats, a tamoxifen metabolite (a breakdown compound almost similar in structure to the original) was found to influence the uterus to be more receptive to estrogen. (The more estrogen, the greater the chance of unnatural cell-division leading to cancer.) ICI also reported liver carcino-genicity of tamoxifen as well as both ovarian and testicular tumors in mice in its description of the drug in the standard Physicians Desk Reference.

Uterine growths such as polyps, tumors, endometrial thickenings and cancers occur in a significant number of women taking tamoxifen. One study detected abnormal endometrial cells in subjects the day after the first tablet was taken. (9) Pre-cancerous uterine and endometrial changes were seen in 10 per cent of the women taking tamoxifen in a recent study. The higher the dose of tamoxifen and the longer it is taken, the greater the risk of changes. Women taking the standard dose of 20 mg. for two years run a risk of uterine cancer that is 2 to 3 times greater than normal. After five years, the risk is 6 to 8 times greater. (20)

In February 1996 a review by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, composed of scientists from various countries, definitively concluded that "there is sufficient evidence to regard tamoxifen as a human carcinogen that increases a woman's risk of developing cancer of the endometrium, the inner lining of the uterus" (21)

A large Swedish study linking tamoxifen to uterine cancer forced Zeneca to send letters in April 1994 to 380,000 physicians across the USA, in defense of the drug. The Swedish researchers had studied 1,371 breast cancer patients who took 40 mg. per day for two to five years and found that there was a six-fold increase in uterine cancer among those patients who took tamoxifen when compared to 1,327 who did not. A second study involving patients who took 20 mg. per day (the recommended dose) also showed a marked increase in uterine cancers compared with the control group. (22)

When the news came out that breast cancer patients who took tamoxifen for five years or longer (the same regimen that seems to prevent recurrence) might have tripled their risk of uterine cancer, British cancer researcher Richard Peto, head of the cancer research unit at Oxford University, sought to dismiss it. If caught early, he said, endometrial cancer seldom kills, so "it's no big deal". That statement infuriated critics who noted that the treatment for uterine cancer is hysterectomy. Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, a leading women's health activist, angrily responded: "To some of us, it is a big deal to lose your uterus."

Shortly after Peto's flip dismissal of uterine cancers, researchers at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at Houston and at Yale University School of Medicine discovered that breast cancer patients who develop uterine cancer while using tamoxifen are likely to have a fast-moving, lethal form of the disease. (23)

It should be noted that tamoxifen has also been associated with gastrointestinal cancers.

Breast Cancer

The premise for taking tamoxifen is its supposed role in protecting breast cancer patients from recurrence of the cancer. It was further postulated that it prevented breast cancer from occurring in the opposite breast (contralateral).

However, disturbing findings continue to surface, challenging tamoxifen's effectiveness. In 1992 the New England Journal of Medicine showed that tamoxifen may reduce the incidence of contralateral cancer, but this was demonstrated only in pre-menopausal women and only in three out of eight trials. In another 1992 study, reported in Octa Oncologica, it was shown that tamoxifen not only failed to reduce contralateral cancers in pre-menopausal women, but it actually increased their incidence. (24)

The irony of tamoxifen is that, while widely publicized as the leading treatment against the recurrence of breast cancer, it is a known and listed carcinogenic substance.

Heart Disease and Osteoporosis

Another promise of tamoxifen was its supposed protective benefits for the heart and bones. It was theorized that its estrogenic properties would help reduce heart disease and osteoporosis in women, but once again the theory crumbled under the weight of hard facts.

Several trials with tamoxifen failed to show that it has any effect on bone density and thus on prevention of osteoporosis. In three other trials, bone density increased slightly in lower spinal vertebrae but not in longer bones or hip bones which are particularly susceptible to fractures and potentially fatal complications.

Initial data seemed to indicate that it decreased the incidence of heart attacks, but they have been disproved by more recent studies. According to Dr. Susan Love: "It doesn't seem to have a bad effect on lipids, but that's a far cry from preventing heart attacks."

A detailed review of the drug's alleged protective cardiovascular effects prompted the British National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a once strong proponent of tamoxifen, to withdraw its support because the evidence of benefit proved so inadequate. (25)

According to the January 1996 issue of The Network News, it was reported at a closed-door meeting of the National Cancer Institute that tamoxifen failed to prevent heart disease in breast cancer patients.

