There are four key and most important things to remember and to have in mind when it comes to breast cancer.
The first is to know if the woman with the breast cancer is still having menstrual periods or not. Breast cancer behaves differently in women who are as yet having regular periods compared with the way it behaves in women who are no longer having regular periods.
The second is the size of the tumor when it is found. This is important because this will tell us about the possibility of the tumor to spread. The larger the tumor size when it is found, the greater the chance for it to have spread by the time we have found it.
The third is the finding or not of lymph nodes in the axilla (or, as is more commonly known, the “armpit”) which show that the cancer had spread to them. This is key as it tells us if the cancer has had the opportunity to spread to this site by the time we find it. If it has, this is a very key finding that dictates how aggressive we need to be in order to try to keep the cancer from ever returning.
The fourth and final key point to know when breast cancer is found, is if the breast cancer had what are known as receptors present in it. These receptors are called Erstrogen receptors, Progesterone receptors and HER-2 receptors. If the cancer does have receptors present, this will help us know how to treat it. If it does not have receptors present, this will then let us know how else to treat the breast cancer.
All of the above concepts and more are available in very easy to understand language in the Breast Cancer audio CD available on www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com.