Project on breast cancer?

im a nursing student and i and doing a teaching project on breast cancer. so i would like to know if there is anything that (those of you who have had breast cancer or know someone who has) wish you would have been aware of before your dx that might have aided in early detection. or just any info that you have that you think i should include would be great. thanks

I'm a senior nursing student and this is a great teaching project idea! In my advanced concepts class we were discussing this. As for my opinion on this, look at the options. Suppose you have the brca1 or brca 2 gene and you have a 50% chance of getting the diease...would you get an elective mastectomy? What happens if you would never get the diease but went ahead to get your boobs chopped off for no reason whatsoever. Or what happens if the cancer comes else where such as under your arms. I think its a good idea to get the testing done if you can afford it (because its super expensive) and if you have more than two or three of the risk factors: early menstural cycle, no kids, mother or sibling with ovarian cancer, etc. etc.

I think it is very good that you are wrighting about this as my mother was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and I feel that if she had someone to talk to about it sooner, they would hae caught it earlier and it would not have come to this. However the Macmillon service is brilliant and has been a big help, I want to know whats going on with her and breast cancer as a whole but feel they should educate younger girls more about this sensative subject.
Yasmin, age 14 xxx

I think that a universal health care system would vastly improve early detection. There are way too many women with no or insufficient health care who go without mammograms and regular physicals because they can't afford them.