THE BREAST CANCER PREVENTION TRIAL

Based far more on wishful thinking than on science, the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) leaped to the conclusion that tamoxifen's anti-estrogenic effects in relation to breast cancer treatment meant that the drug would prevent breast cancer from developing in healthy women.

Disregarding all the research implicating tamoxifen with serious and potentially fatal side-effects, the NCI launched a US$60 million breast cancer prevention trial in April 1992, aiming to recruit 16,000 healthy women in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Still ongoing, the trial now involves 13,000 healthy women over the age of 35 who are considered at high risk. Australia has recruited 1,350 women, with a target of 2,500. For five years, half the women receive tamoxifen and half receive a placebo. The drug is supplied free of charge by manufacturer Zeneca.

Dr. Samuel Epstein, Professor Environmental Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health and author of The Breast Cancer Prevention Program, raises serious concerns. "Unfortunately, this misguided and dangerous approach to prevention stems from the entrenched fixation of the NCI on the use of chemical drugs to prevent cancer which may have been induced by chemical pollutants, medical technology (such as radiation from X-rays) and carcinogenic/estrogenic drugs in the first place. Instead of attempting to reduce the carcinogenic chemical burden under which we struggle to maintain our health, the NCI believes that the solution is to add more chemicals to the mix."

Dr. Susan Love concurs: "It is a sad state of affairs when we have to add yet more chemicals to counteract the effects of other chemicals."

This attitude extends to the way the NCI treats the women in the trial. They are given no guidance on alternative protective measures such as increasing exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, eating a protective diet and avoiding exposure to environmental carcinogens; nor are they being fully informed about the serious risks of tamoxifen.

Dr. Lynette Dumble, Senior Research Fellow in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Melbourne, believes that the global trial to prevent breast cancer with tamoxifen is a modern and very large chapter of "medical imperialism". Back in October 1994 she commented on ABC TV's Quantum science program that the tamoxifen trial was the medical equivalent of mutilating surgery which prevents a woman from developing breast cancer by cutting off both her breasts.

Dr. Dumble sees women as vulnerable guinea pigs for the trial, and questions both the breast cancer risk of healthy women volunteering for the trial (how can you tell whether fate or tamoxifen prevents a woman from developing breast cancer?) and the terms of the trial's positives and negatives (if a woman dies of tamoxifen-related endometrial or liver cancer, does this count as a tamoxifen success in preventing breast cancer?).

It seems absurd, but why would the powers-that-be continue to promote a trial that promises to substitute one cancer for another in otherwise healthy women? Once again, healthy women are targeted as the guinea pigs for a drug treatment that has already been proven to be a cause of a variety of cancers including breast cancer. In the case of tamoxifen, medical research has once again taken a back seat to profits. It is the population that is at risk. The cancer establishment would certainly be eager to prove a tamoxifen-prevention role, since it would then open up another huge, billion-dollar market.

ALTERNATIVES TO TAMOXIFEN

While the cancer establishment continues to invest vast amounts of money into research, manufacturing and trialling of harmful drugs for the prevention and hopeful cure of breast cancer, there are safer and more effective options that already exist.

Estriol, one of the estrogens produced by the ovaries, is considered a safe estrogen in that it has been shown to inhibit breast cancer. Dr. Henry Lemon and his colleagues conducted a study in women who already had breast cancer that had spread to other areas of the body. One group was given Estriol and another not. At the end of the study, 37 per cent of those women who received estriol had either a remission or an arrest of their cancer. Might not estriol, a natural, safe hormone with almost no side-effects, be able to accomplish what tamoxifen does but without the toxic side-effects?

There is also convincing evidence that natural progesterone has an important role in breast cancer treatment and prevention. A study conducted in 1981 at Johns Hopkins University revealed that when a group with a low progesterone level was compared with a normal-level progesterone group, it was found that the occurrence of breast cancer was 5.4 times greater in the women in the low progesterone group. That is, the incidence of breast cancer in the low progesterone group was over 80 per cent greater than in the normal progesterone group. When the researchers looked at the low progesterone group for all types of cancer, they found that these women experienced a tenfold increase in all malignant cancers, compared to the normal group.

