Real Women Real Issues

Cancers

Having breast cancer means that some cells in your breast are growing abnormally. These cells divide more rapidly than healthy cells and may spread through your breast or into other parts of your body. The most common type of breast cancer begins in the ducts designed to carry milk after childbirth, but cancer may also occur in the small sacs that produce milk or in other breast tissue.

Breast cancer the disease many women fear most, though they are far more likely to die of cardiovascular disease. Great strides have been made in diagnosis and treatment in the last 25 years. Today, radical mastectomy is rarely performed. Instead, there are more and better treatment options, and may women are candidates for breat-sparing operations, such as lumpectomy.

Emphasis is also being placed on early detection, lifestyle changes and therapies such as tamoxifen that may reduce the risk of breast cancer. Self-examination is strongly stressed.

SYMPTOMS:
A spontaneous clear or bloody discharge from your nipple.
Retraction or indentation of your nipple.
A change in the size or contours of your breast.
Any flattening or indentation of the skin over your breast.
Redness or pitting of the skin over your breast.
Lumps in breast tissue.

Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer in women. It is diagnosed in about 25,000 women in the US each year, and more than 14,000 women die of the disease annually.

If ovarian cancer is detected early, the 5-year survival rates approach 90 percnet. But because the disease is difficult to detect, only 24 percent of ovarian cancers are found before tumor growth has spread into tissues and organs beyond the ovaries. Seventy percent to 80 percent of the time the disease has already advanced before it is diagnosed.

Because the symptoms are so subtle and the disease often deadly, it's crucial to know the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer. It's also important to see a gynecologist for a yearly pelvic examination and PAP smear, which may help to detect the disease at an earlier stage.

SYMPTOMS:
Abdominal swelling.
Abdominal pain.
Bloating.
Indigestion, gas, or nausea.
A feeling of pressure in the pelvis.
Frequent urination.
Unexplained weight loss or gain.
Unexplained changes in bowel habits.
A feeling of fullness, even after a light meal.
Abnormal bleeding from the vagina.