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BREAST CANCER. APPROXIMATELY ONE IN EIGHT
AMERICANS WOMEN WILL DEVELOP BREAST CANCER DURING THEIR
LIFETIME. BREAST CANCER IS THE SECOND MOST
COMMONLY DIAGNOSED FORM OF CANCER IN WOMEN.
SOBERING STATISTICS WHICH REALLY UNDERSCORE THE EFFORTS TO
MANAGE, CARE FOR AND ULTIMATELY BEAT THIS DISEASE.
WITH US TODAY DR NANCY PEACOCK A MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST SPECIALIZING
IN BREAST CANCER TREATMENT WITH TENNESSEE ONCOLOGY AND CHAIR OF
THE SAINT THOMAS HEALTH NETWORK CANCER COMMITTEE AND COMING UP A
LITTLE LATER ON THIS MORNING A BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR WILL
SHARE HER INCREDIBLE STORY, BUT FIRST WANT TO WELCOME DR.
PEACOCK TO THE SHOW, GOOD MORNING TO YOU DOCTOR.
GOOD MORNING DANIELLE. THE FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER
HAVE WE SEEN QUANTIFIABLE IMPROVEMENT WOULD YOU SAY OVER
THE LAST, LETS SAY TEN YEARS OR SO?
YES, I THINK WOMEN ARE MUCH MORE AWARE ABOUT THE NEED FOR
MAMMOGRAPHY AND SEEKING THAT OUT FROM THEIR HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
IN A PROACTIVE WAY. I THINK WE'VE MADE QUANTIFIABLE
IMPROVEMENTS IN OUR APPROACHES TO SURGICAL TREATMENT TO
RADIATION TREATMENT AND ACTUALLY OUR ABILITY TO PREDICT WHO'S
GOING TO RESPOND BEST TO SYSTEMIC CHEMOTHERAPY OR
BIOLOGIC THERAPY OR HORMONAL THERAPY...AND FINALLY I THINK WE
ARE ABLE TO BETTER IDENTIFY WOMEN WHO HAVE GENETIC MUTATIONS
OR FAMILIAL RISK FOR BREAST CANCER.
FROMA BREAST CANCER PATIENT PERSPECTIVE WHAT ARE SOME OF THE
BIGGEST CHALLENGES? ACUTE TOXICITIES FROM
CHEMOTHERAPY SUCH AS HAIR LOSS, NAUSEA AND VOMITING, ORAL
MUCOSITIS, FATIGUE, NEUROPATHY, WHICH IS NUMBNESS OF THE FINGERS
AND TOES, RADIATION DERMATITIS, I THINK THAT HORMONAL THERAPY
ALSO CAUSES TOXICITY, THIS IS HORMONE BLOCKING AGENTS THAT
PREVENT ESTROGEN FROM CAUSING BREAST CANCER CELLS TO GROW AND
DEVELOP. ANYTIME YOU DEPRIVE A WOMAN OF
ESTROGEN YOU MAKE HER FEEL A LITTLE MORE TIRED, SHE HAS HOT
FLASHES. WHAT WE CALL VASOMOTOR SYMPTOMS,
HOT FLASHES, NIGHT SWEATS, JOINT ACHES, IRRITABILITY, INSOMNIA,
MOST WOMEN KIND OF GO THROUGH THAT GRADUALLY AFTER THE AGE OF
FIFTY BUT YOUNG WOMEN WHO HAVE ESTROGEN POSITIVE BREAST CANCERS
ARE FORCED INTO THAT EARLY BECAUSE OF THEIR TREATMENT.
SO FOR PATIENTS WHO ARE ESTROGEN RECEPTOR POSITIVE, CAN YOU
EXPLAIN THIS SIGNIFICANCE FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNDERGOING
TREATMENT? ABOUT SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OF
WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER WILL HAVE EITHER THE PRESENCE OF THE
ESTROGEN RECEPTOR, THE PROGESTERONE RECEPTOR OR BOTH
OF THEM. UM, WHAT THAT MEANS TO THE
PHYSICIAN IS THAT WE CAN USE HORMONE BLOCKING AGENTS SUCH AS
TOMOXIFEN OR THE AROMA TASTE INHIBITORS AS A REAL STRATEGY TO
REDUCE THE RISK OF THOSE BREAST CANCERS FROM COMING BACK.
