A long time female employee has just been told (over the phone I might add) that she has IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)Breast Cancer. I have read a lot about it but I'm asking if anyone knows a site similar to this for breast cancer patients that they would recommend?

David,
I just finished radiation for non-invasive DC and have a list of resources given to me my the radiation nurse plus some other information. I will call my sister who has been going through a seesaw with a different form of invasive breast cancer for several years. I will send you a PM with the info. If she will be getting radiation, tell her to go out and buy some loose fitting 100% cotton clothes, no synthetics. The general advice about nutrition, hydration and rest are the same as for
OC - plenty of all.
Malka

David, As Malka said, there are a ton of good resources out there with info. about breast cancer. I never did find a web-basd patient board related to breast cancer because there were such great local resources inlcuding several support groups. I live in a pretty small city, but that's the thing about breast cancer that's different is that it is so common, your employee can probably find good support and information locally no matter where she is.

One wesbite I would recommend for really top quality information (but I don't thinhk they have a patient discussion board unless it has changed) is the following:

http://www.susanlovemd.com/breastcancer/

Susan Love also has an excellent book that, when I was diagnosed, had been recently revised (hopefully since then it has been revised yet again because there are lots of new things in treatment these days) that covers absolutely everything you might want to know about breast cancer, treatment, reconstruction options, risk of recurrence, etc. It's called "Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book". If your employee is the sort who really wants to be knwoldgable about everything to do with her diagnosis, that's the book to get. It's a THICK book with a lot of information, but you can basically read up on the different chapters as you find the need for it, no need to read it all at once and it is really informative.

Hope this helps.

Nelie

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately for me she is the "stick her head in the sand" type. She had even told them not to call her but to call me, which of course they screwed up. I took her for her biopsy and talked to her doctor for a while but he was on loan from Orlando and didn't think he would be involved any further. We even talked about the OC web site and of course HPV. I wrote down the web address at his request and he even took one of my business cards.

To some extent she is going to have to unbury her head because, unless she has very early stage or very late stage or unusually aggressive breast cancer, she is probably going to have a choice of treatment options. There is much less unformity in how breast cancer is treated than how oral cancer is treated (and we've seen even for oral cancer a lot of variation). She should definitely get a second opinion on what treatment would be best but also some of the choice is personal preference. For example, if it is early stage breast cancer, she probably has the option of lumpectomy/sentinal node remnoval followed by radiation or mastectomy which may not have to be followed by radiation but she will probably want it folowed by reconstructive surgery (she can get better reconstructive surgery if it is done with no radiation and that's important to know). If it is early stage, there can be arguments for and against having chemo and what type of chemo to have. Depending on what type of breast cancer it is, and how advanced, there can be arguments for and against followup adjunvant therapy with Tamoxifen, etc. etc.

I would call the ACS and see if they have patient advocates who are breast cancer survivors themselves if she is someone who seems to need someone to lean on. She would really benefit having someone who has been through this themselves go with her to appointments. They would also know of support groups in the area.

Nelie

If you're looking for a message board and forum area, you might want to suggest she try http://cms.komen.org/

Again I'm in way over my head but everybody, my employee, my wife, my CPA Office Mgr, etc are counting on me to be her "pseudo doctor expert" when it comes to ALL decision advice & recommendations. That's why I was hoping to find a web site like this for BC. Brian needs to start one!! I joined My Breast Cancer Network and I asked a question 2 days ago and it took 12 hours for me to get my one and only one reply and it was generic. I have had more valuable info from this post for which I am thankful again for this site.

The main problem facing us right now is getting someone to step up to the plate and assume financial responsibility. We went to Pinellas County Tues only to be told that walkins need to come in at 7 am, first come basis. We were there at 6:30 this am and we were 15th in line and they told everybody at 7 am that they were short staffed today and would only be able to see the first 8!! So we were told to come back tomorrow with no guarantee the same thing wouldn't happen. I also had my Dr client's wife register her for Medicaid which took her about 3 hours on line yesterday. She still doesn't have an appt to see any doctor as a follow up to her biopsy.

I have read much about her type of cancer and the various Tx alternatives that you mentioned and more and I have the path report but until we see an Oncologist there are a ton of unanswered questions which will possibly dictate the answers to the various Tx options.

Anyone want to trade me a OC patient for my BC one?

Barb,

I just registered on the Komen's site and asked my first question so we'll see what gives. It does seem more active than the other site. Thanks

David

Best of luck, your employee sounds like she has a great advocate in her corner. I have no direct experience with the disease but have a niece (technically my nephew's wife) who was diagnosed ER+ IDC at age 23 -- she's 27 now and doing just fine. Her treatment was, as you would expect at her age and level of infiltration, exceptionally aggressive -- but to meet her now, you'd never know she had been ill. I also have a dear friend who is a 6 year survivor, stage 3 IDC -- and she's doing great. Tamoxifen, should the level of disease and type of hormonal influence warrant, is a great, great equalizer with breast cancer. My nephew's wife has been treated with herceptin as well - with good success.

Anyway, best of luck for her and continued good health for you. I attached the link from the Mayo Clinic, as both of the women I mentioned above relied fairly heavily on their (seemingly pretty objective) information.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-cancer/HQ00348

And one last thing ... as Brian Hill appears to be for oral cancer education, advocacy and information, so the Susan G. Komen Foundation is for breast cancer. It's pretty much the largest advocacy organization for the disease.