In a 1995 study published in the Journal of Fertility and Sterility, researchers found that women using a topical progesterone cream had dramatically reduced breast cell multiplication rates compared to women using either a placebo or estrogen. This exciting study demonstrated that natural progesterone creams impressively decreased breast cell proliferation rates. (27)

Lifestyle factors also play a significant role. In a prospective study of 25,624 Norwegian women aged 20 to 54, after an average of 14 years of follow-up the investigators found strong evidence that everyday exercise, both at work and at leisure, reduced the breast cancer risk. Women who exercised at least four hours a week during leisure time were found to have a 37 per cent reduction in risk of breast cancer, compared with sedentary women. The study found that the more time spent exercising, the lower the breast cancer risk. (28)

As Dr. John Lee pointed out in his best-selling book, What Doctors May Not Tell You About Menopause: "Herbs and food contain phyto-estrogens. Their benefit parallels that of tamoxifen (without the adverse side-effects) in that phyto-estrogens occupy estrogen receptors and are less estrogenic than those made by the body. Since it is now known that reducing caloric intake reduces estrogen levels, and recent studies find 46 per cent less breast cancer among women consuming more fruit and vegetables, it would seem that women interested in preventing breast cancer could make modest changes in diet and derive better and certainly safer results." (29)

History continues to repeat itself. Time and time again women have been reassured that the wonder drugs or treatments offered them would be their salvation, only to discover they were exposed to harmful carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals.

In addition to the DES debacle, the disasters of thalidomide, silicone breast implants, estrogen replacement therapy and now tamoxifen (to name just a few) continue to demonstrate how readily women's lives have been sacrificed in the pursuit of profits. The warnings have been drowned out by the glossy advertising campaigns and the reassurances of "medical experts".

There are solutions to the breast cancer epidemic. However, they will be found more by altering lifestyle, dietary and stress factors, and reducing or eliminating exposure to the many known toxic, carcinogenic chemicals that are polluting the environment, than by some miraculous drug discovery. It is also up to women not only to continue to become fully educated about safe health options but to demand them from health providers. Too many women have already been maimed and sacrificed to unproven and unsafe drug treatments.

It is widely believed that today's drugs are tomorrow's poisons. In the case of tamoxifen, tomorrow has already arrived.

End notes:

1.  
2. Weed, Susan S., Breast Cancer? Breast Health!, Ash Tree Publishing, Woodstock, New York, 1996, page 203
3.  
4. Batt, Sharon, Patient No More: The Politics of Breast Cancer, Spinifex Press, Melbourne, Australia, 1994, page 118
5.  
6. Epstein MD, Samuel S.; Steinman, David; LeVert, Suzanne; The Breast Cancer Prevention Program, Macmillan, New York, 1997, page 145
7.  
8. Rinzler, Carol Ann, Estrogen and Breast Cancer, Hunter House, California, 1996, pages 148 - 149
9.  
10. Epstein, ibid., page 146
11.  
12. Weed, ibid., page 201
13.  
14. Clorfene-Casten, Liane, Breast Cancer: Poisons, Profits and Prevention, Common Courage Press, Maine, USA, 1996, page 93
15.  
16. Austin ND, Steve; Hitchcock, Cathy; Breast Cancer: What You Should Know (But May Not Be Told) About Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment, Prima Publishing, Rocklion, California, 1994, page 102
17.  
18. Early Breast Cancer Trials Collaborative Group, "Systemic treatment of early breast cancer by hormonal, cytotoxic, or immune therapy." The Lancet (1992) 339, pages 1 - 15, 71 - 85
19.  
20. De Gregorio, M. and Wibe, V., Tamoxifen and Breast Cancer, Yale University, USA, 1994
21.  
22. Batt, ibid., page 125
23.  
24. De Gregorio and Wibe, op. cit.
25.  
26. Love MD, Susan, Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book, Random House, New York, 1997, page 264
27.  
28. Ibid., pages 264 - 265
29.  
30. Weed, ibid., page 204
31.  
32. Epstein, ibid., page 149
33.  
34. Ibid.
35.  
36. Weed, ibid., page 205
37.  
38. Adler, T., "Study reaffirms tamoxifen's dark side", Science News, June 4, 1994, page 356
39.  
40. "Studies spark tamoxifen controversy", Science News, February 26, 1994, page 133
41.  
42. Nesmith, Jeff, "Breast Cancer Drug Increases Risk:, The Atlanta Journal / The Atlanta Constitution, February 22, 1996
43.  
44. Clorfene-Casten, ibid., page 89
45.  
46. Rinzler, ibid., page 152
47.  
48. Epstein, ibid., page 146
49.  
50. Ibid., page 148
51.  
52. Northrup MD, Christiane, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, Bantam Books, New York, 1996, page 158
53.  
54. Sellman, Sherrill, Hormone Heresy: What Women MUST Know About Their Hormones, GetWell International, USA, 1997, pages 107 - 108
55.  
56. Thune MD, Inger, et al., New England Journal of Medicine, May 1, 1997
57.  
58. Lee MD, John R., What Doctors May Not Tell You About Menopause, Warner Books, New York, 1996, page 220