INITIALLY WE JUST THOUGHT THAT WE NEEDED TO USE THEM FOR FIVE
YEARS BUT THERES MORE AND MORE EVIDENCE EMERGING THAT CARRYING
THESE HORMONAL BLOCKERS OUT FOR TEN YEARS OF THERAPY OPPOSED TO
FIVE IS PROBABLY GOING TO BE A STRATEGY THAT REDUCES LATE RISK
OF RELAPSE EVEN MORE. IN YOUR OPINION WHAT WOULD YOU
SAY IS THE BIGGEST REASON THAT WOMEN FALL SHORT IN MAINTAINING
THEIR THERAPY REGIMENT? FIRST OF ALL, THEY ARE DEALING
WITH THE SIDE EFFECTS OF THEIR TREATMENTS.
THE CHEMO THERAPY THAT WE'VE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT.
THEIR GOING THROUGH TOXICITIES OF HORMONAL THERAPY, AGAIN JOINT
PAIN, UM WEIGHT GAIN, HOT FLASHES, NOT SLEEPING WELL AT
NIGHT AND YOU MIX THAT IN WITH LIFE ISSUES SUCH AS CHILD
REARING, ISSUES WITH THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR SPOUSES,
THESE WOMEN MAY BE CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR JOBS AND KEEPING
THEIR INSURANCE COVERAGE, ALL OF THOSE THINGS WILL HAVE TO HAVE
ONE BAD GUY AS THE CULPRIT, AS THE THING THAT'S CAUSING THE
SIDE EFFECTS AND THE LIFE ISSUES AND I THINK THAT THE THING THAT
MOST COMMONLY IS PICKED OUT AS THE BAD GUY IS THE HORMONE
BLOCKING AGENT BECAUSE BEFORE THEY HAD IT, THEY DIDN'T HAVE
ALL THESE PROBLEMS, BUT I THINK THERE ARE REAL WAYS THAT WE CAN
DEAL WITH TOXICITIES. WE HAVE PRETTY GOOD
PHARMACEUTICAL INTERVENTIONS THAT WE CAN USE TO HELP WITH
SPECIFIC SIDE EFFECTS AND PROBLEMS AND SO A WOMAN JUST
REALLY NEEDS TO TALK TO HER HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
WELL I WANT YOU TO STICK AROUND BECAUSE WE'RE GOING TO MEET A
BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR HERE TO SHARE HER JOURNEY AND HER ROADS
TO RECOVERY, WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK.
(MUSIC). WELCOME BACK TO OUR SEGMENT ON
BREAST CANCER AND THERAPIES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DISEASE.
WITH US ONCE AGAIN DR. NANCY PEACOCK,A MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST
SPECIALIZING IN BREAST CANCER TREATMENT AND JOINING US BREAST
CANCER SURVIVOR JULIE MCGEE. JULIE WELCOME TO THE COUCH, GLAD
TO HAVE YOU WITH US THIS MORNING.
THANKS FOR HAVING ME. DR. BEFORE WE HEAR FROM JULIE I
WANT TO PROBE A BIT FURTHER IN TERMS OF THE OPTIONS THAT WOMEN
WHO FALL SHORT IN THEIR THERAPY REGIMENT SUCH AS TOMOXIFEN.
WHATS BEING DONE TO ENSURE THAT THEY DO CONTINUE AS PRESCRIBED?
THERE ARE OPTIONS FOR PEOPLE BESIDES PILLS.
THERE IS A LIQUID FORM OF TOMOXIFEN THATS AVAILABLE.
THERE ARE WAYS TO TREAT HOT FLASHES AND NIGHT SWEATS WITH
PHARMACEUTICALS. THERE ARE WAYS TO TAKE CARE OF
IRRITATING MOUTH ULCERS WITH A DRUG CALLED GELCLAIR.
WE HAVE WAYS TO PREVENT AND TREAT RADIATION DERMATITIS WITH
ANOTHER PRODUCT CALLED BIONECT. SO THERE ARE LOTS OF SUPPORT
OPTIONS OUT THERE, WE JUST NEED TO MAKE SURE WE ARE ASKING THE
QUESTIONS TO THE PATIENT TO FIND OUT WHAT THEY NEED.
JULIE, HOW DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER YOU HAD BREAST CANCER?
