"Are you tired of talking about this?"

This is a question many people have asked over the past week.  This answer is no. What I know is the more I talk about it the more likely I will be able to save someone else by making them aware and do some self checks or go get a mammogram...this could save a life!

At work they have agreed to let me do an information session so we can talk about it as a group.  As far as I'm concerned we need greater awareness to ensure all of us understand it more!  Many of the studies continue to point to our diet / processed foods as the potential main contributor to many of the common day diseases.  Something to think more about.

Here is a note my father wrote today that I thought I would share:

Dear Friends, Relatives, and Colleagues,

I’m forwarding for your information the “Team Laurice” blog http://teamlaurice.blogspot.com.au/ as she is treated for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in facilities near her residence in Melbourne, Australia. Laurice is my daughter and youngest child.

The driver for sharing this blog widely is as an information source for anyone interested in knowing about the development of and treatment for TNBC. For example, it is extremely important that all women, in this case relatively young women, perform breast self-exams on a regular (monthly or more frequent) basis. There is a free app on iTunes and for Androids called “Your Man Reminder” that can help you remember to do a regular exam http://rethinkbreastcancer.com/breast-cancer/breast-awareness/your-man-reminder-app-free-on-itunes-and-android/. This personal behavior is particularly important given that: 1) Laurice detected her tumor via a self exam and 2) Fu Sing detected both her breast cancer and her sarcoma cancer five years later via self exams; the latter ~one month after a mammogram had been clear.

What does triple negative mean? It means that the patient’s DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) has a genetic structure that makes the body less susceptible to the standard chemotherapy medicines used in most breast cancer treatments. It has to do with the acceptance of three hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and Her2/neu) of the chemo treatment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Triple-negative_breast_cancer.

This is sometimes call the “young women’s cancer.” And it can recur quite quickly, frequently within the first five years and it can be quite aggressive. It calls for immediate treatment: Laurice was operated on less than 2 weeks from the time of diagnosis. This is also why a specially designed “cocktail” of chemotherapy medications is administered even though preliminary tests during or after surgery a) sentinel lymph nodes, b) CAT scans, and c) bone scans test negative.

Sincerely,

Ed