My Journey III

Well here I am again....having yet another lumpectomy

(the first week of November, 2011)

And it has certainly been a whirlwind.

After a lot of other medical issues in October and several trips to the ER and a few hospital stays, other procedures done for those other medical issues a lump was found during a scan of my lungs.

I had a mammogram.

I had a ultrasound.

I had another biopsy, this time by someone completely different because I am in another hospital....and I have no insurance. They didn't numb before they did the biopsy. Markers were put in place and left inside of my breast. The doctor urged me to get a lumpectomy set up and get that lump removed as soon as possible.

That proved to be alot easier said than done.  

I got assigned a doctor and after a few days I finally was able to get a appointment set.

But it got rescheduled by his office.  

And again it got rescheduled. 

And again it got rescheduled.

Now I've lost count how many times that happened. 

I started looking for another doctor to do the surgery.  When you get a lumpectomy around here you get a general surgeon. Until they pass you on to oncology you're stuck with a general surgeon. So.....I found another guy.  

Long story short I had yet again another lumpectomy on November 9, 2011. 

The hospital was short handed. It has since closed down the OR. I had to wait three hours before they were able to do the lumpectomy. And I'm concerned

by some things that were said to me. During the initial appointment and again before surgery it was said to me that some days just ticks me off.

 My last lumpectomy was done by a doctor that said "if you keep having this done you will no longer have any breast tissue" followed up with since the biopsy didn't show cancer I shouldn't have the lumpectomy done and left me feeling like I was wasting his time and why was I there. Even though another doctor placed markers inside my breast and urged me to get the surgery ASAP and said "run don't walk to the doctor". Yes, my biopsy was inconclusive. I was experiencing breast pain and burning. I did get the lumpectomy but since having it done things are not better. There is still terrible pain at times, some burning and it still feels as thought there is a lump in there. With my other surgeries I didn't have this problem. I have no insurance and get the run around, I feel that I dont get that same treatment or care as others with insurance. I get pushed off to other doctors and have to start over each time I see a new one. My blood work shows something but they don't really push the issue. I have precancerous cells. I think that at least I should be back on the meds I took years ago. I think I should be taking the Tamoxifen or something....anything. But I feel that since I don't have insurance I'm just getting swept to the side. 

I will keep pushing to get care.

Something isn't right and it is not just in my head.

My Journey II

Two days later I returned with my husband in tow. 

Dr. Muyleart was going to do some tests a few that he felt certain Eric wouldn't want to be in the room for.  He said husband's are usually very uncomfortable with the procedures or rather seeing him perform the procedures. 

He opted to stay anyway.

Long story short after the tests all came back..... I had a lump in my breast, one with "concerning edges", a growth in my uterus, a growth outside my uterus, a cyst on a ovary and a few other things that while I was having surgery he would be checking on and removing if need be. 

(no wonder we never were able to have another baby)

After some meetings I was very fortunate enough to get my surgery scheduled to include all procedures to be done while going under just once.  It meant coordinating schedules, two seperate teams and who knows what else....I was blessed again with those doctors taking it upon themselves to get their staff to handle it all. 

I had jumped through so many hoops handing insurance problems and getting everything approved and making sure both offices had all copies of all tests, labs, procedures, etc

(they were lost twice so I gathered all info and hand delivered it to both offices myself)

We got all this done in about a week.

"Dee" Day (as we called it) dawned.

Dr Hunton was scheduled to go first. I signed the papers for a mastectomy if once he got in there and found bad news. They move me to prep and we get ready and wait. 

And wait. 

Dr. Muyleart is now finished with his previous surgery and eventually came and sat with me to wait on Dr. Hunton. Dr. H was involved in a surgery that was taking longer than expected. Every so often Dr. M would go check on Dr. H to see where he was at and how much longer.  Finally, Dr. H comes back to my prep room.

