Survivng breast cancer

Breast cancer that is only in the breast and has not spread to the lymph nodes has a better prognosis chance of survival than breast cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes. The poorest prognosis is for metastatic breast cancer stage IV , when the cancer has spread beyond the breast and nearby lymph nodes to other parts of the body. An overall survival rate shows the percentage of people who are alive after a certain period of time after diagnosis of a disease such as breast cancer. For example, say the 5-year overall survival for women with stage I breast cancer was 90 percent. This would mean 90 percent of women diagnosed with stage I breast cancer survive at least 5 years beyond diagnosis.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were in the car on our way to dinner to celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary. My husband stopped cold. Again, he was quiet. Of course I do. When I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer two years ago at age 37, I felt oddly lucky. And it was hormone-receptor positive, meaning it was more likely to respond favorably to treatment and there would be more treatment options available.

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Although there is a widely held perception that breast cancer is an issue only for the western world, the reality is that it is the most common cancer in women both in the developed and the developing world. Indeed, the incidence of breast cancer is rising in the developing world because of increased life expectancy, urbanisation, and the adoption of western lifestyles. As early diagnosis and treatments for breast cancer improve, women are not only surviving the disease — they are surviving for longer. Investigating whether lifestyle factors could play a role in improving survival rates is also becoming increasingly important.