If You Have Breast Cancer << Breast Cancer << womenshealth.gov

If You Have Breast Cancer

If you just found out you have breast cancer, you are likely to feel afraid and overwhelmed. You might be worried about your family, your job, and the unknown. The waiting between doctor visits might seem endless. Or things might be happening so quickly that you feel like you have no control. Even though you have a lot to think about and big decisions to make, you may feel stuck, unsure how to take the next step.

Take heart — information about breast cancer, its treatment, and breast reconstruction is plentiful. Turn to resources you can trust, such as the ones featured here. Ask your doctor lots of questions. Meet with other doctors to help you make an informed choice about treatment. Turn to loved ones and friends for support. Think about joining a support group for women with breast cancer. Women in treatment and breast cancer survivors can be an amazing source of strength during and after your treatment.

Breast cancer treatment often involves more than one approach. Surgery to remove the cancer is usually the first step. Some women also have treatment after surgery to kill any cancer cells that might be elsewhere in the body and to keep cancer from coming back. The treatment your doctor recommends will depend on several factors, including the type of breast cancer you have and how advanced it is. To learn more about breast cancer treatment, you can speak with a National Cancer Institute Information Specialist via a live online text chat or by calling 1-800-4CANCER. You might also be interested in these womenshealth.gov publications:

Additional Resources

Publications

Breast Cancer: A Resource Guide for Minority Women — This publication lists organizations, documents, journal articles, and other resources relevant to people affected by breast cancer. This may include patients, health professionals, students, and researchers.

http://www.omhrc.gov/assets/pdf/checked/bcrg2005.pdf

Fact Sheet — Breast Cancer — This fact sheet provides information on why women should be concerned about breast cancer and gives resources for more information.

http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/breast-cancer.cfm

Fact Sheet — Early Stage Breast Cancer: A Patient and Doctor Dialogue — This publication addresses questions that women commonly have about breast cancer and its treatment. It explains many of the medical terms that can be confusing to patients and lists resources for patients seeking more information.

http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/early-stage-breast-cancer.cfm

Financial Assistance and Other Resources for People With Cancer — This publication provides information on federal and non-federal sources of financial assistance for cancer care. Included are telephone numbers of the contact organizations.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/support/financial-assistance

What You Need to Know About Breast Cancer — This booklet provides valuable information about breast cancer, including causes, screening, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Additionally, this booklet offers women with breast cancer information on how to cope with the disease.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/wyntk/breast

BreastCancer101: Basics for the Newly Diagnosed 10 Year Planner (Copyright © CANCER101) — If you have breast cancer or know someone who does, this organizer will help a person empower and take control of a breast cancer diagnosis.

http://www.cancer101.org/launch2007/inside_planner.cfm?CFID=22785352&CFTOKEN=60271744...

Coping With Cancer: Tools to Help You Live (Copyright © CancerCare) — This booklet discusses living with cancer, learning about your diagnosis and treatment, finding financial help, and coping with the emotional aspects of cancer.

http://www.cancercare.org/pdf/booklets/ccc_coping.pdf

Lumpectomy (Copyright © Breastcancer.org) — Lumpectomy is surgery in which only the tumor and some surrounding tissue is removed. This publication explains the process of lumpectomy and the risks involved, and gives questions for you to ask your doctor.

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/lumpectomy/

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/mastectomy/index.jsp

What Happens After Treatment for Breast Cancer? (Copyright © American Cancer Society) — This publication provides guidance on life after breast cancer treatment. It discusses physical symptoms you may experience after treatment, such as lymphedema, and other life issues you may encounter, including adjustments of body image, quality of life, and sexuality.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_4_5x_what_happens_after_treatment_5.asp?sitearea=cri...

Organizations

= Indicates Federal Resources

Content last updated September 28, 2009.