We all go over the plan and they wheel me away. 

Dr. H went first. He ended up removing a pretty large lump from my right breast and had to leave a scar on the side under my arm that would be hard to conceal at times. 

Next, Dr. M is up to do his thang.

A cyst was removed along with three growths and cells were all scraped and burned off. 

Home I'm sent.

Everything looks ok they tell me, but we won't know for sure until all the labs come back. 

I've got to wait about a week. I've went back to work.

I get a call from the hospital to come in, can you come in today they ask....

Calls to come in are never good. 

I'm greeted with some half smiles and another cup of Joe. 

 I have "funky" cells. I'm gonna take some medicine for awhile. But all is ok.  While on the medicine I will gain weight. I will have other side effects from the meds.  I will more than likely take the meds from one to three years. 

  I will need to not get pregnant.

Life is gonna change somewhat, but you're probably going to be ok.

......probably....... 

to be OR not to be

DCIS, LCIS, Pre-Cancer and other "Stage Zero" Breast Conditions:
Are Women Getting Mastectomies They Don't Need?
By: Susan Dudley, PhD and Diana Zuckerman, PhD

Thanks to heightened awareness of breast cancer screening, women are being diagnosed earlier than ever before. However, that has also resulted in what some experts consider an epidemic of women diagnosed with abnormal breast conditions that are not cancer or may never develop into invasive cancer. Some of these conditions are not at all dangerous, and the others have survival rates near 99%; nevertheless, these diagnoses often sound very frightening. In fact, research shows that these women are often just as worried about whether they will survive as women with the much more dangerous, invasive forms of breast cancer.

There is a wide range of treatment for women with these "stage zero" conditions. Although mastectomies are almost never necessary or recommended by experts, many women undergo mastectomies nevertheless. Research suggests that this is especially likely in the South, Midwest, and Southwest parts of the United States, in certain types of medical facilities, and with older doctors.

Knowing the Facts Will Reduce the Fear

It can be extremely upsetting for a woman to learn that she has any condition that increases her breast cancer risk. Too often, such news leaves women feeling that they must rush into surgery. They agree to - or even insist upon - undergoing mastectomies that they do not really need, in hopes that it will increase their chances of survival. In fact, their chances of survival are already very high, and having a mastectomy will not make it higher.

The good news is that most women with "pre-cancerous" conditions or other non-cancerous breast conditions will never get invasive breast cancer. For example, only 1 in 12 breast lumps is cancerous, and 1 in 5 cases of micro-calcification (white spots seen on mammograms that alert doctors that follow-up diagnosis is needed) are related to cancer, so most women get good news after a breast biopsy. For many women, however, anxiety levels soar when they learn that they might possibly be at risk for breast cancer because of abnormal changes in their breasts.

This issue brief will describe two conditions that are often referred to as "stage zero breast cancer" as well as other non-cancerous abnormal breast conditions.

Ductal Cancinoma in Situ (DCIS)

In recent years, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has become one of the most commonly diagnosed breast conditions. It is often referred to as "stage zero breast cancer." It is a non-invasive breast cancer that is usually diagnosed on a mammogram when it is so small that it has not formed a lump. In DCIS, some of the cells lining the ducts (the parts of the breast that secrete milk) have developed abnormally, but the abnormality has not spread to other breast cells. DCIS is not painful or dangerous, but it sometimes develops into invasive cancer in the future if it is not treated. That is why surgical removal of the abnormal cells, followed by radiation, is usually recommended.

What makes most cancers dangerous is that they are invasive, which means they are not restricted to one spot, but have spread to other cells within the organ where they arose. Once that happens, cancer can metastasize, which means that it spreads to other organs in the body. DCIS is not an invasive type of cancer and DCIS can not metastasize unless it first develops into invasive cancer.

The goal of treating invasive cancer while it is still confined to the breast is to prevent it from spreading to the lungs, bones, brain, or other parts of the body, where it can be fatal. Since DCIS is not an invasive cancer, it is even less of a threat than an early-stage invasive cancer (usually called Stage 1 or Stage 2 cancer).

Having DCIS means that a woman has an increased risk for developing invasive breast cancer in the future, unless she has treatment. With appropriate treatment, DCIS is unlikely to develop into invasive cancer. A woman with DCIS does not need all the same treatment as a woman diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, but she does need surgery to remove the DCIS, and radiation to ensure that any stray, abnormal cells are destroyed. This lowers the risk that the DCIS will recur or that invasive breast cancer will develop.

