BC Treatments and Be A Designer Competition

Most of our posts on here relate to prevention and early detection. Well today our post is about some of the treatments available for those who have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

When I googled this a lot of the pages I found where companies trying to sell their own products, so I turned to the ever reliable WedMD.

Now the stages of breast cancer rate from stage 0 to stage 4. The average survival rate for a stage 0 diagnosis is 100%, where as stage 4 diagnosis is usually terminal, which is why its important to do your BSE's!

Here's a list of typical treatments:

• Surgery is a standard. For smaller tumors, you might get a lumpectomy, in which only the abnormal cells and some of the tissue are removed. Some women choose a mastectomy, in which the entire breast is removed. After a mastectomy, you might choose to have breast reconstruction surgery.
• Radiation therapy is standard treatment after a lumpectomy. Radiation therapy attacks any abnormal cells that might have been missed and decreases the risk of another cancer.
• Hormone therapy with tamoxifen after surgery may also help prevent cancer from developing in the same or opposite breast.
• Bilateral mastectomy -- the removal of both breasts -- is another option. Some women choose this approach because they are worried about getting cancer. They might have certain risk factors, like a strong family history of breast cancer. After surgery, you might choose to get breast reconstruction surgery. However, experts think that a bilateral mastectomy is a more extreme approach than women usually need.
• Chemotherapy is treatment with drugs that attack cancer cells. It's often used after surgery to lower the risk of the cancer coming back. Women who had larger tumors are more likely to need it.
• Biological therapy is another approach. In about 25% of women with breast cancer, an excess of a protein known as HER2 makes the cancer spread quickly. Herceptin is a new drug that's been approved to treat women with metastatic breast cancer that is HER2 positive. It stops this protein from making the cancer grow and makes chemotherapy more effective. It is most often used in combination with chemotherapy. Studies have led to its use in early breast cancer.
• Clinical trials A clinical trial may allow you access to cutting-edge treatments. Many new therapies -- new drugs, new treatments, and new combinations -- are in clinical trials now. Keep in mind that any successful treatment we have now started out in a clinical trial.
• Other drugs may also help treat some of the side effects of breast cancer treatment, such as nausea, fatigue, and infections.

So for any of you who ever wanted to know the options, whether for yourself or a family member, that's the standard list.

Just remember that every cancer is different, every patient is different, so every treatment is different. What worked for your friend might not work for you. Make sure you have good communication with your doctor and be open to their suggestions.

Ok, now that we've covered our serious issue for the week, we can get to the fun. Yes, FUN! Boobie Wednesday is bringing you a new competition! (Competition is now closed).

Basically, we've been asking you guys for AGES to help us come up with designs for the t-shirts at the Boobie Wednesday store, and some of your ideas have been great! Unfortunately, neither myself nor my partner in crime have the necessary resources to actually make the designs ourselves, so we're giving you the floor!

So here's the details. We need a t-shirt design, related to breast cancer awareness, and/or Boobie Wednesday and it must be (this is very important) ORIGINAL. We cannot accept entries that are reminiscent of any other campaign logos, or slogans or anything like that.

Secondly, it needs to be on a transparent background, and preferably saved in PNG format. Also to bigger you can make it the better. :)

If you've got all that done, send it to us at boobiewed@yahoo.com

What does the winner get, you ask? The winner gets to see their design in the Boobie Wednesday store! (AND you'll have good karma, because all the money we raise from selling your design will go to the NBCF).

So get creative and get em in! We'll be closing the competition on February 1oth, so you've got about a month to get your entry in.

Good luck!