DANIELLE I WAS DOING A ROUTINE BREAST EXAM AND FOUND A LUMP
THAT I HAD BEVER FELT BEFORE AND IMMEDIATELY CALLED MY DOCTOR AND
HE SET UP AN APPOINTMENT FOR A MAMMOGRAM WHICH WAS FOLLOWED BY
A BIOPSY AND I WAITED A GOOD WEEK AND A HALF AND I HEARD THE
WORDS THAT NO BODY WANTS TO HEAR, YOU HAVE BREAST CANCER.
IT WAS VERY HARD. REALLY HARD.
I HAD A LUMPECTOMY AND FOLLOWING THAT I HAD RADIATION TREATMENT.
I WAS THEN PUT ON TOMOXIFEN BY MY ONCOLOGIST WHICH IS A TABLET
FORM AND I CAN'T TAKE PILLS, NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO AND SO
HE GAVE ME AN ALTERNATIVE CALLED SOLTAMOX, WHICH IT'S THE EXACT
SAME DRUG AS TOMOXIFEN. IT WORKS THE EXACT SAME FOR
REDUCING MY RISK AND I'VE BEEN TAKING IT FOR A WHILE NOW AND
HAVE HAD NO SIDE EFFECTS FROM IT.
AND THE GREAT THING ABOUT THAT IS THAT'S A LIQUID FORM.
DR. PEACOCK IS JULIES STORY FAIRLY TYPICAL AND ARE THERE
OTHER KIND OF SUPPORTIVE CARE ISSUES THAT CANCER PATIENTS
SHOULD BE AWARE OF? THE IMPORTANCE OF HERE STORY IS
THAT SHE RECOGNIZED THERE WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT,SHE PAID
ATTENTION TO IT AND SHE GOT HELP FOR IT.
A LOT OF WOMEN WILL TEND TO BLOW THAT OFF OR NOT PAY ATTENTION
AND JUST SAY OH IT'S NOTHING AND JUST GO ONWITH THEIR DAY.
ESPECIALLY IF YOUR YOUNGER. ESPECIALLY IF YOUR YOUNGER.
SHE HAS A HARD TIME TAKING TABLETS AND SO SHE HAD A LIQUID
FORM OF THE SAME MEDICATION AVAILABLE.
SO MANY OF MY PATIENTS WILL COME IN AND TELL ME I JUST CAN'T TAKE
ANOTHER PILL, I CAN NOT TAKE PILLS.
DON'T YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE FOR ME?
I THINK THAT ITS REALLY IMPORTANT FOR THE MEDICAL PEOPLE
TO SAY ARE YOU TAKING YOUR PILLS AND IF NOT, WHY?
ONE THING PEOPLE HAVE TO DO IS EDUCATE THEMSELVES ABOUT THEIR
BREAST CANCER , TREATMENTS, breastcancer.org IS A GREAT
WEBSITE, IT'S SO INFORMATIVE AND I DEFINITELY BELIEVE THAT
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. YOU KNOW I WAS JUST THINKING
HERE, YOU KNOW CERTAINTY YOU DOING YOUR SELF BREAST EXAM MAY
HAVE SAVED YOUR LIFE AND I WANTED TO POSE THAT LAST
QUESTION TO YOU DR. WHAT ARE SOME CLOSING THOUGHTS?
I THINK THE GREAT NEWS IS THAT SURVIVAL IS IMPROVING WITH
BREAST CANCER, I THINK IT'S ALSO IMPORTANT THAT PEOPLE KNOW THAT
THERE ARE SUPPORTIVE CARE OPTIONS OUT THERE, IT'S NOT ALL
ABOUT WHAT'S THE BEST TREATMENT OPTION, IT'S ABOUT HOW DO WE
SUPPORT PEOPLE THROUGH THEIR TREATMENTS.
PEOPLE NEED TO BE AWARE THAT THERE ARE OPTIONS OUT THERE FOR
THEM. THANK YOU SO MUCH JULIE, I'M SO
GLAD YOU'RE HERE TO TELL YOUR STORY AND DOCTOR I HAVE TO TELL
YOU TERRIFIC INFORMATION, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US AS WELL THIS
MORNING...AND IF YOU'DE LIKE TO GET MORE INFORMATION ON TODAY'S
TOPIC JUST GO TO THE WEB AT breastcancer.org OR VISIT
thebalancingact.com AND SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND CONCERNS
RELATED TO BREAST CANCER WITH US.
YOU CAN ALSO LOG ON TO FACEBOOK AND SEARCH FOR BALANCING ACT
FANS.