DCIS does not need to be treated immediately. A woman can spend a few weeks after her diagnosis to talk with her doctors, learn the facts about her treatment choices, and think about what is important to her before she chooses which kind of treatment to have.

Treatment Choices for DCIS
DCIS patients have three surgery choices. They are 1) lumpectomy followed by radiation therapy 2) mastectomy or 3) mastectomy with breast reconstruction surgery. Most women with DCIS can choose lumpectomy.

Lumpectomy means that the surgeon removes only the cancer and some normal tissue around it. This kind of surgery keeps a woman's breast intact - looking a lot like it did before surgery. Under most circumstances, mastectomy does not increase survival time for women with DCIS, and would only be considered under unusual circumstances, such as cases where the breast is very small or the area of DCIS is very large.

Radiation therapy is also recommended for almost all women with DCIS after lumpectomy. This type of treatment is very important because it could keep more DCIS or invasive cancer from developing in the same breast. DCIS patients who choose lumpectomy with radiation live just as long as they would with mastectomy.

Tamoxifen or another hormonal therapy is recommended for some women with DCIS to help prevent breast cancer. The benefit is that it can further decrease the risk of recurrence of DCIS or the development of invasive breast cancer. However, these medicines can have potentially dangerous side effects, such as increased risk of endometrial cancer, severe circulatory problems, or stroke. In addition, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, abnormal vaginal bleeding, and a possibility of premature menopause are common for women who were not yet menopausal when they started treatment.

Unlike women with invasive breast cancer, women with DCIS do not undergo chemotherapy and they usually do not need to have their lymph nodes tested or removed. Experts are not sure whether all women with DCIS would eventually develop invasive breast cancer if they live for a long time and are not treated. They do know that most women with DCIS who undergo surgery and radiation can put fears of breast cancer behind them.

Lobular Carcinoma in Situ (LCIS)

Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is also sometimes referred to as stage zero breast cancer. But we shouldn't let the words "carcinoma" or "cancer" scare women. LCIS got its name many years ago, before doctors realized that it is not breast cancer at all.

Unlike breast cancer, LCIS does not form a tumor. Unlike DCIS, it does not form abnormal cells that can develop into invasive cancer. That is why no surgery is needed to remove LCIS. Instead, LCIS is one of several conditions that may indicate an increased risk for a woman to develop breast cancer in the future. Even though most women who have LCIS never develop breast cancer, a woman with LCIS should talk to her physician to evaluate all her risk factors and to set up a plan to monitor her breast health, such as regular mammograms. This will ensure that any changes in her breast health can be detected and evaluated very early.

How is LCIS different from breast cancer?
In LCIS, some of the cells lining the lobules (the parts of the breast that can make milk) have developed abnormally. LCIS is not cancer. It does not cause pain or produce a lump. In fact, by itself, LCIS is not a dangerous condition.

How does LCIS affect breast cancer risk?
There is no way for doctors to predict whether a woman with LCIS will develop breast cancer in the future. Most won't, but if they do, it could be in either breast (not just the one where the LCIS was found) and in any part of the breast (not just in the area near where the LCIS was discovered).

What is the treatment for LCIS?
LCIS has no symptoms, and is first suspected because of an abnormal mammogram. A biopsy is needed to confirm the diagnosis. After a diagnosis is made, no more surgery or other treatment is needed, even if the affected area is large.

The abnormally developing cells that make up LCIS are often spread around in more than one location in the breast. It may even be in several areas and both breasts. If LCIS is diagnosed in one breast, it is not necessary to search for it or biopsy the second breast or to try to locate each area of affected lobules. That's because no treatment is necessary regardless of the spread or location.

Women diagnosed with LCIS may question why no treatment is necessary, but experts agree that LCIS is a condition that should be managed rather than a disease to be treated. You can think of it like being overweight, which is a condition that puts a person at risk for heart disease but is not itself heart disease - and people who are overweight do not always develop heart disease.

Women with LCIS who are especially worried and want to "do something" can consider a low calorie or low-fat diet, as well as an increase in fresh fruits and vegetables to reduce their risk of future breast cancer. Although the research is not conclusive, those kinds of dietary changes may reduce the risk of breast cancer, and also have the potential to prevent other diseases. Hormonal therapy (with a drug such as tamoxifen) is also sometimes recommended to reduce the risk of future breast cancer, although it has the potentially dangerous side effects mentioned earlier, such as increasing the risk of stroke and endometrial cancer, and can cause unpleasant symptoms such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness. However, if a woman is very worried and does not feel comfortable without treatment, hormonal therapy is a less radical prevention method that bilateral mastectomies.

Other Non-Cancerous Breast Conditions.

Many women who find lumps on their breasts do not have cancer, DCIS, or LCIS. Non-cancerous lumps can be cysts that are filled with fluid, or fibroadenomas, which are smooth, and hard, often feeling like a marble under the skin. Thickened but harmless areas called pseudo-lumps also fall into this category. Cysts are sometimes but not always drained, but otherwise, these conditions usually require no further treatment. Fibrocystic breasts (also called mammary dysplasia, benign breast disease, or diffuse cystic mastopathy) feel bumpy or lumpy and sometimes painful. This condition used to be considered a pre-cancerous disease, but experts now realize that it is not a disease and does not increase the risk of breast cancer.

What About Mastectomy to Prevent Future Breast Cancer?

Ten or 20 years ago, when breast conditions like these were diagnosed, they were often treated with mastectomy, surgery which completely removes the affected breast. Sometimes a healthy second breast was also removed (prophylactic mastectomy), even when there was no sign of cancer or other abnormalities in the other breast.

Today, thanks to advances in scientists' understanding of breast cancer and of these other conditions, along with the development of better diagnostic, surgical, and treatment techniques, mastectomy is often unnecessary. In fact, we now know that a less radical treatment (lumpectomy followed by radiation therapy for most DCIS or Stage 1 or Stage 2 cancers) or no treatment (for cysts, fibroadenomas, fibrocystic breasts, and LCIS) is just as effective. Except in unusual circumstances, mastectomy does not increase survival time for these conditions, and the risks of mastectomy usually outweigh any benefits.

My Journey

My journey started in my 20's

I found my first lump.

People in their 20's don't get breast cancer...very often...and insurance doesn't pay for a mammogram because when you are in your 20's they consider it unwarranted.

Unwarranted....really!

I personally think that if any test is needed or highly recommended that it should be covered under insurance.

In my case they wouldn't pay.

I did however get one.

Of course since the lump was up high in my breast it came back inconclusive. Now I had to get a ultrasound done. Again, insurance didn't want to pay for it, any they didn't.

Another lump was found besides the initial lump I came in for.

It didn't appear to be a good lump.

(there are good lumps?) 

It was on the breast wall.  We couldn't feel it.  

I had my first lumpectomy, well actually it's called a double lumpectomy. My doctor was concerned with scars (at this point I really didn't care) but I agreed to let Dr. Hunton cut along the edge of the nipple and retrieve the lumps.

It all came back fine.

Years later....another lump.

This one was different from the beginning.

I had not been feeling good at all for awhile.

Again I undergo a mammogram only to have to have yet again another ultrasound.

This time I was somewhat older, insurance let it be filed. Both test came back inconclusive. Now mind you they never do these things on the same day.

They make you wait and come back and wait and come back. They draw everything out so you are in a constant state of worry and stress and nerves rubbed raw.

I underwent my first needle biopsy, by myself,

in a room with my doctor and a nurse I had never saw before.

I really like Dr. Hunton.

He has a love for Starbucks coffee as do I. He numbed me up. He left.

He returned with my favorite drink from the coffee shop downstairs of the hospital.

That's one way to win me over.

He did the biopsy and I went to my next appointment on the otherside of the building.

I had gotten an appointment with my gyno to get checked out. 

It was my last resort. I had went to my regular doctor and had somewhat of a exam, but since I wasn't "sick" and didn't have a fever, a bug, a sinus infection, I was told nothing was wrong with me. I see Dr. Muyleart and after his initial review fo me he decided we needed to do alittle more.

I ended up having to have cells scraped from my cervix.

I had to come back for some more test and procedures. He wouldn't tell me alot.

I was to come back in two days.

I went downstairs to my truck.....and promptly threw up that wonderful cup of Joe in the parking lot.

I have a growth.....possibly more.....I also have a lump in my breast.

I have abnormal cells......what exactly does that me for me, my health, my future?

Been Jammin!